A Day in Melbourne

After cruising for a day (during which I taught a class), we docked in Melbourne, Australia. Most of the Craft Cruise participants took a tour of the National Wool Museum, where we saw the region’s wool story–from the sheep’s back to the clothes rack, and from the birth of the industry in the 1840s to its place in the world today.

Here’s a rug loom in action. I’m still kicking myself for not purchasing one of these rugs!

From the Wool Museum, we traveled to the Tarndie Homestead & Heritage Sheep Farm. This sheep farm has been run by the Dennis family since 1840. They developed the Polworth breed in the mid-1800s, which has since spread around the world to areas of similar climates.

We got to feed and pet these friendly creatures (I kept my arm in a sling in case one of them knocked me down).

We then set off to visit the Australian Tapestry Workshop, where we got to see huge tapestries in the making.

We also got to shop for the tapestry wool they use. I don’t know how many hundreds of color they have to choose from, but it was so overwhelming that I couldn’t make a choice and walked away empty handed.