Blogs from CBD, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Oceania

When Cathy finally arrived at Melbourne - her train was an hour late - the weather was atrocious. It was cold, wet and very blowy - Antarctic winds are not unknown here, and we nearly got blown over trying to cross the street. What to do on a day like that? Get under cover and go shopping! Off we trotted after the storm had abated to the Queen Victoria Market, a massive affair with loads of fab fresh food and many interesting things... and, most importantly, all undercover. (Cj: the fruit and veg were very appet, the ‘handicrafts’ much less so). Later we headed down into the heart of the central business district (CBD) where there are some great examples of “old” buildings....we’re talking circa 1900 so not old at all... and some very quaint lanes ... read more

Cathy & I are in Australia although we’ve not been together that much. Cathy came out on 1st October and has spent 4 weeks with daughter Nik and Granddaughter Solli doing all sorts of home improvement projects. I did my share too... but we’ll spare you the details.. I then went off to do a Railway Study tour, organised by the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (where I’ve been a member for over 40 years...good grief). We did a week in Sydney when I commuted into the City but stayed at Nik’s, and then a week in Melbourne. There is no need to reherse the various seminars, visits to tram depots and construction sites etc., but we did do a few very worthwhile touristic things which I’ll summarise here and include a few photos. A ... read more

Back on the train for our return trip to Melbourne, headed for our second house sit. This one would be a short term stay, looking after some animals while their humans went to a weekend birthday celebration. The train ride was more crowded than the one going up to Wandiligong, people who seemed to be commuters coming into the city for business. The train rides have all been comfortable. They even have a little food kiosk where you can buy meals and drinks for your trip. We caught another train at Southern Cross Station that would take us to our final destination at Taylors Lakes. We had met up with the homeowners the previous week while we were watching the sheep at Hoppers Crossing to discuss feeding routines and general house rules while we were at ... read more

After another sleepless flight, we finally arrived in Melbourne on Friday morning. However, our backpacks missed the transfer and were still in Singapore. On the bright side, we didn't have to carry our backpacks to the hostel. Thanks to some nice people, we could go to the ACMI (TV/movie museum) with a clean, borrowed shirt, smelling like borrowed shampoo. Our backpacks were delivered at the hostel on Saturday late in the evening. It was an experience that gave a whole new meaning to backpacking for us and definitely made me value my belongings more. Melbourne is lovely. There's skyscrapers everywhere but it has beautiful churches too. It's actually this contrast that makes it so pretty. The night after we got our luggage back, we immediately used that opportunity to dress up fancy (alright I'll admit, fancy-ish ... read more

Last weekend, my daughter and I spent a wonderful 24 hours in Melbourne. It was all planned around Saturday afternoon’s Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Pixar concert at The Arts Centre’s Hamer Hall. The music served as a narrative to the abridged versions of Pixar’s many animations which were projected behind the MSO. Until we went in to The Arts Centre, Melbourne was experiencing an Autumn day right out of the box, fine, sunny and 27 degrees. When we left, 2 hours later, Melbourne had showed it’s meteorological split personality, torrential rain with a bit of flooding and about 14 degrees. We went back to our hotel to tidy ourselves up before a bit of a wander about the CBD. The Rendezvous Hotel in Flinders Street has a great location, beautiful historic foyer and really nice, modern ... read more