Australia- Melbourne

We arrived in Melbourne at sunset.  This is the evening view from our hotel room.  What an engaging light show!  We also got up to take a sunrise photo  Our hotel, the Langham Melbourne is in a great location.

Our trip duration has gone past one month, and it is about time to head home.  Our flight from NZ to AU took us two time zones further west.  Australia requires a visa, but it can be completed simply online.  We are now eight time zones from Colorado and one day later. We have enough UA flight points to fly home free from Sydney, but first we have to get to Sydney. We have been very lucky with weather; it was fine when sightseeing during the morning, and then rained while we were waiting for our flight from Queenstown.

When surrounded by the big city, we always retreat to a quiet park.  This is Fitzroy Park, located right next to downtown; large, shaded, and well-cared for.

A co-ed crew rowing on the river.  A row of boat houses for these shells and kayaks are located a short distance east of us in Alexandra Gardens.

Melbourne (pronounced "Melburn") is a very large city with an impressive skyline.  They have an 88th floor Skydeck viewing platform of the city just one block from our hotel, but we actually got better photos from our own hotel room on the 21st story (less back light and cleaner glass).  Many construction cranes are visible around the area building new skyscrapers.  Instead of a B&B, we are downtown near the urban attractions: the river, shopping, a million restaurants, and a major transportation terminal.  But we are here only for the weekend.

Downtown as seen from the 88th floor of the SkyDeck in late afternoon.  Dawn wanted to catch the sunset here, but weather didn't cooperate.

Our first day was spent walking and riding the tram.  Trams are free within the city center, as such they are also crowded; you will find yourself standing, hanging on to an overhead strap.  The shopping areas were swarmed with pedestrians. The sidewalks were congested, and, to make it worse, there is no common understanding of which side to walk on- right, left, whatever.  So we retreated to the quiet, beautiful parks: Fitzroy Gardens, Carlton Gardens, Alexandra Gardens, Queen Victoria Gardens, Royal Botanic Gardens. Our hotel is near the river promenade; there must be fifty restaurants in a row on the promenade and all were crowded tonight. The promenade itself was crowded and had attracted a series of street performers as well.  Great for people watching.

The river promenade, an endless row of shops and restaurants with tons of customers.  Our hotel is just 50 yards to the left of this photo.  Downtown is on the right bank.

 A flower bed in the Royal Botanic Gardens.  So many nice parks!  Even though it is April, equivalent to our October weather, you can see that the climate is mild.

Our trip on the hop on/ hop off bus was disappointing. No amazing history or architecture; The local people and events described were unfamiliar, and, when spoken with Australian accents, not completely comprehensible.  The beaches were long, wide, and uncrowded.  The National Art Gallery of Victoria  is having an interesting modern art show, free and open to crowds.

Our flight to Sydney was unremarkable.  We used a taxi to get to the airport as it is somewhat distant, and we had plenty of luggage; still toting that extra bag we had to buy when my luggage was initially delayed for four days out of LAX.