Melbourne is the second largest city in Australia, after Sydney. But one forecast says that Melbourne is on a pace to become the largest city in Australia only after several years due mainly to the rapid increase in the influx of population into this livable and beautiful city. Melbourne has been listed as the most livable city for several years.
Melbourne has a population of approximately 5 million. It is a cosmopolitan city with ethnical and cultural diversity. The city offers great food and excellent public transportation system including free transportation zone and city circular tram.
The hotel we stayed was Mercure at Treasure Gardens, a public park.
The local contact Lindsay was waiting for us at the hotel and he explained to us about what to do in Melbourne.
The next day, a lady tour guide showed up in a private car and took us for a half day city tour. She is a German who married an Australian guy. She took us to a Brunnetti tea house and we shared a cup of tea with some snacks. Apparently, it is in vogue in Melbourne to have a cup of tea or coffee at this place. I saw a lot of people wearing jersey shirts of this bakery cafe, but I did not bother to ask why.
Then, she showed us several interesting places in the city, such as Melbourne Gaol, MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), Royal Exhibition Center, a World Heritage site, Melbourne Museum, Shrine of Remembrance,
She took us to Brighton Beach where we saw brightly colored bathing boxes. It was not as long as I expected, but it was shocking to hear such small bathing boxes were selling at AUD150,000. Yikes!
We stopped over at St. Kilda Beach where Luna Park, an amusement park, is located. Apparently, Luna Park was established by copying the Coney Island in New York. I took some photos before we moved on.
On the way to Brighton Beach and on the way back, we saw many cafes in the neighborhoods where people meet up and share their life stories over coffee or tea. The atmosphere was quite attractive and inviting.
She dropped us off at Eureka Skydeck, an 88 story building, where elevators traveling at 9 meters per second. It is the tallest building in Australia and probably in the southern hemisphere. The tour guide mentioned that people in Queensland may raise an issue because they have a building where they erected a spire that is useless but still exceeded this Skydeck. Oh well... It is human ambition to go higher, the same one as that of people who built the Babel Tower.
After we took some rest, we crossed the River Yarra via a bridge near Findler Train Station. We took a tram to go to the Queen Victoria Market and took Route 35 City Circular Tram. It travels around the city for free in the Free Tram Zone. It was a clever idea to make the entire area one economic zone.
We took a day tour to Great Ocean Road, but it is worth another blog post. So please take a look at a separate blog post on this tour.
After we walked on Russell Street and Burke Street, the busiest street in Melbourne, we had dinner at Da Rin Korean Restaurant. I did not see any Korean so obviously all business practices were not like Korean. We ordered Squid Pajeon and Clay Pot Bulgogi along with two bowls of rice and one Kimchi. At Korean restaurants, we normally do not have to order rice and Kimchi. The foods were okay, but we did not feel like returning to this Korean-less Korean restaurant.
However, it was good that we walked to the hotel, satisfying the 10-minute walk after meal.
The following day, Kristin and I had a reunion with Wendy Sayers, a Melbournite. She was on the Spain and Portugal tour of Expat Explorer together. She had an excellent memory and we enjoyed our reunion time together.
We walked over to Federation Square, Findler Train Station, National Gallery of Victoria Intearnational,
National Gallery of Victoria was quite impressive.
We took a boat cruise up and down the Yarra River to see the City of Melbourne from a different perspective. The upper part of the river was so so, but the down stream view of the City was panoramic and spectacular.
April 25 is our wedding anniversary date. But to Aussies and also the Kiwis, it carries a more significant meaning. It is called ANZAC Day, meaning Australia and New Zealand Army Corps Day. On this day, they celebrate their participation in the World War I and fought against the Turks. Their battle was unsuccessful, but they nonetheless treasure their participation since it was the first occasion for them to act on the global horizon.
On ANZAC Day, Melbourne has another big event in addition to the traditional parade. It is an Australian Football game day between two rival teams in Melbourne: Collingwood (white and black) and Essndon (red and black). They call it ANZAC Day Footy. Apparently, Australian Football was started in Melbourne, but is now spreading to other cities. It is the combination of soccer and rugby. At MCG, this game takes place and all over the city, you can spot people wearing black and white cheering for one team and another group of people wearing black and red cheering for another team. More than 90,000 people attended the game at the MCG where more than 110,000 people can be housed.
I visited Hosier Lane and AC/DC Lane where street art or graffiti as we call it can be found. The scale is not that big, but a lot of people visit these places to see the different form of art.
I walked over to visit Royal Arcade and Block Arcade, two famous shopping blocks. On the way back, I saw a Scottish Presbyterian Church that has not been even mentioned anywhere. I also saw Federal Reserve Bank of Australia. A banker's catch.
In Australia, they have a hook turn. When you turn right (the same as the left turn in the U.S.) you advance a bit to the left and turn right when the signal changes. So it looks like a hook.
I stopped over at Old Treasury Building Museum. It used to be a vault for storing gold nuggets and gold bars. It is now a museum, but it reminds us of the gold rush time when the city was established and flourished.
In the nearby area, there is a cute park, along with the Parliament House.
The next day, April 26, we left Melbourne Australia to head back to Chiang Mai, Thailand, our home. The tour ended after 8 weeks for me. It was a long journey. But, I had to start thinking about my next trip, this time to the U.S.A. I was grateful that we had an opportunity to travel down under after almost a decade of desire and planning. Plus a lot of money spent. For the rest of this year 2018, we will have to live on a tight budget as far as personal traveling is concerned. - Jeffrey
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