Hello Melbou(r)ne!

Off the tram and ready to take on Melbourne

Our first task in Melbourne was to drop off Gretta the Jetta and pick up Bruce the Outlander. It was nothing personal against Gretta, in fact we enjoyed her, but the cost of a one way hire was much cheaper from Victoria than South Australia. Plus, Bruce is bigger! The kids have a little more room to breathe now!

In Federation Square

The roads through Melbourne are very confusing, especially when you have no sense of where you are going at all, and there are several toll routes. We relied heavily on Sheila the GPS who, for all her faults, got us everywhere we wanted to go. We have no clue what kind of toll charges we will be paying once the MasterCard bill comes in. The rental company's transponder just automatically forwards the charges to us! Convenient, I suppose, but a little scary too!

Our accommodation was in the outskirts of town, close to the airport. Fortunately that was where the car rental places were, so we didn't have a whole lot more driving to do. We stayed in a Big 4 Holiday Park in a cabin with its own washroom and kitchen. Bill and I decided we actually prefer living in hostels to these cabins. In a hostel you can usually find a place to get away from each other, but in the cabin you're together all of the time. We all still like each other fine, but we all need quiet time. By "we" I mean Bill and Jack and me; Brody would prefer to all be together all of the time. This park had a good playground and a heated swimming pool, so the kids were thrilled. They immediately hit the pool, and I dove into The Lonely Planet.

Cool Melbourne building

The next morning we found the City Circle Tram that takes tourists in a loop through the CBD for free. It was very handy because we didn't have to drive right downtown, and the tram gave us a tour by pointing out the highlights along the way. We got off at Federation Square, the hub of the city and began our walk through the city.

Just smile and wave boys. Smile and wave.

We quite liked Melbourne. They've made an obvious effort to make the city aesthetically pleasing. The architecture is an interesting mix of Victorian and modern, and there are artistic elements all over. Even some of the highway overpasses are artistic. I suppose they are competing against Sydney and it's beautiful opera house!

Live sculpture.

Our walk took us past the Melbourne Comedy Festval stages, through Chinatown and the Greek district, and up to the Victoria Market. The boys have grown quite fond of markets...and their food stalls. Bill took the kids to find food and I headed off in search of treasure.

I started with some Filipino pork and chicken skewers (super-delish), and then walked through the aisles. The market was huge and covered, which was nice because it was a hot and sunny day. As is the case in many markets, most of the stalls were run by Asian people selling knock offs. There were also a lot of Chinese-made Australian souvenirs. I looked, but I can't bring myself to buy what I know is crap! There is a lot of "aboriginal" art, that I just can't believe is authentic given what they're selling it for. If it is authentic, some poor Aborigines are getting the short end of the stick. Either way, I couldn't do it. I left with nothing. I have some regrets for not purchasing a couple things, however.

After the market, we went to a footy match. That is, an Australian Football League game: North Melbourne vs. Port Adelaide. Melbourne is the home of the AFL, and houses two stadiums. None of us had any clue about how footy is played. The field is round, the ball is like a football, and it seems like a cross between soccer, football, volleyball, and quidditch. There are a bunch of referees in bright yellow, a bunch of trainers in bright pink, and a lot of players. There seemed to be very few substitutions, so these guys did a lot of running around. Even between the first and second and third and fourth quarters, all of the players stayed on the field. The trainers ran out to give the players water from time to time, and the clock never stopped. By the end we had a little sense of how it all worked, but we mostly just followed the crowd and reacted as they did. We cheered for whomever was winning, so we likely annoyed everyone around us! It was a good time! Bill's note of interest: "And one person could buy 4 beers for $30." No two per person limit like at home!

The next day we explored St. Kilda, one of the trendy districts of Melbourne. The kids played at the Adventure Playground with some cool, hipster kids while we waited around with the cool, hipster parents. (Side note: People should not dress their toddlers all in black. It's just wrong.) We explored the trendy shops and the trendy pier and then we went back to swim at the Big 4, decidedly unhip and not trendy. It was another nice day, but threatened to be our last for a while!

St. Kilda Pier

St. Kilda Harbour