Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne is a gorgeous city. There is always something to look at and to see. It's very large at almost 6 million people in population. We stayed in the Docklands District which is less busy than downtown, which we like.  You could take the free tram ride or walk into the CBD or City Center, for us this was perfect.  We walked day and night and felt very safe at all times.  There was so much to do. Five nights was not enough.

Almost every modern high rise that we looked at, it was a stunning design.

Traffic was not that bad either.

The Yarra River area was very pretty

This is a highly progressive city in regards to LGBQ+ people who hold hands all over Melbourne which is very nice to see that people can just live their lives in this city.  We will definitely have to return and see more of Melbourne and definitely the surrounding areas around Melbourne.  I want to check out the Dandenong Ranges and the Yarra Valley.

The first morning we got out of the hotel late because we had so much work that we have neglected, especially Darren just because we've been so busy these last few weeks in Australia.  We took the free tram down to Flinders Avenue Station and got off and walked across the river and then to the Art gallery of Victoria or the AGV as the Aussies call it. 

We knew that we were getting closer to the Art Gallery because all of the trees that lined the street were wrapped in polkadots.

It actually kind of blew my mind. All of the famous old World Master artists that were featured in there. It was overwhelming for me because there were too many floors and too many paintings and you'd almost have to spend three different days there. I blitzed a couple floors and didn't even do the whole thing. But regardless it's completely worth it and I'd love to go back. I just didn't have time.  It was free just like the Adelaide art gallery.  It was also packed with people on a Wednesday afternoon.

Statue outside the Art Gallery

Polkadots was an exhibit in the Art Gallery that you actually had to pay for, which did not interest us in the slightest but all of the rest of the exhibits were amazing.

This was very large and you could walk in and under it.  This was the teaser to the Polkadot Exhibition.

This is looking up at the stained glass ceiling.

This is a Paul Cezanne

This is a Claude Monet

And another Monet

A Baccarat Crystal Lamp

This room was overwhelming for me.

These are both Renoir paintings.

This is upstairs on the first floor looking down.

These are pottery pieces that are over 1500 years old.

We continued on and made our way to the Botanical Gardens, simply because they were free.  I'm not used to Botanical Gardens being free. Usually you have to pay $30 to $40 American dollars to see a Botanical Garden. Unfortunately this wasn't as good of a Botanical Garden as I had hoped for. But it was still nice to walk through. 

There was one section I really wanted to see which was Fern Gully and it was closed off because a colony of Flying Foxes had taken over and they can be kind of nasty so you weren't even allowed to walk into Fern Gully. 

These are the Flying Foxes hanging upside down in the trees.  There were probably 30 in this large tree.  Flying Foxes are the largest Bat and their wing span is up to 1.5 meters.

The Shrine of Remembrance is a huge War Memorial for all of the wars that Australians have served in.   This is across the street from the Botanical Gardens so we made our way over there.  There were quite a few steps up to the top of the Shrine but the Views of the city were worth the extra steps.

Its a beautiful Shrine and you can see how many steps there were up to the top by the size of the people sitting on the second section at the top.

The views were incredible.

 We made our way out of that area of the city and back down to the Yarra River and hung a left where there were recommended to us a bunch of restaurants where I started to blog from the restaurant so that I would not forget anything.

I was fortunate enough to get last minute tickets to Jesus Christ Superstar the musical.  We rushed over to the Princess Theater which was about 10 blocks and got there just in time and sat down. We had a few minutes to relax and the show started.  And wow what a show!  This is the most talented cast I have ever witnessed and I've seen a lot of musicals.  They just blew me away with their voices and the dancing was premier as well.  You know it's a good musical when you just want to stay and watch it again.  I bought the tickets for 69 Aussie which is less in Canadian.  We purchased tickets that said our view would be compromised in row 10 and they were excellent seats.  

