Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne

From Alice's Diary;

Saturday 5.11.11 Melbourne

Weather: Clear Skies, Northerly Winds 27 Deg C

I was so exited to be coming into Melbourne I was awake and up on the at 5.30am. So great to sea the coast line of Victoria and a lot of little fishing boats out. We were told later that they fish for snapper. Then the most …

Usual morning scenario. Woke up early. Lay awake for a while. Eventually got up, went to the kitchen for breakfast and did some puzzles. Ready and into town by 11.30am.

Gardens today. All the best ones are apparently south of the river. I got off the tram at Federation Square and walked back over Princes Bridge and into Alexandra Gardens. …

The second least pleasant part of the trip is now over, 16 hours in the air from LAX, and for us, this was the third flight of the day, Boston to Denver to LAX to Melbourne, but, with such a long overnight flight, you don't have much choice but to get some sleep.

A word of warning to all who imbibe of spirits. Prices are extremely high …

Hello from Melbourne

Had a nice quiet day today, spent the morning relaxing in the apartment, did a little school work with the kids. Left for the Royal Botanical Gardens after Lunch. Before entering the Royal Botanical Gardens, there is a huge building called the Shrine of Remembrance. It is beautiful place in memory of the WWI & WWII …

Overslept ... then they were cleaning the shower room and I missed the free breaky ... so I headed out to find some. Within a few steps I discovered a small cafe serving up hearty breakfasts, so ordered myself some toast and a hot chocolate. As I ate my breakfast I planned my day by consulting my Lonely Planet. (Where would I be without one hey?)< …

I won't waste too many words on the details. I'll give you brushstrokes with some embellishment on the moments that stick in the mind. I'm writing this a couple of days later on my birthday and so recalling is a little harder than usual - after half a bottle of wine.

Melbourne is getting the cheap and cheerful treatment from us. We didn't …

Today we woke up a bit later, at around 10 AM, because we didnt go to sleep until 12 AM last night. When I got up, I had a shower and ate breakfast. I went on my computer to upload some photo's. We decided to got to the Royal Botanical Garden's before going to out Colonial Tramcar Dinner at 5:30.
We went out at about 12 PM to catch the free …

We arrived in Melbourne after a pretty long drive from Canberra, and when we arrived Bec's friend from Israel, Debs, was there to meet us. She took us back to her lovely little house in the Mooney Ponds part of Melbourne, where we would be staying for a few days.

The following morning Debs had taken the day off work and bless her, started …

The concierge found a pharmacy open on Sunday and they helped me fix my rescue inhaler. As with all my experiences in Australia, everyone was wonderfully nice and helpful. They also sold me lozenges that actually helped so I was feeling pretty perky. It is amazing what a few really deep breaths that are NOT followed by 10 minutes of frantic …

This morning I was feeling a lot better and had a good sleep last night. I used the morning for commenting and naming the last days' pictures and headed off to the city. I started at the Shrine of Remembrance and entered the Royal Botanical Gardens via the Observatory Gate. The Gardens were large and nice, but not as spectacular as the ones in …

... quiet day, and I spent the morning exploring the southern part of the city. This area is home to the Royal Botanic Gardens, and I enjoyed a leisurely stroll through there, before visiting the Shrine of Remembrance and walking along the Yarra River. The ...

... of shops and restaurants, for a heart attack inducing gateau. Then onto the various other gardens of Melbourne, including the Royal Botanic Gardens, seeing the very large remembrance building just before entering. Finally, walk back along the ...

... the male was getting horny. Courtship invloves biting the females flippers and hanging on for dear life. Sunbathed in the Royal Botanic Gardens in the afternoon and later paid respects at the memorial to the soldiers who died at Gallipoli. New Years ...

... hay. We had an even lazier morning on Saturday and set off into town again, this time stopping off at the Royal Botanic Gardens on the way. They were really well set out and gave fantastic views of the city through the surrounding trees and plants. ...

... or so.  Any group that has a pedal steel and a horn section is alright with me!   I continued around the Royal Botanic Gardens then followed the river back to Swanston Street and then back up to Carlton.   Everything else is going ...

... und Souvenirs. Danach haben wir uns in ein Gerichtssaal gesetzt und ein bisschen Verfahren verfolgt. Dann waren wir in den Royal Botanic Gardens, der der schoenste in Australien sein soll und mit einer der schoensten der Welt, hat mir auch wirklich gut ...

... marvelous. Almost made me not miss that part back home (but just almost). The next day was a stroll through the royal botanic gardens, which are supposed to be the most beautiful in australia. Well, I guess australia just doesn't have any worthy ...

Day out at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne. Weather was absolutely lovely - just right. Lots of spectacular plants but not too much wildlife on display.  All was going great until the parking fine $70 for parking facing the wrong way!!!! Had ...

... the old Melbourne Gaol (where the infamous bush ranger Ned Kelly was hung), Queen Victoria Market, the beatiful Royal Botanic Gardens, the Shrine of Rememberance, Federation Square (where we bumped into a Youth Against War demonstration), the Rialto ...

... type stuff. Having got up late headed into the city to take in Federation Square, The Shrine of Rememberance, and the Royal Botanic Gardens. Foolishly I decided to do this in my thongs (flip-flops) and after 2.5 hours of solid walking my feet were ...