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Published: February 5th 2011
Melbourne
Church at South YarraDavid here...
The flight to Melbourne was pretty much uneventful. We had a few glasses of wine, watched Megamind and Toy Story 3 and before we knew it, we were in another country. Our 7th of this trip so far. We picked up our luggage that had successfully made it to us after a transfer in Sydney and headed for the bus into the city centre. We got to the Southern Cross train station and then bam! After dealing with transport systems all over Asia (or lack of them) it's a little ironic that we could not figure out the Melbourne train system at all. None of the screens or platforms corresponded with where we wanted to go. We couldn't buy a ticket anywhere and we just felt a bit overwhelmed with being in the western world again. After a few minutes we prevailed after seeking out customer services and getting tickets and then finding the station we wanted listed and finally made it to our hotel, the Claremont. Again, even though we were in a private room, we had bunk beds and the room got stuffy at times even with a fan and the room was a little small
Melbourne
Museum and Art Gallery - This was about 20ft high but we knew that. The shared bathrooms were modern and clean and the breakfast of cereal and toast, with as much tea or coffee you could drink (throughout the day as well) was nice. Overall a good base for us. It was outside of the city centre but regular trams stopped right outside.
The day we arrived we cleaned up and then headed out to explore the area we were in, South Yarra. The main street was full of bars and restaurants and shops and the area had a very nice vibe just to walk around. We decided to go to the Mexican restaurant a few doors down from the hotel, Fiesta, which is recommended by Andre Agassi and Leyton Hewitt. The food was nice with big portion sizes however it was not a patch on Jalisco back home. One thing that did catch us off-guard is the price. We were expecting prices to be less than the U.K however due to the exchange rate not being in our favour, Australia is currently equal to the UK in cost, and in some cases much more expensive, especially on beer.
The next day, after a filling breakfast, we made
Melbourne
Looking at, and appreciating works of art our way by tram to the Museum and Art Gallery. We spent a good number of hours in there looking at all of the pictures and exhibits. Even the entrance was a work of art, with big glass windows in an archway with rain water running down the glass. We then went to the Ian Potter art gallery and stayed there until closing time. On the way back we stopped off at the Arts Centre to look at a Rock Chicks exhibition, which was also very good. All of the galleries we visited that day were free of charge which was a real bonus. The city could quite easily charge for the galleries as they were of such a high quality but to have them for free shows that they are geared up for and welcome tourists.
The following day it was raining again so we jumped onto the free tourist bus that runs tourists round all of the sights and allows you to hop off and on at them. We got on near the first stop and went pretty much all the way round to the Immigration museum. The museum itself was good, however we were expecting more
Melbourne
In front of the 'water fall' at the museum entrance information about specific families and peoples experiences. The museum focused more on the journey and processes for entering the country over the years. Another disappointment was that the top floor was given over to a West African display which had nothing to do with immigration at all. Still, it was interesting enough.
Our final day in Melbourne was spent walking to St Kilda beach, which took about an hour and took us through some of the lovely suburban areas of Melbourne. The sun was shining and the walk was really nice. St Kilda is the hip and happening beach area and is lovely. We went into the Luna Park theme area with big dippers and the like, but at over $40 for very few rides we just walked round. We then sat by the beach on some rocks for a few hours, just soaking up the atmosphere. After looking round some shops (and not finding anything) we walked back to the hotel, going through another area where Suzanne found a new T-Shirt in 'Salvos' for $5. On the way back we stumbled onto Chapel Street, a really nice area with lots more shops, bars and restaurants.
This blog
Melbourne
Behind the 'water fall'. entry is quite short and it doesn't quite capture the essence of Melbourne and our experiences there. We loved it and it came as quite a shock really as Australia was pretty much an after-thought for this trip - we are in the neighbourhood so we should also see Aussie-land as well as New Zealand. However we loved Melbourne. We loved the free tourist stuff, we loved the streets, we loved the people, we loved pretty much everything about Melbourne and we left wanting more, but looking forward to Tasmania.
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