St. Kilda Festival

Last Sunday we went to the St. Kilda Festival for the day. The annual festival is Australia’s largest free music festival. I am ashamed to say that in our five years in Melbourne, this is only the second time Andy and I have gone. And, man, we have been missing out! I must say, if my parents hadn’t suggested it, Andy and I would have dismissed the festival as not very “Ella-friendly”, and too much hassle to go to. So it is good to have someone in the house encouraging us to do things, even though we have a toddler. 

We headed down to the St. Kilda early, anticipating that the crowds would build up throughout the afternoon. Our first stop was the kids area at Catani Gardens, which was set up like a small fairground. There were lots of rides appropriate for a toddler, so we bought enough tickets for her to go on five rides. (Side note: these things are pretty pricey… $25 for 5 rides! Luckily Nannie was there to treat her granddaughter!)

Pre-Ella, I never thought it would be fun to stand around watching a toddler go on a little fairground ride, but as a parent I loved it. It was great to see her confident enough to go on the rides herself, she is getting to be such an independent little girl!

We were anticipating that once we ran out of tickets Ella would throw a fit, so we showed her how many tickets we had, and how many were left after every ride. Amazingly she left the fairground without protesting too much once we were out of tickets. There was free watermelon being given out, so I think that helped distract her.

Next we walked along the Esplanade in search of some food, and ended up at a music stage set up in Alfred Square. We saw a singer from Melbourne called Kira Puru, who I thought was fantastic. There were food trucks set up around the square so we were able to have a picnic lunch while enjoying the music. There was one food truck selling sugar and dairy free ice cream, so of course we had to sample that. I love being able to get a treat like that for Ella which is actually healthy!

By the time we finished lunch it was after 2pm and Ella was starting to get a bit cranky, so Andy and I headed back home with her while my mom and dad enjoyed a bit more of the festival. Ella was pretty tired after her exciting day so fell asleep in the car almost immediately, which is always a win. All in all it was a great day out. I’m glad my mom and dad are here to encourage us to take advantage of some of the events going on in Melbourne which we would otherwise avoid if we didn’t have the extra sets of hands to help out with Ella!