Even though we had to rush to the Princess Theater, I still had a few seconds to take some shots on the run.  Melbourne has numerous old beautiful buildings.  I loved the architecture and the contrast between the old and the new.

The old Parliament Buildings.

The Princess Theater during intermission.

Inside the theater just before the show.  Even Darren was pumped for this because when he taught grade 8 he directed this show 3 different times.  He knew it inside out.

The screen before the musical.

Walking back to the Hotel and notice all the high rises lit up to the right.

Many bridges in Melbourne.

Down at Docklands where we were staying.  So pretty with the reflection of the water.

We walked the 14 or so blocks back to the Melbourne Marriott Docklands Hotel and logged in over 20,000 steps that day.  You would think I would be a stick by now but apparently my fat just loves me so much that it has a hard time leaving me.  It was a great day in Melbourne.

Yes we are Down Under.

Our next day we had a very lazy morning and left the hotel and walked about 5 minutes to the Costco.  We love checking out Costco's in different countries.  Their cafe menu is similar to ours.

We took the tram into the CBD (Central Business District) to Flinders Station and got off.  We looked around St. Paul's Cathedral and it is beautiful with gorgeous stained glass windows and Darren and I sat in the pews for a while because we had quite a few people to pray for. 

We continued walking and we wanted to check out some of the Laneways.  Melbourne is famous for their Lanes and there are Lanes with graffiti or art and Lanes of restaurants and chairs and tables and lanes with musicians playing. There are  Lanes in Chinatown too.  Eeach Lane is unique in their own way and closed to traffic. 

I wanted to see Royal arcade and the Block arcade and the Royal arcade was absolutely stunning and I couldn't stop taking pictures of it. The ceiling and the roof line were gorgeous and the floor was all made of tiny Mosaic tiles and it was actually very reminiscent of the ancient Roman Villa Mosaic floors. 

Darren in a Dr. Seuss Store under the Royal Arcade Roof.

Who wouldn't want to shop here?

We also went to the other more modern art gallery and the art gallery of cinema and checked those out and they weren't as interesting to me as the National Gallery of Victoria or the NGV.  Darren quite liked the Cinema Gallery or ACMI. 

I thought this hanging glass sculpture was unique.

This resembled the equipment that I had to start teaching with, ha ha.

We continued to explore the downtown area walking through different lanes and arcades. 

The free Trams in the CBD area.

Sometimes you feel like you are in London, England.

Old gorgeous buildings.

Laneways

Art Deco Building

A ceiling in one of the Arcades or closed in Street.

A large mural in a back alley.

Inside an H&M Store.  They had taken over the entire old building, hallways included.  It was a beautiful and very large store.  We got lost in it.

So cute.

We decided to walk right through to La Trobe Street and catch the tram towards the Docklands area where we were staying.  We got out at Spencer Street station because we spotted a mall that looked interesting and a Coles and not Coles the bookstore like in Canada. But Coles is one of the largest grocery chains in Australia, Woolworths is the other one or the Aussies call it Woolys.  We had found some extra strong mints that are a Coles brand and we wanted to pick some more of those up.  There was also a TKMaxx just like TJMaxx in the United States.  The weather had been getting colder by a few degrees, the farther we moved East in Australia and I simply had not packed enough clothes for cooler weather.  We were headed down to Tasmania which was going to be a little bit cooler yet. I shopped for some warmer clothes and bought a few things. 

We got the tram at the Spencer Street station and got off at the Docklands station.  We got back to the hotel at about 6:00 pm. and went to the M Club for some wine and food. 

Taken from our Hotel Room of the Docklands area.

