On to Melbourne

On to Melbourne

Sydney – Monday March 14th

Today was a day of catching up, planning the next leg of my trip from Cairns through to Sydney with the help of Mark from Wicked Travel. Cheers Mark! (That & booking my flight home Thursday April 21st from Sydney via Los Angeles to Toronto. More to come on that note)

Sydney to Melbourne – Tuesday March 15th

After a 2nd blissful night of not having to share my 4 share room in the railcars with anyone else (YEAHHH!) it was a morning of packing up and onward hostel booking. I grabbed the airport train from platform 23 to the domestic airport. I discovered a wonderful thing at the Sydney airport, free Wifi. Have I mentioned I love free!! So busily updated my blog and facebook and checked e-mail before heading to gate 57 for my 1420 Jetstar JQ517 flight to Melbourne. As always I was ever so happy to have the window seat and was extremely thankful for it only being a 1 ½ hours in length. It seemed to be the screaming babies experience and everyone seemed just a little edgy when piling off the plane. None the less I was happy to discover how easy the Skybus service was in grabbing a shuttle bus downtown Melbourne to Southern Cross Station where I was giving a personal shuttle bus down to my hotel for the night, city centre budget hotel. Sounds luxurious eh? It is a real treat though with a double bed and minifridge and even a TV!! & it isn’t breaking the bank either  With its central location on Little Collins Street, even just tonight I have been able to putter over to the Parliament buildings at the end of the street and over to check where the loud bells were chiming from, St Patrick’s Cathedral. The architecture amazes me with its maintenance and refurbishment of so many 1900s and early Victorian buildings. The vibrant colours, mixed with spires, pillars and columns with detailed fixings and artworks sitting beside metropolitan highrises and grand hotels. There is also quite an elaborate tram (picture streetcars in Toronto) system mixed with buses and trains. People are definitely able to get around. Melbourne seems like a real vibrant city with a mixture of arts, sports, entertainment and business. I look forward to discovering more of it in the next 2 days. Hope it stays sunny……… it is definitely cooling off here though

Melbourne – Wednesday March 16th

After a little route planning for the day I explored my way down to the Victorian Arts Centre, taking in the spectacular architecture and downtown life bustling with people on the way to work. Past the Federation Square, NGV Art Gallery, Australian Centre of Moving Image (ACMI), Flinders Station, over Princes Bridge and the Yarra Riverand down to the interesting public large art pieces outside the Victorian Arts Centre. Along streets of Little Collins, Collins, Flinders Lane, Flinders Street, Bourke, King, William, Queen, Elizabeth……… the streets are so easy to remember the complete grid system mapped out in the 1830’s has held up nicely even with the skyscrapers now rising up on the north and southbanks of the Yarra River. The many cathedrals, St. Paul’s, St. Michaels just to name a few, add such character and vibrance to the region. The trams of all colours in so many directions seem to captivate the eye too. But not nearly as much as the almost naked underwear models dancing on the stage for the LOreal Fashion week (they were giving the ladies in the audience a free pair of underwear so yeah!!). Then it was on to take in the exhibit ‘Screen Worlds’ at the ACMI – with a focus on film, television and digital culture plus an Aussie spin of course. Film effects, production, editing, directors, actors, and advancements over the decades and the behind the scenes sections were pretty cool.

After a little rest (since today I was not feeling entirely up to par, tired so took a time out and hoping I am not getting sick) I got the free tourist shuttle bus that in an hour and a half covers a great deal of downtown. The Arts Precinct, Federation Square, Sports Precint (complete with cricket ground & sports museums), Chinatown Precint, Melbourne Museum & Carlton Gardens, Lygon Street Precinct, University of Melbourne, Queen Victoria Market, Waterfront City & Docklands, William Street, Southbank & Yarra River and, the final stop, the Shrine of Remebrance and Royal Botanic Gardens. It was really nice to sit back and have a great Aussie speaker voice man explain all the sights around me. Melbourne knows how to do tourism. After appreciating the shrine of remembrance for the aussie veterans I wandered the tan track (the sand track looping around the gates of the royal botanic gardens) down through the oak lawn, princes lawn past the rose pavilion and down to the dog flats by the ornamental lake by the long island. I settled in on a comfy bench under a massive palm tree to take in the greenery, smell of the fresh cut grass, the water’s edge and multitude of bird calls and walkabouts. A great relaxing end to the day!



Melbourne – Thursday March 17th (Happy St Paddy’s Day!!)

It has been a sluggish start to the day, not feeling up to par and definitely sneezing ++. So not pushing it (not Jill style intensity at least) I did my laundry, my computer catch up and knocked off the idea of the zoo today as I thought that might be pushing it although my blisters are healing and my feet are on the mends. Enough boring stuff, eh? I got back on the free tourist shuttle bus and listened to the same speaker voice man tell me all about the sights and sounds of Melbourne. I stopped of the Queen Victoria Markets, which easily houses hundreds if not thousands of booths with goods ranging from fruit and produce, meats/fish and delis, to souvenirs, Aussie made goods and clothing of all sorts. The produce was so fresh and everything you could think with sellers yelling out prices and hoping for you the customer to run over with your grocery trolley and stock up. Well I couldn’t take too much advantage as I am headed out on the bus tomorrow but I did buy a wack load of yummy strawberries for only $1.50! In terms of the clothing, it really did seem (this may sound rude but I do not mean it that way) but super cheap Asian knock off stuff. I was hoping for more arts and crafts type I guess. None the less I did walk away with a cool small wooden Australia map and 3 Aboriginal paintings that may not be the most authentic but the guy who sold them to me was making his own didgeridoo and could tell me the stories behind them so that was cool with me! After falling asleep on the bus ride intending to go sit and read in the Botanic Gardens on this fine chilly autumn day, I came back for a siesta and the power nap worked with me feeling more rejuvenated and invigorated. I then wandered back down St Kilda and sat along the Yarra River and watched the many private school girls and boys rowing and skulls teams. Boats of 1, 2, 4, & 8 worked hard in unison stroking down the Yarra as their coaches rode bikes along the banks shouting out instructions and encouragement through megaphones. It was a nice vantage point for my late afternoon and early evening. Calling in a little early tonight to pack up, organize and get to bed early for the early start before the sunrise to get my backpacking butt down to the Victorian Arts Centre before 7:15 to catch the ‘Groovy Grapes’ Great Ocean Rd and Grampians bus.