Melbourne, Australia
When we sailed into Melbourne on Tuesday, the weather was gray and overcast and a little cool. After all the talk of the Australian summer, I was disappointed, but the weather did clear up as the day went on. It still remained cool but sunny. From the port in Melbourne we took a tram into the city. Melbourne has a phenomenal transportation system; trains, trams, buses, ferries, you name it. After the big tram we caught the little City Circle tram, which was free and looks and feels like an old-time trolley. Visitors can hop on and hop off at any time. As we rode around the city we saw the beautiful architecture, a blend of old and new, but the old buildings were the most beautiful and interesting. The Windsor Hotel, the Princess Theater, the library, the government buildings were all grand and regal and, oh so British. We were charmed by the layout of the city; there was Collins Street and then Little Collins Street, Flinders Street and Little Flinders Street, etc. One was a large boulevard and the next was a small road, almost an alley, and they lay side by side, each offering a different atmosphere. The big street was bustling with people and traffic and boasted the huge buildings, while the small streets had the quaint shops and coffee houses. We found ourselves stopping twice for the delicious Australian espresso coffee and needless to say, with all that caffeine in my system, I got very little sleep that night.
Our first stop off the tram was Victoria Street Market which was an amazing place. It takes up several square blocks and sells everything you can imagine from food to furniture. We browsed until our short attention spans for shopping were exhausted, but not before I purchased a new top because, as you ladies can imagine, I’m getting very tired of the clothes I brought!!!
We walked and walked around the city until my pedometer registered almost 8 miles. Our last stop was at Cook’s Cottage, the Captain Cook we’ve heard about ad nauseum on this trip. He’s the one who sailed around the world 3 times in a 750 foot boat and found Australia. (How many times have our anthropologists and historians in our speaker series reminded us how lucky we are to be sailing in this ship instead of Cook’s 750 foot sailboat? As if we need to be reminded!) Cook’s cottage was brought from England panel by panel in the 1930’s, reassembled, and sits in Fitzroy Park, Melbourne’s downtown park.
Fremantle/Perth
It took 3 days at sea to go from Melbourne to Fremantle. Right in the middle of those three days was Valentine’s Day and that evening one of the staff members joined us for dinner at our table. When that happens, the wine is free and free flowing. After dinner was the Valentine’s Dance and more drinks were consumed by me and to top off the night we went to the disco and danced the night away. So, Friday was a totally lost day.
Yesterday we docked in Fremantle, which is the small port city for Perth. We were booked on a tour to the Yanchep National Park. At the park we saw the adorable koalas in their natural habitat. They just stared at us as if we were the novelty. As we walked along the path through the park we came upon a kangaroo family; the father was quite large, the mother was smaller and was lying under a tree with her baby by her side; alas, not in her pouch. As you can imagine, this trio drew a crowd and after a while Daddy Kangaroo became nervous and stood up and gave us a glaring look. He stood this way for several minutes and when he thought it was safe, he gave Mommy some sort of signal and they all got up and ran (or hopped) to another location, right across our path. It was breathtaking and so exciting.
We had a special program with an Aborigine man who told us about his culture and showed us some of their primitive tools and weapons.
We had lunch under a pavilion and we saw a kookaburra. He wasn’t sitting in the old gum tree, but was perched on one of the support beams under our canopy. I had never seen a kookaburra and was surprised at how big and cute they are.
We saw black swans in a lake near the park. Black swans are found only in Australia. I much prefer the beautiful while swans we have at home; these black ones looked like they had been swimming in a tragic oil spill. Our guide gave us some bread to try to coax the swans to the shore and Ed snapped a picture of us throwing the bread with birds flocking around us and we’re standing under a sign that says “Please don’t feed the birds”.
We stopped at a lovely park that overlooks the city of Perth and we were sorry that we couldn’t stay one more day there and explore the city. We had opted for the National Park experience over the city tour and are glad we did but would love an opportunity to see Perth. I guess we’ll just have to come back. We spent the evening in Fremantle’s entertainment district and it was a lively place, full of young people celebrating a summer Saturday night. We were very sad to leave Australia because we’ve loved our time here, but we sailed at 11PM for our next destination, Padang Bay, Bali, Indonesia. We’ve spent this whole cruise at tropical islands and Australia, which is so American. From now on the ports of call are going to be exotic and quite exciting. If you think the blogs are long now, just wait.
As you’ve probably discovered, Ed has persevered and was able to get a few pictures on the blog. The ones of Sydney came through very well but since then the others won’t upload or download or load any which way. But he continues to work on it and we sure hope we can include pictures to go with my wordy, wordy epistles. By the way, we love the comments people have put on the blog. We hope there will be more as we go along.
