Melbourne

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Melbourne
Wish we had more time here, such an amazing city. It is clean, contemporary, and with Character! Not sleeping well the night before we moved rooms then set off to town and the info. centre. Guess who just happened to be there at the same time- Barry! After collecting info we walked down the lanes, had coffee and went to the Vodafone shop to try and sort out why I couldn't connect to the UK. We then got on a free tourist bus around the city with running commentary about what a fabulous place Melbourne is, and it is. We saw the Olympic Stadium from 1956 which is still used today. There are lots of areas that are predominantly of one ethnicity for example the Greek area, Italian area, Chinese etc where all the restaurants and shops are of that ilk. They have developed the docklands and now its full of shops and restaurants. We got off by the river again full of restaurants and had lunch, then took ourselves to the Immigration Museum where as senior citizens we got in for free. It was interesting to read about how the policies have changed over the years. In one area you can interview prospective people who want to come to Australia that was quite amusing. Leaving Barry here we went to the river and took the tourist bus to the Botanic Gardens and climbed the War Memorial Monument to see the views. They were impressive and just as we were about to leave we were told that the light was going to shine on the stone. On 11.11 every year there is a service here for those that died in world war, and the light shines on the stone then, this is unique to Melbourne memoriait was was quite a moving experience.Checked back to the hotel as it was near the War Monument, showered and caught a tram back into the city and met up with Barry, Torie, and Josiah, friends that were on the Galapagos trip with us. Walked along the south bank of the river Yarra which was full of bars and restaurants and enjoyed an evening with the the guys. Melbourne really is a beautiful city and rightfully claims to be the most liveable city in the world.

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