Happy Easter to All from Melbourne!!!
Hello all and Happy Easter!!!
I have been in Melbourne for just over a week and I have seen lots of sights. I got into Melbourne last Thursday and Matt picked me up from the airport. Matt is a friend that I met in Calgary while he was doing renovations on my brothers house. He is letting me stay at his place while I am in Melbourne. He has a house in an outer suburb called Watsonia. I have my own room and it has been great to stay somewhere other than a hostel. It is definitely helping with keeping me on budget. I have been over budget lately, my daily average in February was $85 and March went up to $112 before that I was around $70.
I have been taking the train into the city or where ever I have wanted to go. The train network here is huge with about 10 different lines going in all directions. It costs 9.90 for an all day ticket but you can get absolutely everywhere. Matt also introduced me to his uncle Norman and he is helping me source out a vehicle to drive around the rest of Oz. He has been very helpful and we have seen a few cars so far but nothing that Norman has been happy with. He figures more stuff will be available after the Easter break. I am also checking out the assorted hostels for vehicles and people that are looking for travel mates. I will try to find some people to tag along with me from place to place. I have a friend in Perth (Alain) that may jump in with me when I get that far.
I have joined Matt twice in going out with some of his friends. We had a birthday party last Saturday, it was at a really nice house and a bunch of his long term friends. It was a good time and they feed us and gave me beer as well. Most were intrigued with my story and it was fun talking with others. On Wednesday we were invited out for supper in the Ivanhoe district and met with 6 others for pizza and wine. This was in a restaurant and it was BYO Booze. There are a lot of restaurants that let you bring in your own wine or beer, which is not that common in Calgary.
Most of my time has been spent in the city center or CBD. The first few days were right in the heart searching out assorted hostels and areas like chinatown and the greek district. I also spent some time at the State library where there is free internet. I went to the state parliament building and they were starting a tour so I went along. We were allowed to sit in the speakers chair which I don’t think happens in a lot of other places.
The building was really old and was once used as the federal parliament when Melbourne was the capital back in the 1800’s. I went to St. Patricks Cathedral and it was an amazing church. It is huge and there is no way to fit it into one pic. Everything was set up for the Easter masses and looked awesome. Again there were at least 6 alters like in Sydney. They have 3 masses daily and go no stop over the Easter season.
From there is went to the Fitzroy Gardens and the Treasury Gardens. It seems that NZ and Oz have a lot more of this green space than what is in Canada and especially Calgary. All these garden areas are huge and right in the middle of the city. They are great places for people to relax and take in some sun. On another day I went to the Melbourne Zoo. They do a great job of presenting the animal in a natural habitat and my favorite were all the different types of apes and monkeys. They were by far the most active animals and would come right up to us and hang from the window checking us out. The elephants and zebras were pretty cool as well. I would still say that the Calgary Zoo is the best I have ever seen, we really kick ass there.
At the Southbank part of the city is the Queen Victoria park and the Kings Domain which has an open air concert hall dug into the ground. I spent some time in the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria) and it had some really cool paintings, drawings and 2 really old cars. THe next area was what they call “the shrine of remembrance” or cenotaph. This is the biggest area i have ever seen that is to commemorate fallen soldiers, I was very impressed. They even have a small opening in the ceiling that was put in that exact spot so that on Nov 11th at 11am it will shine in on the memorial in the floor. They call Nov 11th ANZAC Day which stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps.
I also spent some time at the Royal Botanic Gardens. It was very impressive but I am sure it would be really cool in spring and summer as there was not much in bloom but still really cool to see.
Most stores and attractions are still closed on holidays in Oz so I am making Good Friday a chill day to catch up on things and do some laundry. I am hoping that I will be able to get a vehicle in the next week or so or else I may run out of things to see and do. I am going to a Aussie Rules Football game on Saturday and then the Queen Victoria market on Sunday. After that I plan to see the beach on Monday (Bells Beach) where there is an international surfing event going on. Tuesday is set up for a fishing charter and Wednesday is going to be a wine tour. After that everything is open and will figure out later.
I hope everyone has a great Easter holiday with friends and family. I will be thinking about you all and hopefully all your snow goes away soon, It is golf season.
Love ya all,
Steve
PS: Good luck to my godchild Nadean and her trip to London England. I just know that see is going to become a traveller and probably see me on the road somewhere in this world.
Tags: 1, Australia
sdietrich90
Hi Steve —-Happy Easter to you with love. I am keeping up with your amazing adventure. Sure sounds like fun to me.
Happy Easter Steve! Sounds like you are having an awesome time.
Hey buddy, Happy Easter to you also sounds like your ahaving a great time.