Touring Melbourne

Just a side note, I find it hard to believe that it has been over a year since I lived in Australia! These photos are from January of 2012.

   Driving back into Melbourne after being out in the open country for a week was a bit of a culture shock. I believe Linden was driving and I was giving the directions that we had gotten from some guy at a food shop. We were trying our hardest to avoid the toll roads which pretty much surround the city. It was an adventure, but we finally made it to our hostel in the CBD.

 Just a small glimpse into the lovely traffic we encountered along the way.

 While walking to St. Kilda, we found out that Linden has a gallery in Melbourne. If I remember correctly, right before this, we stopped at the dodgiest McDonalds for some cold drinks. It was pretty gross.

 Taking a snack break at a park outside of Luna Park, an old amusement park. Linden and I were both trying to keep from becoming skin cancer candidates.

The lovely beach along St. Kilda. It really wasn't that clean or beautiful.

And another break. We did a lot of walking the few days we were in Melbourne and it was pretty darn hot. Notice all the water bottles?

Some sand art.

I think this was a restaurant out on a fishing pier, but I don't remember for sure. Edit 10/18/18: This restaurant was called "Boardwalk Take Out," and was supposed to have the best ice cream in Melbourne. Sadly, it was not open during the time that we visited the beach.

There was some significance to this tower, I think, but I can't remember it. Edit 10/18/18: This was the Catani Memorial Clocktower which was unveiled in 1932 to commemorate a highly respected chief engineer of the Public Works Department. It is locaed on the Upper Esplanade of St. Kilda in what is now the Catani Gardens. I don't believe we actually visited the Gardens.

This interesting site is the ExeLoo. It is a public bathroom with automatic everything. You press a button for the door to open (when it's not occupied) and when you go inside, the door shuts, and a voice informs you that you have a certain amount of minutes before the door will automatically open, whether you are finished or not. Then the most relaxing elevator music plays during your visit in the ExeLoo. The toilet paper was automatically dispensed, the water and soap to wash your hands was automatic, as was the dryer to dry your hands. There was also a sign that informed you that every 30 minutes or so, the ExeLoo was automatically self-cleaned. I'm guessing that you probably did not want to be inside of it when that happened!

On our way back to the hostel, Jul and I just had to stop and have some cheesecake on Acland Street. Acland Street is known for it's multiple delicious bakeries that have been there for generations. (I tried to get a job there while I was living in Melbourne - it didn't happen, sadly.) If you ever go to Melbourne, make sure and walk down to St. Kilda via Acland Street!

The next day, we flew to Tasmania, so stay tuned!