An early start again this morning as we were collected at 7-15 by our coach for the city tour. Coaches go around the city making pick ups at different hotels so it was quite interesting to see parts of the town we probably would not be going through. One side street was being set up for a film set; wonder who and what was going to be filmed there today?
Our driver,Paul, had lots of interesting stories to tells as an ex pat could relate them more with what we knew .
We travelled all over the city while we were introduced to different historical buildings and to some of the beautiful modern architecture.
We travelled up to the old Victorian part of the town and saw the market, on the list for a visit!
There were some quite small houses in that area that are now being sold for over one million dollars!! The Docklands area is another section continuing to be developed, a real up and coming area with apparently prices to match. Think that Melbourne is becoming quite an expensive place to live. In contrast we also saw Captain Cook's Cottage ( or at least his parents cottage) which in comparison is quite tiny.
We drove through St Kilda, the beach area, it was very popular today. Well it was 35degrees.
There was a lot of activity, on the water, in the water and on the road to the beach.
Once again the city is beginning to set up for the Melbourne Grand Prix.The course is set with barackades, the seats are being set: apparently it takes 6 weeks to set up and another 4 to take it all down again. Such a performance just for one week end? At least we can say we were on the start line of the race in a vehicle, even if it was a coach!!
We toured the sporting venues of the city, there are quite a lot, cricket, Auzzie rule football, tennis ( the famous Rod Laver Stadium), swimming, they still have their Olympic Pool from the Melbourne games. Some many opportunities for the young to get involved and so much coaching and skills training going on.
We also visited the First World War memorial again: it's still quite moving watching the light move across the memorial stone as the Last Post is sounded. There are also great views across Melbourne from the top gallery, especially of the newly constructed poppy in the garden.
Once the city tour was over it was on to a boat for a cruise down the Yarra River, which runs through Melbourne.
We had interesting views of the buildings from the river while Dave, the Skipper, told us tales of the way the river architecture is changing and how it is effecting where people live.
We floated down to the main harbour and port area having buildings pointed out to us, the returned to Southgate learning about the other bank!
It was a very pleasant way to see parts of the city on such a hot day.
Walking back from Southgate we were able to see some of the decorations set up for the Chinese New Year as celebrations continue for another week.
Later we ventured up to the top part of the city to see some of the areas we knew on our last visit and to see Bourke Street. It was very hot and busy.
A good day, looking forward to more exploring again tomorrow.