Melbourne

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  Melbourne, Australia
Saturday, February 24, 2007

We moved on to Melbourne via a 12 hour train journey from Sydney which we thought might be fun with lots to see but proved otherwise. There is generally very little to see away from the main cities and Australia is very flat and dry - we probably should have known that it would make for a rather long and uneventful journey but there you are - we arrived in Melbourne at about 7 in the evening and got a taxi to the hotel. It was fairly obvious straight away that the centre of Melbourne is laid out on a grid basis, much like most US cities. It also became quickly clear that the way to get around is by trams which constantly crisscross the streets, so the next day we bought 7-day passes for the trams, much to Josh's delight.

On day 1 we mooched around, still recovering from the train journey. On day 2 we ventured to various garden areas, which are quite reminiscent of being back in blighty. The Fitzroy Gardens were particularly so as they include 'Cooks' Cottage' which in 1934 was purchased and moved from Ayton in Yorkshire to Melbourne. Sitting in the garden, with herb beds and flowers, we could easily have been in an English summer garden. The climate in Melbourne is also familiar in that it is highly changeable, both day by day and during each day, although drought is affecting this area as well.
We moved on to Carlton Gardens where you find the Royal Exhibition Building, The Melbourne Museum and an IMAX Theatre. The REB was being used for a backpack fair and therefore access was limited to us ancients! We decided to escape the rising heat by a visit to the IMAX theatre which was great - aided by some dodgy looking 3D glasses we were all reaching out to touch creatures from the deep! We finished with the Museum which had a number of excellent interactive displays.

Our 3rd day was centred around a trip to The Dandenongs - a range of mountains about an hours' drive out of Melbourne. After a brief stop for tea and bird feeding we went on to Puffing Billy, Australia's oldest preserved steam railway. We took the train, winding up valleys and across old wooden bridges, to Menzies Creek, just beyond a previous landslide area where the track had been relaid several years ago. We transferred back to our tour coach and moved on to a Vineyard for lunch - one of many in the Yarra Valley which is a major wine growing area. After this it was on to Healesville Sanctuary, a sanctuary for Australian wildlife which includes a hospital for sick animals which are brought there. Almost all varieties of unique Aussie animals are there and it was a real pleasure to walk around; indeed we ran out of time and had to get back to the coach for the journey back earlier than would have chosen.

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