Melbourne

We spent two days in Melbourne.  The first day it was 105 but the second was much more pleasant, in the 70's.  One of the features of this cruise was that it was all inclusive which meant that shore excursions were included in each port.  It seemed like one of the "must dos" for each port was to go to a viewpoint.  Melbourne was not different except that we were in a 92 story building instead of on top of a hill.  It was probably more pleasant to be inside since it was so hot outside. 

There's our ship in the middle.

 

 

The Yarra River runs through the middle of the city.

The soccer stadium with the soccer ball designs

This is the hall where the ballet performs and it's supposed to look like a tutu.

This is the building where we were on the observation deck on the 88th floor.

We went to another garden, but it was really too hot to walk around very much.

 

The Super Bowl was coming up and, surprising to us,
it was going to be broadcast outdoors in Federation Plaza

 in the center of Melbourne.

Mural outside the Greek restaurant where we had dinner with Greg's cousin.

Greg hadn't seen his cousin for decades and I had never met her.  It was fun to spend the evening with Shauna, her husband, their son and his girlfriend.  After dinner, they took us on a drive through Melbourne to see all the city lights.

Melbourne is a lot like San Francisco:  there was a gold rush in the 1800's, it's on a large bay,  there are people from all over the world, there are lots of old and new buildings, there's a great variety of food ...

The second day we were in Melbourne we drove out of town.  First we went to a bird sanctuary.

Then we went on "Puffing Billy" a steam train that winds its way through eucalyptus groves.

We had a wine tasting and lunch at Rochford Winery in the Yarra Valley.

In the afternoon, we toured an animal preserve where we saw lots of native birds and animals.