Tuesday – March 18, 2025
Today’s featured photo is an indication of our impression of Melbourne – a “thumbs up” city. This photo was taken near the National Gallery and performing arts center near the Yarra River.
The new construction in Melbourne is set back from the dock area by land that has been classified as historical so no new construction can take place there. So we had a short drive to get from the ship to the Eureka Building near the Yarra River. That would be the place to pick up a shuttle back to the ship. From the Eureka Building we walked a couple blocks to Southgate Landing where we boarded a barge boat for a river cruise. In my opinion the river cruise was a bust – no clear view of what we were passing and presentation by a “canned” audio. I could have skipped this portion of the day but it was included in the price of the cruise.
When we left the boat we crossed the Evan Walker bridge as we walked to find a bank. Before leaving on this trip we had purchased foreign currency for the countries we were to visit. The Australian dollars we received were in denominations larger than practical to use so we wanted to exchange them for 5’s, 10’s and 20’s. We found a branch of the ANZ Bank a couple blocks across the river and made the swap. We had use this same bank in Auckland when we needed to make the same type of currency exchange for New Zealand dollars.
It was noon or a little after and we passed many restaurants on the way to the bank. As we walked we saw a restaurant that was familiar – Subway. We placed our orders, ate our sandwiches and agreed they tasted like those at home. It was nice to have a familiar taste.
Near to the Subway was a cathedral that looked like it might be interesting – St. Paul’s Cathedral. The church did not disappoint. It had many beautiful stained glass windows, ornate tile work on the floor, decorative pillars and ceiling and a large pipe organ. There are several photos showing these features.
We crossed the street to the Flinders Street Railway Station thinking it might be interesting to see the inside. However, once inside we were stopped by turnstiles requiring tokens to pass – which we didn’t have. Also, the inside wasn’t that interesting to look at – turnstiles and railway police.
We left the station on the way across the Yarra River. Less than half a block from the church was a donut shop with many different varieties. There is a photo that shows most of them. We thought the shop might have been more appropriately placed next to a police station but perhaps police in Australia don’t eat donuts.
We continued down the street and noticed some unusual trees – the trunks were pink with white dots! You’ll find a couple photos of use by those trees. The decorating was done in front of the performing arts center. In addition to the wrapped trees there were sculptures and fountains in the area. I liked the “Thumbs Up” sculpture in front of the National Gallery.
We knew the shuttle stop was close to where we were but were not certain how best to get to it. We saw a man working in the area and asked him if we could walk through an area that appeared to be under construction. The construction is an addition to the ballet building. He told us we could cross the bridge over the construction area, walk through the ballet building and find the shuttle stop within a block.
We set off over the bridge and through the ballet building and sure enough, the shuttle stop was close by. So, too, was the Australia 108 Building – the tallest building at present in Melbourne. It has balcony gardens for several of the lower floors and strange looking gold extensions 50 stories or so above ground. I believe if you are looking at the building from above it looks like a gold star is surrounding it.
Didn’t have to wait long for our shuttle ride back to the ship. We posed for a selfie of us below our cabin and Karen photo bombed those photos. Once on board we went to lunch with Karen then up to decks 14 and 15 to get a look at the city. Took some photos and video while up there and noticed the Viking ship docked next to us.
Rounding our the day we had dinner (some photos in media of selections), sailed away (time lapse in media) and listened to the classical musicians perform selections they named “Be My Love”.
Melbourne is a city I would return to – there was still lots we didn’t have time to see and experience.
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