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Published: March 13th 2006
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MELBOURNE
From the Rialto tower Well folks it's our last day here in Melbourne. The last week has been terrific. We have been into Melbourne as well as visiting lots of interesting places in the surrounding area.
Following a very quiet weekend during which Linda revisited her culinary skills by cooking a wonderful Sunday roast dinner (whilst Ken went for a swim in the communal swimming pool with Richard, Ellie and Georgia) we ventured into Melbourne on Wednesday.
We were first of all staggerred by the cheapness of the train fare - less than £2 each for the equivalent of a trip from Bicester to London! On arriving in Melbourne our first stop, more by luck than good judgement, was the Rialto Tower - the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere, according to the official blurb: we seem to be making a habit of going to the top of tall buildings. As in our previous visits this one proved no exception, with breathtaking views of the city. Including all or most of the venues for the soon to begin Commonwealth games. A bit of bad planning on Ken's part there!
We then took a stroll around the city and particularly the South Bank
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City at ground level from the South Bank which has a wonderful array of shops, bars and restaurants. As we had decided to stay overnight we made our way to the 'Visitors' Information Centre.' What an incredibly helpful place this is. They have certainly got their act together over here when it comes to looking after visitors. In less than ten minutes we had a nice cheap hotel room booked for us and all the information we required to get around the city easily and cheaply. As well as all the information we needed to make a decision on the best way to travel to Sydney. A wondeful facility that our major cities would do well to follow.
We spent the afternoon getting our bearings, walking around the centre of town and booking into our hotel. It really is a marvellous city, with tower blocks alongside wonderful gardens and docklands. Free trams and buses in the town centre make it so easy to get about.
The main reason for choosing Wednesday for our visit was to go and hear Eric Bogle, an expatriate Scottish folk singer who has lived over here for over 30 years. Although Ken has seen him several times before, Linda had not
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The lake in the background is where the Australian Grand Prix circles and was not quite sure what to expect. I think it is suffice to say that we both thought he was brilliant. For those of you who may not have heard of him he has written two of the best anti-war songs ever: No Mans Land and The Band Played Waltzing Matilda. Hopefully this link will take you to the lyrics.
http://ericbogle.net/lyrics/lyricspdf/nomansland.pdf and http://ericbogle.net/lyrics/lyricspdf/andbandplayedwaltzingm.pdf
He played these and many more sometimes emotive, sometimes humorous, always with some sort of story, songs. We particularly liked a new anti-war song Other Peoples Children: http://ericbogle.net/lyrics/lyricspdf/otherpeopleschildren.pdf
A really great night.
The next day we had a wonderful breakfast at a cafe opposite our hotel; went to look around St Patrick's Cathedral, a beautiful catholic church; hopped on a free bus that took us to various interesting points in the city; did a bit of shopping; visited the Docklands area - much prettier than London's I suspect; went for a trip on a wee shuttle boat service which skirted around the harbour and along the main river through the City, before we eventually headed back to Wallen.
In truth, we were so taken with the place we decided to go back into
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An upside down statue. No, I don't know why! the city the next day. We did mostly the same sorts of things: shopping, sightseeing, eating and we even found this very old pub hidden away in a small side street which was the Business. It was called The Mitre - you mitre heard of it before! It is on Bank Place off Collins Street and it is well worth a visit if you are ever lucky enough to be in Melbourne.
On Saturday we took Ellie and Georgia to Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary which is about 90K from Wallen. The journey in itself was spectacular with wonderful scenery, most of which you would not automatically associate with Australia. It was a super day. Following a picnic we saw emus, kangaroos, wombats, dingos, all sorts of birds and reptiles plus a terrific birds of prey display. (We missed out on Koalas, but they are old hat to us now anyway!) A Popular place indeed - The Lesoto Commonwealth Games team were visitors.
Sunday saw us all going on a trip to Maryville, an alpine village to the north of Wallen. Yes, that's right, an alpine village. Except yesterday it was 36 degrees - not a lot of snow about!
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Flinders Street Station. With apologies to Chris and Ruth-Anne! The family Webster have holidayed here before and assure us that when they were here it was snowy and freezing. It was pretty enough in the blazing sun it must be awesome in the Winter, Again the journey was almost as spectacular as the destination.
So, this evening we say farewell to Wallen and our wondeful hosts and take the train to Sydney just in time for next week's St Patrick's Day celebrations. Speak to you all again soon. There are still a few of you on the subscribers' list who we haven't heard from - it would be nice to hear from you as well as being nice to know that you are actualy receiving our updates. We look forward to hearing from all of you soon.
Ken and Linda
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Anna & Duncan
non-member comment
Melbourne
Good to hear you are continuing to have a good time. We were in Melbourne 10yrs ago your pictures bring back memorises. No doubt you will have a great time in Sydney too!