Melbourne Museum Morning

It sure isn't summer in Melbourne yet! The warmth from the sun is lovely, but unfortunately the cool wind is blowing quite strong. This morning seemed like a good time to go check out the exhibits at the museum. There was definitely a lot more to see then expected.

Mind and Body exhibit - didn't spend too much time here, but the information was displayed nicely for both adults and children to understand.

Science and Life exhibit - a lot to see about the ocean, dinosaurs, and many other animals! My favourite was all the gorgeous colourful rocks on display. I also would be happy with a slab of that granite in my future kitchen!

Taxidermy

Lovely circular granite

Melbourne Gallery - great place to learn more about the history of Melbourne, both the struggles and the years of fortune.

Years of fortune during the gold rush!

Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre - interesting to read more into the timeline of Aboriginal people within melbourne. The gallery had on display numerous tools and art created and used by the Aboriginal people. Very nice display embracing culture, generations, and community empowerment.

I walked through everything maybe a little quickly, but was still in there for almost 2 hours. A nice way to spend a rather chilly morning.

Bye for now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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St Kilda, Luna Park, Shrine of Remembrance

I'm not sure what I have against public transport. Although it's convenient, quick, and relatively inexpensive, I have yet to use it in Melbourne. Today I decided to check out St kilda area, and figured it would be a good long walk down to the beaches. About 2 hours later I arrived and was welcomed with the lovely ocean breeze. It was a great walk down, passing through many parks along the way.

I walked along the beach and made my way to Luna park. A rather creepy old amusement park that was originally opened to the public in 1912. Didn't jump on any of the rides, but enjoyed a little wonder around.

After a stroll down Acland street I began my treck back to the city, stopping at the Shrine of Remembrance to snap a few shots.

I was quite happy when I made it back to the city centre, as my feet were getting sore and the weather was beginning to turn south. Walking up Elizabeth street I made an impromptu stop at the sugar station... I think my low blood sugar was partially to blame! I got myself a lovely assortment of chocolates and even a few candies thrown in. I thought they would have lasted me more then the 10 minutes it took to finish off the bag, but I would like to think my 4 hours of walking balances it out!

 

 

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Phillip Island Tour

Well I finally did my first touristy thing since I've been in Australia. Although I'm not a big fan of tourist activities, I did have a good day experiencing Phillip Island. The tour guide was great to chat with, and it was also nice to experience the sights with others. I was the first picked up around 10am to start the day. After a few more stops we were a full bus of 20 ranging from Canadian, American, Italian, Australian, Brazilian, Chinese, and Malaysian. After about 90 minutes of driving we were all keen to take a little walk around the Rhyll Trout & Bush Tucker Farm to learn a bit about edible plants and fruits that are native to the lands.

After the short wonder we migrated to the dinning area and enjoyed a cafe lunch. I had the spinach quiche, which was made from local farm eggs as well as the spinach grown just outside.

Next we headed down the road to spot some koalas at the Koala Conservation Centre. I managed to see quite a few sleeping ones, funny looking things. Hard to believe they sleep for up to 20 hours of the day. Luckily we also got to see one eating away on some eucalyptus plants! Good to know that they do indeed wake from their death like sleep.

As we were driving to our next stop we did a detour into a race track. Our tour guide obviously knew what was coming, but left the passengers wondering what we would see. To our delight there were a bunch of wild kangaroos laying about on the grass. They're fenced off from the race track, for obvious reasons, but they are free to roam around the surroundings.

Our next stop was probably a highlight for the majority of passengers, the Phillip Island Winery. Although I stopped my wine tasting after a sip of the first wine, I did enjoy the selection of Gippsland’s finest cheeses and fresh bakery breads. I tried blue cheese for the first time, which I have to say was in fact edible! The owner did say that it was one of the mildest and creamiest of the blue cheeses so probably why I was actually able to consume it. There was also a black pepper cheddar and my favourite the Brie cheese. To be honest, I would have been happy to eat the bead by itself, it was so tasty. We had some left over in our basket and I was very tempted to ask for a bag to take the rest back to my hostel. I really wish I had!

I really enjoyed our stop at Point Grant and The Nobbies. We got to see some breathtaking views over Westernport Bay and Bass Strait. The sun was also beginning to go down, which I think made for some nice scenery pictures.

 

Last but not least we made our way to the Penguin Parade. I found it a little funny about how much of a tourist attraction they made this site, selling popcorn like at the movies, plenty of souvenirs at the gift shop, lovely boardwalks down to the beach, and big stands of bleaches built to get a good view of the little waddlers emerging from the dark blue ocean. The tide was out quite far, so we enjoyed a good view of the little penguins walking up the beach to the grass and bushes. They come home every night after a day out at sea eating fish. Apparently they can swim up to 50 km in a day! Then at night, depending where they have their burrows, they may walk up 2km from the beach. A lot more active then the koalas that's for sure. Unfortunately, due to the welfare of the Penguins and thousands of people not knowing how to take pictures without a flash, no photography was allowed. After I watched a few groups emerge from the ocean, I walked up along the boardwalk and got some great close up views of the Penguins walling up to their burrows.

All the boardwalks at the Penguin Parade

First one on the bus, last one off.... I got home around 10:30pm so it was sure a long day away from the hostel! It was great to get out of the city though and see a few Australian animals in their natural habitats. Nice way to spend the day.

Bye for now.

