Christchurch to Melbourne

13 Christchurch to Melbourne (Sat. Feb. 14)

It's Saturday morning and we are up at 3:15AM! Agh. Our flight is at 6:15AM, on a Jet Star Airways flight. Agh, to early! At least we'll be able to nap on the plane. Oh, by the way, there have been a number of devastating fires around Melbourne that have claimed about 190 lives, many homes and acres. We do not know if we will actually land in Melbourne when we leave New Zealand.

Fortunately we do take off and land in Melbourne, but there is heavy smoke in the air from the fires. We get to Melbourne and make our way through immigrations, get our luggage and then go through the agricultural inspections. We have packaged peanuts with us, which we declare, so we go through an extra screening - no problems. After passing through, we continue where we are suppose to meet our new tour guide; Julie is no longer our tour guide for our Australian portion of the tour. And I do not know about any others, but Carmen and I think the new guide has a lot to live up to.

We get to the tour guide location in the airport departures hall and there are many people with signs looking for people, but our tour guide is not here yet. Oh, did I mention that we are 45 minutes early. The group that was together through New Zealand will now split up. There is a "long" and "short" Australian tour. Carmen and I are on the short tour. Neither of the Guides are here. Everyone waits for about a little more that a half hour and Roubin (our guide) shows up. Hope this is not any indication of what is to come.

We all pick up our luggage and head off to the bus. Once loaded, we start a bus tour of the City of Melbourne. We make our way around the city and make our first stop at St. Patrick's Cathedral. All of the Cathedrals we have see are quite remarkable and this one is not different.

We are then onto Fitzroy Gardens which has the original Captain Cook's cottage he grew up in, in England. It was dismantled and brought over and rebuilt. Walking around also brings us to the miniature replica of a Tudor Village and the Fairy Tree. It is the Faiery Tree that children would write their wishes on paper and place the note in the hollow of the tree and it was believed the Faierys might grant it. From there we pass Cricket Grounds, Olympic Park, the Rod Laver Tennis Arena, and many other arenas old and new (they are still building the Rugby field, it is the size of an American Football field).

Our drive then takes us to the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Shrine of Remembrance. There is a fair of some sort going in at the Gardens so we go there first (hoping to find something for lunch - which we did). After a look around, we head over to the Shrine. This is dedicated to the men and women that have given their lives during the wars which Australia has been involved. The shrine is build like a pyramid and inside at the entrance there is a military medal for each campaign - and there are many. Inside are statues and commemorates to the fallen soldiers. Outside there are also more statues, but we have run out of time and must make it back to the bus.

From here we continue around the city and make a stop at the Queen Victoria Market. The market is similar to an indoor flea market with hawkers selling their goods at booths; I bought a hat, it has Australia on it. One booth had mixed shots in dispensable boxes and I tasted various shots. A different booth had wines, both white and red and also a white port - mmm. Carmen and I also spend a little time in the food and bakery section of the market. Wow, whatever you might want it is here, ducks hanging, meats of all kinds including croc and roo (crocodile and kangaroo). We pick up some pastries at one of the bakeries, more at another then head back to the bus. At least we are not late or last.

We get to the hotel and check in. We go up to the room and crash for about an hour. Then we leave and did some walking around the city, At one building with some very unusual architecture, a wedding party is having a photo session, after all it is Saturday. But look at the cars they drove here in. That is a '54 Bentley in the front and a '57 Armstrong Siddeley behind it.

We continue around town and the architecture around the city is really phenomenal, old stiled scrolled work and ornate. During our walk we see a number of different trolley lines. Our walk eventually brings us through China Town which has the arc leading into the street with dragons along the street lamps. No we did not eat at any of the restaurants. First of all we could not understand the menus, they were in pictures, Chinese and American writing, but this is definitely not your American Chinese food.

As we walk around town we are surprised to see the vast numbers of people on the streets. This is a Saturday and late in the afternoon, but look at the throng of people. Where are they all going? And of course, as in most every other large warm weather city we have visited, we come across the obligatory horse and buggy and of course the obligatory Lamborghini.

Because Carmen and I are going on an early tour tomorrow, we head back to the hotel. Many of the other people in our group are doing one of the penguin tours, but we instead decided to go on the Great Coastal Road Tour. It leaves at 7:15AM so we are headed to bed early for an early wake up and breakfast. See you in the morning, actually we are a day ahead of you and I'm so late in my postings you'll probably read this three or four days late.

G'day Mate.