Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne, Australia
Eastern Time plus 16 hours

We arrived in Melbourne to a great reception at 6:30 AM. We had all been given an Australian flag to wave on our arrival. I slept through it as I have now Jeff's upper respiratory ailment. Clare had given me some antihistamines and I was hoping to sleep enough to get through the day in Melbourne.

We got off the ship at 9 AM and were greeted by this band playing Waltzing Matilda. Note the didgeridoo on the right. We took the shuttle into town and were taken to Flinders Station. Melbourne is a beautiful city. We noticed the grillwork on many buildings.

Once in the city center we took the free Tourist bus that was a hop on hop off bus. We hopped off at Victoria Market while Stirling and Clare stayed on the bus. We enjoyed our shopping there. This is the first shopping we have done. With the short time we are in port, we have very little time to waste on shopping. Don't look for gifts from us! J
We hopped back on and went to Federation Square where we were to meet Stirling and Clare and also Jo and Greg (our former tablemates from Melbourne) an hour later. We toured around and took in the sites. Some looked familiar! We also called both Liz and Ellen. I started using my stockpile of calling cards I found before we left FMB.

This building is a 92-story residence building, the highest in the world. It is also the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere. We met up at 1 PM, Greg walked over and Jo arrived from work. We enjoyed the sites of Federation Square. This band was the police department band that performs as a public service.
This woman was singing "Feels Like a Woman" by Shania Twain. She was really good and we really enjoyed it while looking over the Square.We set off along the Yarra River Walk looking for lunch. The city had a food and wine festival starting the next day so there was some kind of catered lunch set up along the esplanade for some type of participants. Each table had cupcakes for the centerpiece, along with wine of course.
We decided to eat at Bistro Vite. Lunch was great and the company fantastic. We had a lot of good laughs. Jo and Greg insisted on treating for lunch which was very generous of them and greatly appreciated.

We walked to their home to pick up the cars. It was a beautiful walk with a lot to look at. The city is full of artwork. This sculpture is called Japanese Bells and they ring twice a day. We also passed the rowing club, cricket stadium and walked over this pedestrian bridge. They played Aboriginal Music though the speakers.

They have a beautiful home in a gated condo community with lovely landscaping. We joked that this statue was Jo. Stirling has a Problem J He loves to clean and polish everything. He said he should have brought his cleaning rags to clean off the bird poop. The conversation went downhill from there. All kidding aside, it is absolutely beautiful there and very peaceful. You can't believe you are in a city.
Jo was a lovely hostess and offered us wine, if you can believe it!

We piled in the cars to drive to the St Kilda area of the city.

Greg drove Jeff to see the Australian Grand Prix course for the upcoming race.Next stop, The Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron.

We set off on foot to enjoy the beach area followed by ice cream. This pool was along the beach and opened onto the beach. The boardwalk was slanted for tanning.

They are big on cake shops in this area. There were about 6 on one block.

There were lots of neat little bars along here.

I sure was tempted to try this foot massage, but we were starting to run short of time.

There were lots of great places to hang out along the street.

I thought these 2 health care signs might interest Liz.They are very conscious of the sun here due to the hole in the ozone layer. Notice that Jo is wearing a hat at all times.

We have heard that it is mandatory for children to wear a hat to school with a large brim and a neck covering. They also must wear long sleeves and stay inside between 11 and 3. (not positive that is true, but I think that is what I heard. It may fall into the: I'm not really sure, but I know for a fact section of the blog. J)

I also noticed this Laundromat. This ship could take lesson on the set up with the computers adjacent!

We said our sad goodbyes to Jo and Greg, passed through security and back on the ship. Security continues to be very tight. Notice the barricades and poles to block entry.
Our sailing was delayed until 9 PM so we could have a great firework send off from Melbourne. Australian music was playing during the show and it was very moving.
Another fantastic day on the great adventure, thanks to our Melbourne friends Jo and Greg! They really put themselves out to show us their city and it was very much appreciated by all of us. We hope we can do the same for them some day.