Melbourne

August 07, 2025

Melbourne

I left Broome at around 2pm yesterday 6th August and arrived in Melbourne 4 hours later at 8 pm - something to do with Australia being so huge.

This morning Rod and I walked and then took the tram downtown where we explored the famous narrow streets full of street art and graffiti. The narrow streets were packed with tourists like me snapping the assorted "works of art". We then had a coffee in a narrow street which was lined with coffee shops and down the middle were tables and chairs and gas heaters! It can be chilly here in August! A couple of tramps came up asking for cash - an impossible ask in Australia since hardly anyone carries cash nowadays.

After a refreshing coffee we headed for Melbourne's Botanic Gardens, where we were to meet Gretel for lunch, passing the fabulous but unloved Central Railway Station building. Think St Pancras hotel but horizontal - such a gorgeous Victorian edifice. So many of Melbourne's Victorian buildings are magnificent and exude Empirical confidence. It is also a very modern city.

The variety of plants, trees, shrubs, grasses etc in the Botanic Gardens is quite staggering, all beautifully laid out. The air was full of bird song as we three, with George the dog, sat down to a well-earned lunch and bottle of Chardonnay. The birds were loud and insistent on sharing our food. First the Magpie Larks, then the Gulls and finally a beautiful Black Swan tried to muscle in. The Black Swan was the most successful, grabbing one of my chips and forcing me to move before he was expertly and gently shoed away by one of the restaurant staff.

After the meal we continued our perambulation of the Gardens - noting the massive eucalyptus and firs and after a walk-through central Melbourne we stopped off at a local wine shop to stock up on Chardonnay. This evening we're off to the theatre to see the musical Beetle Juice". Tomorrow it's the Yarra wine district, a wildlife park before being dropped off at the airport for the first stage of my journey back to Blighty.