MELBOURNE & ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA
Melbourne was a disappointment to us -- the tours were sold out so we wandered around the city on our own. It’s the 2nd largest city in Australia, and what we saw was just that, another city, with skyscrapers mixed in with some smaller, older buildings, buses, cars, and lots of young people with piercings, tattoos and colored hair lounging on the sidewalks. The Yarra River runs through the center of the downtown area, surrounded by a large pa
rk established during the gold rush in the mid 1800s. Dick was excited about the Racing Museum which was small, but well done. It showed everything from clothing worn by thoroughbred racing patrons through the decades to equipment evolution to past champions -- horses, jockeys and trainers. The old railroad station was well preserved, along with several churches nestled among the modern high rise office buildings.
Adelaide, on the other hand, is a quaint and charming town, bisected by the winding Torrens River. It is much more compact than either Sydney or Melbourne, and is located about a 45 minute train ride inland from Port Adelaide and our ship’s dock. Port Adelaide, the harbor, developed into a small city of 44,000 to support the cargo shipments. In the city
of Adelaide itself, there is a pedestrian only area called the Rundle Street Mall, which is full of boutiques, souvenir and specialty shops, cafés and restaurants. A favorite “Kodak moment” spot is the brass pig sculptures, one of which is standing on its hind legs eating trash from the litter bin! There are many War Memorial statues scattered throughout the town, with lots of large green parks. There was even a cricket tournament going on the day we were there. There is a nice blend of old, well preserved Victorian style architecture with some more modern glass and steel buildings.
Melbourne was a disappointment to us -- the tours were sold out so we wandered around the city on our own. It’s the 2nd largest city in Australia, and what we saw was just that, another city, with skyscrapers mixed in with some smaller, older buildings, buses, cars, and lots of young people with piercings, tattoos and colored hair lounging on the sidewalks. The Yarra River runs through the center of the downtown area, surrounded by a large pa
rk established during the gold rush in the mid 1800s. Dick was excited about the Racing Museum which was small, but well done. It showed everything from clothing worn by thoroughbred racing patrons through the decades to equipment evolution to past champions -- horses, jockeys and trainers. The old railroad station was well preserved, along with several churches nestled among the modern high rise office buildings. 
Adelaide, on the other hand, is a quaint and charming town, bisected by the winding Torrens River. It is much more compact than either Sydney or Melbourne, and is located about a 45 minute train ride inland from Port Adelaide and our ship’s dock. Port Adelaide, the harbor, developed into a small city of 44,000 to support the cargo shipments. In the city
of Adelaide itself, there is a pedestrian only area called the Rundle Street Mall, which is full of boutiques, souvenir and specialty shops, cafés and restaurants. A favorite “Kodak moment” spot is the brass pig sculptures, one of which is standing on its hind legs eating trash from the litter bin! There are many War Memorial statues scattered throughout the town, with lots of large green parks. There was even a cricket tournament going on the day we were there. There is a nice blend of old, well preserved Victorian style architecture with some more modern glass and steel buildings. All through southern Australia there are many valleys which produce grapes for their excellent wines. In Sydney it’s the Hunter Valley, in Melbourne it’s the Yarra River Valley, in Adelaide it’s the Barossa Valley and in Perth it‘s the Swan River Valley. Of course we had to sample some … They sell a less expensive wine that they call ‘clean skins’ which is a blend of wines from several different areas, probably when there’s not enough left for another full run of each. There was a very big fire north of Melbourne that filled the air with smoke, and unfortunately some tours to the wine country had to be cancelled. The flags in all of Australia were flying at half mast in remembrance of all the people who lost all their possessions and even their lives.
Having crossed the International Date Line some time ago, we’re a day ahead of the U.S., and we’re still turning our clocks back regularly and gaining an extra hour every day … it should be quite a shock when we start to come back towards the States and start losing hours!! We’re loving the extra hour of sleep!
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