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Published: July 17th 2010
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Melbourne skyline
View from the other bank of the Yarra River, with Federation Square in the foreground. I am at the airport in London at the moment, just returned from Melbourne and waiting for my connecting flight to Hamburg.
In Melbourne, I attended the
International Congress of Applied Psychology. The congress is huge, there were almost 3,300 delegates. It covers many different areas, including work and organisational psychology. I conducted three presentations on different topics from work. One was on a special measurement technique my company developed a couple of years ago, one was on the trainability of intelligence and its implications for psychological assessments, and one was on a learning and careers advice project we run in Ireland. We also had a poster there, which was on other learning and careers advice projects we run, but that did not need to be presented. I was just there and could be looked at.
The congress started on Sunday night with a big opening ceremony, which included an Aborigine playing the didgeridoo and a group of Aborigines performing traditional dance, but also some opening speeches. Afterwards, there was a dinner buffet. The congress itself went from Monday till Friday. It started at 8.30 in the mornings and finished at 6.30 in the evenings every day. There were a lot of interesting
Melbourne skyline by day
View from the Exhibition and Convention Centre towards Federation Square. presentations on different topics, and sometimes it was hard to decide which presentation to attend because there were many of them at the same time. So I was quite busy, and I must confess that after five days of congress, I felt really sort of filled up with content.
But I also had time to explore the city of Melbourne a bit further. I had been there more than two years ago, but only for one day. So it was good to have more time now. Attractions within the city centre are all within walking distance. There is also a free historical tram that runs around the city centre, in which some facts about the city are explained during the ride. The tourist information centre is at Federation Square, a lively square with modern buildings. There are always people performing something, with many spectators around them. There are also some nice cafés and restaurants, and there is the ACMI, the
Australian Centre for the Moving Image, an interactive exposition on the history of film, TV and digital culture. Pretty cool place! Correspondingly, there is a big screen outside on Federation Square that sometimes shows what is happening on the square, but sometimes also shows
Melbourne skyline closer
Same view as the previous picture. little documentaries, art, or ads.
Federation Square is a good starting point for many walks around the city. For example, a very nice one takes you to the other side of the Yarra River, through Queen Victoria Gardens, on the Tan Track (which is called like that because of its colour, but there are also quite a few tanned joggers!) past the Shrine of Remembrance (a memorial for the soldiers that died in the two World Wars), Government House, and Observatory to the most beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens. There are oak and palm tree lawns, a herb garden, a camellia collection, and a nice lake. Another nice walk goes along the Yarra River, you walk from Federation Square towards Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre (where the conference was held), and then back to Federation Square on the other bank of the river. On the one side of the river, there are nice restaurants and shops. Another nice walk takes you through Treasury Gardens and Fitzroy Gardens to East Melbourne, a quarter in which there are many beautiful houses built in the late 19th century. Docklands in the west of the city centre is a new quarter where there are
Melbourne skyline at night
View from the Exhibiton and Convention Centre towards Federation Square. The river is the Yarra River. also nice shops and restaurants. You can also walk through different lanes and arcades in the city centre. A street I especially liked is Little Bourke Street because there are lots of tiny shops and restaurants.
Another nice place is St. Kilda, which is about 20 minutes by tram south of the city centre. There is a long beach and a pier that was used for welcoming important guests (for example, Queen Elizabeth II and her husband many years ago, before she was even queen). There are more little shops and restaurants, and you get a very nice view on the skyline of the city centre. I also saw some little penguins there (they are only 30 centimetres tall, so pretty small).
The whole city is full of modern art, very interesting. And there are so many good restaurants! So I had a very nice dinner every evening.
On Thursday, Adam invited me to his place for dinner. He and his wife Nicki have a little daughter who is only just one week old. It was good to catch up with Adam because I had not seen him for one and a half years, and I had
Federation Square
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image not met his wife yet. Adam came all the way into the city centre to pick me up by car, and he dropped me off again afterwards. Thank you for a nice evening!
My hotel was within walking distance of the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre where the congress took part, and also within walking distance from Southern Cross Station (where the airport shuttle busses arrive and depart) and Federation Square.
My flight back home did not leave until Friday night at eleven. This time, I flew through Hong Kong (and would almost have met my two colleagues there who just arrived in Hong Kong for another congress; I was just a few hours too early). I arrived here in London a little more than two hours ago, and I hope that my flight for Hamburg will leave on time.
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winDfried
non-member comment
Cloud ?
Dear Katha, clouds of the kind You captured (TCU) appear scary to most :-) hangglider pilots. Regards, W.