The Melbourne Cup is a public holiday for the city of Melbourne. This is the premier horse race in Australia, much like the Kentucky Derby in the United States. Since the Cup falls on a Tuesday, most Melbournians make it a four-day weekend. Pretty much all of Australia stops to watch the race while it’s going on, even sculpture artists who live in the middle … Continue reading Day 19: The Melbourne Cup
For my next full day in Melbourne, after having an enjoyable cup of coffee with a friend near the Flinders Street Station, I did the self-guided Secret Gardens Walking Tour that I had picked up from the Information Center. The tour starts out at Federation Square and takes you down St. Kilda Road, by the Queen Victoria Monument and Edward VII statue. It proceeds along … Continue reading Day 18: More Melbourne Meanderings
After daytripping from Melbourne, I finally had a whole day to spend some time in the city. To start, Aydin, Ben, some of their friends to the train into the Central Business District to see Dan Savage speak at the Princess Theatre, a beautiful Victorian building dating back to 1854. Melbourne was and still is a theatre town and has several beautiful old theatres. The … Continue reading Day 17: Melbourne Meanderings
After returning to Melbourne, my hosts, Aydin and Ben, took me on a day trip to the Mornington Peninsula. Formerly, parts of the Mornington Peninsula were owned by the Australian military. One portion of the peninsula is completely undeveloped and owned by a company. I imagine it will become highly desirable real estate once the company is ready to sell. The Mornington Peninsula is also … Continue reading Day 16: The Mornington Peninsula
I woke up just after sunrise in my tent in the Tidal River campground. With the early start, I managed to get in two hikes before leaving Wilsons Promontory: Lilly Pilly Gully and Mount Oberon. The hike through Lilly Pilly Gully is mostly flat except for the ascent and descent up the side of Mount Bishop. The low, flat parts are a rainforest, with ferns … Continue reading Day 15: Wilsons Promontory, Phillip Island
My Melbourne friends, Aydin and Ben, helped outfit me for an overnight camping trip to Wilsons Promontory National Park, a wilderness area located at the southernmost point in mainland Australia. To get there, I rented a car in Melbourne’s Central Business District. Driving on the left side of the road took some getting used to and even with GPS, I made several wrong turns and … Continue reading Day 14: Braving the Wilds at Wilsons Promontory
With the remaining half day I had in Sydney, I stopped by the Art Gallery of New South Wales. I really have had no exposure to Australian artists, but the museum provided quite an education. The subject of most of the earlier paintings was the wild landscapes of Australia, but you can also find work from throughout Australian history. The works range from Aboriginal … Continue reading Day 13: From Sydney to Melbourne
In my final full day in Sydney, I took part in one of the city’s most popular attractions — the BridgeClimb. Tickets for the BridgeClimb are rather expensive, anywhere between $200 and $300 AUD, depending on what time of day you go (sunset and weekends are more expensive), but the experience is truly unique and, in my opinion, well worth the price of admission. I arrived … Continue reading Day 12: Climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge
On a Monday morning, I decided to go for a run through a scenic part of Sydney, even if the weather was a little bit cloudy. I ran through Kings Cross up to Rushcutters Bay, admiring the park, the boats on the water and the expensive real estate ringing the bay. I continued my run up through Yarranabbe Park, which was equally scenic and through … Continue reading Day 11: Running in Rushcutters Bay and Bondi to Coogee Cliffwalk
Tim and I decided to take the ferry boat from Sydney Harbour out to Manly early Sunday afternoon, but before we did that, we did some grocery shopping. Going to grocery stores in foreign countries is always an interesting experience: what they have, what they don’t have, what they do completely differently, and the varying cost of things. Everything in Australia has appeared to be … Continue reading Day 10: Sunday Funday Sydney Style