 

 

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Sunday September 28th, 2014

Switched hostels this morning. I'm now staying up near the Queen Victoria Market at the YHA Melbourne Metro location. Didn't stay long and just dropped off my bags, but even with a quick stop in I could tell the atmosphere and layout of this hostel is very different once again from the previous ones.

Decided to join along on a free walking tour around the city. Great way to spend a couple of hours and learn a bit more about the history of some of the buildings I've been walking past without giving them a second glance. Quite a big group of us, so the tour guide did a great job keeping track of people. Oddly enough I met a girl from BC on the tour. Not only was she from BC, but she was also a Kinesiology graduate from Uvic... Very small world we live in! After the tour was over, her and I walked down to the Melbourne Cricket Grounds. They were doing a free open day for everyone to go see inside, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity. This is where the football match was played yesterday!

I didn't take too many shots on the tour, but here are a few from our stops.

 

 

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Saturday September 27th, 2014

Docklands morning walk, AFL afternoon at the square

Walked over to the docklands this morning before breakfast. I love wondering about in the mornings, as the streets are still relatively quiet and I'm amongst other morning enthusiasts! Didn't take me too long to make it to the docklands area. Nice parks and bridges, but didn't explore too much before heading back to the hostel.

 

After organizing my purse: water bottle, hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, lunch, wallet etc... I headed off to my most visited place yet, federation square. Once again, I think I may have jumped the gun and arrived a bit before the main events began. Although there were hundreds of people hanging about even around 11ish, the big screen didn't start the pre game entertainment until 1:30pm and the game didn't start until 2:30pm. I enjoyed sitting in the sun and then wondering amongst the crowd around and around. It was great to see everyone all dressed up in their respective team colours. Red and white for the Sydney Swans and brownish and yellow for the Hawthorn Hawks.

Protecting my face from the Aussie sun!

 

Afternoon crowds

Watching the game was good. Chatted with a few people before the game and learnt more about the rules and what not. It was interesting getting to know Australian football, not a bad game to watch my first AFL game! It was a great experience and afternoon full of cheering, chants, and energetic fans. And the winner was......Hawthorn Hawks 137 to Sydney Swans 74.

Ed Sheeran entertaining before the game.

One more night at the Melbourne central YHA and then I'm heading up to stay at the Melbourne Metro YHA for four nights. I'm finally going to start to do a bit of touristy stuff the next few days before I hop back on the train to Sydney. I do enjoy wondering on my own and exploring city streets at my leisure, but I figured it may be nice to learn a bit of history and get to know Melbourne better. Planning on a free walking tour around the city, a guided tour of Phillips island, a visit to the Melbourne museum, my first restaurant meal sampling the best pizza in the world; a margarita pizza at 400 Gradi, a stroll through Luna park and along the beach, then I might visit the Melbourne aquarium my last day.

Looking forward to writing about my next few adventures!

Bye for now.

 

 

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Friday's September 26th, 2024

Yara river, AFL parade, graffiti alleyways...

Wanting to explore more than the city streets of Melbourne I decided to go for a little run along Yara river and see where it would take me. As I walked down the steps to the river I noticed many rowers already in the water and many walkers, runners, and cyclist out and about in the early morning. I made my way to the Royal Botanic Gardens and wondered around there for a few minutes. Very nice to have so much greenery right in the heart of the big city!

 

After a shower and breakfast at the hostel, I made my way down to federation square to check out the many activities going on for the big AFL game tomorrow. It was very very busy. Wish I could have gotten an aerial shot of the streets as I don't think my pictures do the crowds any justice. The parade itself wasn't anything spectacular in my opinion. Mainly just the players driving in the cards and waving at the screaming fans all decorated in their teams colours. I'm sure I would have found it more exciting if I had even a smidgen of AFL knowledge!

 

After I had enough of sitting about at federation square, I went for a wonder down some city shopping streets. Little Collins street was filled with cute bakeries and cafes, as well as expensive high end shops. My favourite sight was the alleyway filled with graffiti artists decorating the concrete walls!

 

 

 

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September 25th, 2014

I have arrived in Melbourne! My feet hurt and my shoulders feel as though I've done one thousand shoulder shrugs. I'm glad I packed light, because even walking around with a backpack and a purse for a few hours is hard work.

The atrium, next to federation square.

Cool bike rentals like they do over in London!

After I got off the train this morning I had a few hours to kill before I could check into my hostel. I walked to federation square and also walked around the queen Victoria market.

City streets.

 

To my pleasant surprise I've arrived on the weekend of the AFL grand final, which I've come to learn is a huge sporting even, much like Americans and their super bowl. So I will be watching a parade tomorrow and then on Sunday watching the game outside on the big screen TV set up at federation square!

I don't catch a train until the night of October 2nd, so I have seven more good days to sight see. The weather is a bit chillier than Sydney. It was even sprinkling this morning and remained cloudy all day. I must admit, a little rain made it feel like BC which was nice, and also no sun meant I didn't have to lather myself with sunscreen, yay!

Tall buildings and sky's of grey.

Some things I've learnt since my last post, which was only yesterday afternoon...

I can live without schedule.

I can sleep (somewhat) on an overnight train, after I realize that the noise is normal and no we aren't going to derail!

Don't put hand sanitizer in your purse upside down... The lids aren't that strong and it makes a nasty mess. At least mine was in an outside pocket and the only thing it seemed to really destroy was an already used bus pass.

I'm sure I've learnt a lot more than these few points, but they are all I can think about for now. I'm excited to continue for exploring tomorrow.

Bye for now.

 

 

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