MELBOURNE

A view from the patio of our apartment showing the Shrine of Remembrance

At the Sports Museum I must be old because I remember this guy

View from the remembrance shrine looking down to the city

Two of the many rowers we saw on the Yarra River

One of the lights of dresses on display at the white night

his tower was climbed by protesters , they sat on top for three days protesting about refugees being expelled

The free concert with the MSO , 10000 people attended

600000 people attended this night it went from 7 pm to 7 am

Typical stainless steel barbies and benches all along the river with free gas

The journey from Auckland to Melbourne was quite uneventful until we arrived at the condo. We found the condo on VRBO.com and the arrangement was that we would find the key in a key box attached to a railing in the alley way. On arrival there was no key box!!! We then had to contact the owner who had not informed the cleaner that we were coming and the condo still needed to be cleaned. We then proceeded to leave the cases in the hotel next door and set off to visit the city of Melbourne for 4 hours. Our exploration walk found us at the biggest market we have ever seen in our lives called South Melbourne Market. Stalls and stalls of fresh veggies and fruit and an enclosed market was the size of 3 football fields. Needless to say we got lost in here for 4 hours and did a 10 day shop and then proceeded to get a taxi back to the condo. The condo was more than we could possibly have wished for. Location, location, location and views, views, views on the 12th floor over looking the Port Phillip Bay and also the Royal Botanical Gardens that houses the Shrine of Remembrance. We were looking forward to the next 10 days of home cooking.

We found Melbourne to be the most cultural city in Australia built around the Yarra River, similar size to the Thames with easy access and with a transport system second to none. We bought Myki cards at the airport that lasted us for our stay. The tram net work covered the inner and outer city. The whole of the inner city was a free tram zone.

We found that this stop in our journey was going to become a cultural experience. We visited the National Gallery, The Art Centre, The Immigration Museum, The National Sports Museum, The Melbourne Museum and the Shrine of Remembrance. This Shrine had a major focus on Changi Prisoners of War.

While here we also went to two stage productions, Georgie Girl (The story of the Seekers) and Ghost. We managed to get half price tickets on the day of, for really good seats. Priced at around $60.00 each. We also went to a brilliant concert in the park, The Sydney Myer Music Bowl where we watched the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. All of the above was either free and or free for us seniors.

We also spent many an hour at the Yarra River watching the college rowing teams racing and training.

The Sports Museum was amazing and we managed to get into the Rod Laver Arena where the Australian Open has just been played.

No security anywhere, amazing how we just walked in.

The Saturday night was a big occasion for Melbourne where they put on a festival called ‘White Night’. It was a 12 hour (from 7pm to 7am) The City centre comes alive with lights, music, dancing and entertainment. Google White Night Melbourne and you will see how big this is. They estimated over 600,000 people attended. We were two of those people. F#%ing nightmare, too many people!!!!!!

Now we are off, Singapore for 2 nights and then, Hawaii where we will visit Pearl Harbour.

Later

T & M