When we sailed into Melbourne on Tuesday, the weather was gray and overcast and a little cool. After all the talk of the Australian summer, I was disappointed, but the weather did clear up as the day went on. It still remained cool but sunny. From the port in Melbourne we took a tram into the city. Melbourne has a phenomenal transportation system; trains, trams, buses, ferries, you name it. After the big tram we caught the little City Circle tram, which was free and looks and feels like an old-time trolley. Visitors can hop on and hop off at any time. As we rode around the city we saw the beautiful architecture, a blend of old and new, but the old buildings were the most beautiful and interesting. The Windsor Hotel, the Princess Theater, the library, the government buildings were all grand and regal and, oh so British. We were charmed by the layout of the city; there was Collins Street and then Little Collins Street, Flinders Street and Little Flinders Street, etc. One was a large boulevard and the next was a small road, almost an alley, and they lay side by side, each offering a different atmosphere. The big street was bustling with people and traffic and boasted the huge buildings, while the small streets had the quaint shops and coffee houses. We found ourselves stopping twice for the delicious Australian espresso coffee and needless to say, with all that caffeine in my system, I got very little sleep that night.
Our first stop off the tram was Victoria Street Market which was an amazing place. It takes up several square blocks and sells everything you can imagine from food to furniture. We browsed until our short attention spans for shopping were exhausted, but not before I purchased a new top because, as you ladies can imagine, I’m getting very tired of the clothes I brought!!!
We walked and walked around the city until my pedometer registered almost 8 miles. Our last stop was at Cook’s Cottage, the Captain Cook we’ve heard about ad nauseum on this trip. He’s the one who sailed around the world 3 times in a 750 foot boat and found Australia. (How many times have our anthropologists and historians in our speaker series reminded us how lucky we are to be sailing in this ship instead of Cook’s 750 foot sailboat? As if we need to be reminded!) Cook’s cottage was brought from England panel by panel in the 1930’s, reassembled, and sits in Fitzroy Park, Melbourne’s downtown park.
Fremantle/Perth
It took 3 days at sea to go from Melbourne to Fremantle. Right in the middle of those three days was Valentine’s Day and that evening one of the staff members joined us for dinner at our table. When that happens, the wine is free and free flowing. After dinner was the Valentine’s Dance and more drinks were consumed by me and to top off the night we went to the disco and danced the night away. So, Friday was a totally lost day.
Yesterday we docked in Fremantle, which is the small port city for Perth. We were booked on a tour to the Yanchep National Park. At the park we saw the adorable koalas in their natural habitat. They just stared at us as if we were the novelty. As we walked along the path through the park we came upon a kangaroo family; the father was quite large, the mother was smaller and was lying under a tree with her baby by her side; alas, not in her pouch. As you can imagine, this trio drew a crowd and after a while Daddy Kangaroo became nervous and stood up and gave us a glaring look. He stood this way for several minutes and when he thought it was safe, he gave Mommy some sort of signal and they all got up and ran (or hopped) to another location, right across our path. It was breathtaking and so exciting.
We had a special program with an Aborigine man who told us about his culture and showed us some of their primitive tools and weapons.
We had lunch under a pavilion and we saw a kookaburra. He wasn’t sitting in the old gum tree, but was perched on one of the support beams under our canopy. I had never seen a kookaburra and was surprised at how big and cute they are.
We saw black swans in a lake near the park. Black swans are found only in Australia. I much prefer the beautiful while swans we have at home; these black ones looked like they had been swimming in a tragic oil spill. Our guide gave us some bread to try to coax the swans to the shore and Ed snapped a picture of us throwing the bread with birds flocking around us and we’re standing under a sign that says “Please don’t feed the birds”.
We stopped at a lovely park that overlooks the city of Perth and we were sorry that we couldn’t stay one more day there and explore the city. We had opted for the National Park experience over the city tour and are glad we did but would love an opportunity to see Perth. I guess we’ll just have to come back. We spent the evening in Fremantle’s entertainment district and it was a lively place, full of young people celebrating a summer Saturday night. We were very sad to leave Australia because we’ve loved our time here, but we sailed at 11PM for our next destination, Padang Bay, Bali, Indonesia. We’ve spent this whole cruise at tropical islands and Australia, which is so American. From now on the ports of call are going to be exotic and quite exciting. If you think the blogs are long now, just wait.
As you’ve probably discovered, Ed has persevered and was able to get a few pictures on the blog. The ones of Sydney came through very well but since then the others won’t upload or download or load any which way. But he continues to work on it and we sure hope we can include pictures to go with my wordy, wordy epistles. By the way, we love the comments people have put on the blog. We hope there will be more as we go along.
2 comments:
Eight miles! Very impressive. That's about 3 times the Erie Ave route. Do they sell walking shoes?
The ice and snow we had earlier this week are just about gone here in Oakley. Did you know Oakley was named after Annie Oakley and she had to ride a horse. We are so much luckier to have cars. Maybe you could mention it the next time Captain Cook comes up.
Continue to enjoy.
Terry & Susan
Greetings from South Lyon, MI.
We have been enjoying vacationing with you via your blog! Everyone is happy and somewhat healthy (or getting there at least)here. I wasn't able to see the photos you posted but we look forward to seeing all of your pictures when you return.
Happy cruising!
John, Diana & Family
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