The end of the Ocean Road drive took us into Melbourne. Pronouced Melbun by Autralians. It is the captial of the state in Australia- Victoria. It is a much larger and more cosmoplitan city then Adelaide. Population wise it is about three and half million, so its about similar size to Denver. The city is laid out fairly nicely and sepearted in half by the Yarra River. We stayed in the bustling South Yarra district. It was fairly easy to get around and we could walk to most places. We were close to great cafes, shops, the botanical gardens, and about a mile and half from downtown. The best way to really see a city is by foot- you also can avoid traffic hassles and parking fees. So we did quite a bit of walking for the four days we were there. We really enjoyed our trip to Melbourne and if we get the chance we might go back!
Here is the major Downtown Center which has the usual skysckrapers, office buildings, big banks etc. with the Yarra River in front.
Kim and I really enjoyed the cultural and artsy vibe in Melbourne. The is a real diversity of cultures in the city. It has quite a large Greek and Jewish population. It reminded me of San Francisco a little. There were tons of great ethnic restaurants and food. The city aslo had a lot of great shops, and some interesting neighboorhoods. We visited some great outside markets, went to the History Museum where they had an awesome display on the history of the Great Wall of China, visted the large Victoria art gallery, and took a crusie up the Yarra River. We also saw the botanical gardens, and went to the relaxing beach of St. Kilda just south of the city for an afternoon.
Busy cafe culture on Collins St. in Downtown.
Kim taking a break to direct the marching band in Geelong.
Check out some of the cool underground graffiti. There are a lot of side streets with some interesting graffiti artwork.
Some photos of interesting and unique shops in Melbourne.
I found these two shops just as I was craving some fries (chips in Australia) and hot doughnuts- mmmm- perfect!
Its no Home Depot or Bed Bath and Beyond but we had to check it out just for the name!
This one too- what in the F#%$ where they thinking here.
Relaxing in the Botanical Gardens
We took a day trip to the neat town and beach area of St. Kilda. It was about 2 miles from our hostel and had a great walking pier, shops, beach area, and promenade.
Parliment Building in the Carlton- Fitzroy section of the city.
Federation Square in the downtown area
Cindy getting proposed to from the Jumbotron screen downtown- word on the street was that she said yes!
