Whirlwind trip

I crammed so much into the short time I spent in Melbourne last weekend I almost don't know where to start.

In an effort to cut down on taxi expenses I caught a shuttle bus into the city and then walked to my hotel. Only, I got kinda lost as I was being a bit too casual about my directions.

After some backtracking I found it quite easily and dumped off my stuff, eager to see as much as I could by evening when I had planned to enjoy a relaxing night in.
I quickly found my way to the Eureka skydeck (obviously the building in the centre of the photo to the left towering over the rest) on the other side of the Yarra and headed for the 88th floor and the viewing area near the top of Melbourne's tallest building.

The ability to see the entire city is amazing and a great way, I thought, to take it all in. Some landmarks stood out easily like Flinders St Station, the MCG and the Docklands area.

After snapping some photos I headed off for a walk along the river and some lunch.

The one thing about sitting by the river to eat is that you're usually accompanied by at least one seagull.

When I had finished eating I saved some bread for the birds and as soon as I threw the patient gull a piece another six or seven suddenly emerged to try and get some for themselves. Now I didn't save so much as to feed a flock of seagulls so sadly some missed out.

I decided to see a different part of Melbourne to the last time and went for a walk past the MCG (second picture, the view from the Skydeck of the cricket ground and tennis centre) and towards Richmond.

On my way I passed Olympic Park, where the Melbourne Storm have played a lot of their games, and the Collingwood Football Club.

In the park behind the club there was a an AFL game in progress so I stopped for a while and had a look.

I was told it was a trial match between Collingwood and North Melbourne reserves teams (third picture, Collingwood are in the black and white, reserves waiting to go on the field) and there was a reasonable crowd for such a low profile game on a Friday afternoon.

But Melbourne lives and breathes AFL as I had confirmed when the pre-season semi-final was on in prime time TV that night.

I ended up catching a tram back to the city and headed to the hotel for a short rest before taking off again for dinner.

I ate at a restaurant overlooking the Yarra, a nice setting for the end of the week.

Then I wandered back to the hotel to read the papers, a magazine I had bought and just kick back to watch the AFL and the Simpsons episode that preceded it.

Some time during the football there was an earthquake near Melbourne registering 4.7 (so it was officially a tremor) but I didn't notice even though I was on the eighth floor of the building.

In the alley where the hotel is located is this pub that was absolutely packed, and I mean beyond capacity, with a lot of the crowd outside in a designated area.

The next morning I was up fairly early and went to, of all places, McDonalds to grab some breakfast as I couldn't find a cafe open at the time. OK, I only had English muffins with vegemite. I checked out of the hotel and headed to the train station to go to the races. It was great catching the train, not to mention cheap, and it was also another opportunity to see a different side of Melbourne.

The races were great again, Super Saturday, and I met a lot of people who I'd spoken to many times but hadn't met in person before so that was great.

In general I met some nice people, and I found that people are generally friendly, they smile at you in the street and aren't bothered by saying hello. Unlike Sydney, generally.

On the flight back I chatted to an interesting guy from Germany and one from Ireland who were heading to Sydney to continue their travels. Again I had an awesome time down in Melbourne and I'll go back again hopefully for a bit longer so I can hire a car and see a bit more of places like Geelong, Mornington and Ballarat etc.