Kathleen
Melbourne, Australia
April 14-19, 2016
Finally arriving in Melbourne after dancing around it for more than a week, we were thrilled to get the first great view of town from our lovely balcony on the 24th floor. We did a great job picking this place, and had perfect city views from our location just across the river from town center.
We had heard from many that Melbourne is one of the greatest places in the world to live and it didn’t take long to feel that you understood why people where so happy here. The town was lovely, with lots of green spaces. The public transportation (trolleys, trains and busses) were easy to use and even free in the center of the city. We explored the botanical gardens, vast Victoria Market, shopping streets and arcades, bike paths and even drove out to the beach.
While we were in town, the friends we met in Uluru flew in (from Sydney) to take us to an Australian Rules Football match. This was really one of the highlights of our trip, as we loved the game itself and enjoyed feeling like locals. Our friends, Michael and Kathy were so kind that they came in the night before the match and took us all out to an AMAZING umpteen course Italian meal. It was Saturday night and we hadn’t booked anywhere, but they took us to one of their favorite places in town and managed to finagle a table outside since it was a bit misty out. The waiters turned up the heat lamps, the rain ended, and we had a truly memorable experience enjoying the company of our new friends. We really have to thank Aunt Maureen for this too, since she was the one who wooed their friendship at the dinner in Uluru by exclaiming to them (quite correctly) what a handsome couple they are! We felt so honored that they spent so much time and energy to show us around Melbourne. Kathy was born and bred in Melbourne, so she had the inside scoop on what to do.
We had five lovely nights in Melbourne before it was time to say goodbye to the city, the state of New South Wales, and our excellent travel time with Aunt Maureen. Sadly she was heading back to the states as her life is way too busy to take more than six weeks off to travel!! We had such a great time together and we were sorry to see her go….but ever onward to Victoria and yet another wine region!