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Melbourne, Sunday, Feb. 28. 2016 Captain Cooks Cottage was on our list today. The cottage is at Fitzroy Gardens. Yes, another beautiful park. It was rather interesting to see how Captain Cook lived when not exploring at sea. We also went to see nearby a Conservatory with a gorgeous display of all kinds of flowers. Since the day was still young we took a tram to St. Paul Cathedral, which is near the Southbank where the Art Center is located. We might as well take a look at that area too since it took only a walk over the Yarra River. What a lively place that was. Sunday turned out sunny and not too hot and everyone was enjoying the day walking along the river. We joined right in and ended up at the Crown Entertainment Complex. That's another busy and interesting place. Also worth a stop and having some lunch. This complex houses also a fancy casino and high end designer stores. Needless to say, we only looked, because the prices of the ware is sky high and would buy several cruises, not to mention a house. One Rolex watch was priced at over $100,000 US .  Since the day was so beautiful we kept on walking along the river to the East side of the city and finally crossed the river and up the hill to downtown and we were glad to see our hotel. I think we put enough miles onto our walking shoes so we decided since it was 5 pm to stay in for the rest of the day. Why, because I had to write this report! And tomorrow is another day. Though we haven’t decided yet what the plan for our last day in this great and beautiful city will be, but we will come up with something. Actually Melbourne reminds us of San Francisco, though it is not quite as hilly here.

Melbourne, Monday Feb. 29. 2016

Last day in "Down Under". For the “Grand Finale” we decided to hike to Southbank in order to visit the “Eureka Skydeck 88”. It’s the tallest building in Melbourne and an elevator takes you to the 88 floor in seconds!  Wow!!! OMG!!! What a sight!!! Views as far as your eyes can see. Yes, it was truly a dizzying and “Grand Finale” . Since the day was still young, when we hit the ground again, we made our way all along the South side of the Yarra River and back on the North side via the famous Webb Bridge. The day was perfect to take a stroll of a few more miles. The sun was out but it wasn’t hot and humid. It was sort of more like a fall day. After a late lunch we walked back to the hotel, where we got busy packing our bags. Yes, it is time to wrap our minds around the idea, that in the very near future we will be arriving in the US again, Los Angeles to be exact. Our second leg will take us back to El Paso. Las Cruces here we come!

PS: CONTEST: Don’t forget, the "comments" contest is still very much on. Who will get the coveted prize? Only time will tell. March 31 is the final day to send your comments. So, don’t dilli-dally, get them in now!   We will be having a few more additions to our blog, i.e. ship art, Aussie day, prizes, etc.