Melbourne

Melbourne - what can I say?  Lovely city. But again, just a city. Lot's of life and sounds and smells. We got rained on severely the first day. Totally drenched. Our bank cards had not arrived but were promised in two days, that was on Tuesday. We walked around and saw what sites we could and then headed back to our caravan park in Coburg on the tram.
The public transit is awesome in this city. It cost us $7.50 each from the caravan park to downtown and any where on any system (bus, tram or train) for the entire day, not too shabby. On day two we went to the Melbourne Zoo. It was only the second zoo for me and I was amazed at all the animals and how well they are kept here. It was a great long day.

Mark cooking dinner in the caravan park kitchen in Coburg - Melbourne

Magpie looking for Mark to drop something yummy

our pool at the Big 4 caravan park in Coburg

Day three was our last day in Melbourne. It started out well enough, but soon got a bit stressful at the bank when we went to collect our bank cards that were to have been delivered from Sydney. After waiting what seemed like an eternity, the customer service fellow finally found our bank cards in an envelope in the mail room. Well, I almost blew a gasket!! We were handed our new bank cards, but were told that they were mostly useless to withdraw cash with as the PIN numbers still had to arrive from Sydney the next day. Well we were not going to be here the next day!!... My head was almost exploding with anger and disbelief.... To make a long story short, after about 15 minutes the guy who found the cards in that morning's mail went back to the mail room and found the envelopes with the PIN numbers, and we were set to go... I was surely red in the face with disgust and it took some time to calm down and let the stress go...(with a delicious cup of chai from a very charming little coffee shop we found in a lane off of Collins street) .  What crap.. The way things are done down here are really different from the way they are done at home...

Again I must comment on the smells of the people and how much it reminds me of England. It's not just the people, but maybe it is. It is the smell of the products used, ie, shampoo, conditioner, body sprays - hair sprays, colognes and perfumes, perhaps even the laundry detergent they use. For me it is so familiar, and reminds me of my time with my daughter Heather in London. Lovely.

Melbourne is a great and beautiful city. The public transit is excellent and you can get around this very large city quite nicely and quickly. I also want to emphasize how British this country is. People in the parks will come and talk to us randomly and I have said once or twice to them how British it is here and I get a look of either dismay or shock. But it is true. This country is very British, the good and the bad.

view of city core from Eureka Skydeck 88 (tallest building in Australia) on the south side of the Yarra river looking north.

Crown Casino and the river front.

St Kilda beach view. East side of Port Phillip