The next morning we had planned to meet our friends Damian and Ann Pennington.  Aussies from Melbourne that we had met in the Peruvian Amazon last year.  We had spent a solid 5 days with them at this luxury Lodge that we were at and they were people that we just clicked with and fell in love with immediately.  We had a rental car so we drove to their house which is in the Strathmore area. Just a little suburb of Melbourne north of the city center about a 13-minute drive from our carpark.  We had picked right back up where we left off last year yakking up a storm and just enjoying their company. We were lucky enough to meet two of their grandchildren and one of their children, their only son Sean.  We spent some time in their lovely home and garden learning more about their passions and frustrations and I realized how much I missed them.  They are the coolest fun people you'd ever want to meet. We went to a cafe just down the street a few hundred meters from their home and had lunch with them.  They had some family duties that they needed to take care of and we left them after a lovely 3 and 1/2 hours of spending quality time with them.  We hope to see them again soon. 

We headed back to our hotel. Darren had some work to do and then we're going to pop out and explore the inner city a little bit more.

The green bridge is a covered walkway.

The Docklands Ferris Wheel.

Super Cool Bridges in Melbourne

The skyline is so pretty.

Our last full day in Melbourne I wanted to explore some more of the CBD.  I wanted to check out the Old Treasury Museum but unfortunately it was closed on Saturdays.  Nadine, check in advance the hours of interesting things to do!!!!

The tram went the wrong way for us this time, it went across the Yarra River so we had to ditch and get off and walk back, but we got a different view of the city this time.

The Old Treasury Building was closed on Saturdays.  Next time we come back to Melbourne we will have to check this out.  All of the gold from the Gold Rush was stored in this building.

We continued walking down Spring Street towards the Parliament Buildings which are absolutely gorgeous architecture.

Check this street light out, stunning old one.

One of the doors into the Parliament Buildings.

The mosaic floor outside of the Parliament Buildings.

Gorgeous!!!

Me on the steps of the Parliament Buildings.

Darren thinks its funny to snap pictures when I don't want him to.

Such a pretty city with fountains, architecture new and old and Palm Trees.  How lucky are they?

We continued walking towards an Old Mansion that has survived the growth of the city.  It is now a rent by the night hostel.

This was a huge Mansion that some rich person owned.

Lots of church's and fountains in Melbourne.  This was an old church in the background with a new age fountain in the front.

We continued walking towards the Royal Exhibition Building built in the late 1800s for a World Exhibition to impress the world with how far Australia had come.  It was an impressive looking old building and absolutely huge.  There was a Maker and Shaker Market on inside with 180 crafts people with everything from jewelry, breweries, bakeries, new product lines all Australian made.  We paid our 5 Aussie and went inside and walked around for about an hour.  We bought Darren a soap for shaving and travelling and I bought a soap for getting rid of stains on clothes for travelling.  There were lots of original clothes makers that I would have loved to buy but I did not have enough weight left over in my suitcase unfortuneately.

Walking up to the Exhibition Building

The outside of the building with fountains.

The Copper Dome

This was the market that we went to inside the building.

The ceiling was gorgeous.

We had an Australian Football Game (AFL or Footy Game) to attend this evening so we headed back by tram to the Hotel.

We got off in the Dockland area which is a super cool walking and restaurant area with cool statues.

I wonder how expensive these apartments are?

At the game, you can see the goal posts.  If you get the ball into the center posts it is 6 points other than that it is only 1 point.  If it hits the posts then zero points.

Here is the Oval and it is full of players from both sides.

Australian Rules Football.  What a strange game.  It is played in a huge grass Oval and the stadium is huge and seats 60,000 people.  There are 18 players on the field at one time for one team with 4 spares.  No time outs, 4 quarters, 10 Umpires.  The whistle blows to continue the game not end it.  The game lasted about 2.5 hours.  Sydney trounced Melbourne unfortunately.  If it would have been a closer game I could see how exciting it could be once you understand the rules.

We definitely have to return to Melbourne and the surrounding area.  We loved Melbourne and normally we don't love big cities.  There is still so much to see like St. Kilda and Brighton Beach Boxes, the surrounding Wineries, Immigration Museum, the Old Treasury Building Museum, Werribee, Williamstown etc.

Cool Highway structures in Melbourne.