Melbourne

7/6/2015

Melbourne

Spending a few days in Melbourne I can honestly say that I like it and that it is well worth a visit when in the area. I had a great time exploring various parts of the city, enjoying many good coffees and a lot of tasty food. Melbourne is know as the food capital, and rightfully so!

I did a bit of shopping at the Icebreaker outlet because of the freezing temperatures at the moment. Icebreaker is a brand from New Zealand selling top end Merion wool products.

Three huge coffee machines!

Yarra River

Federation Square

Nice seating on Federation Square

Alex Mackie, another acquaintance from the Kimberley trip two years ago, hosted me and, as experienced Melbournian, explained the city to me and showed me around quite a bit. Dinner at Lygon Street was great, so many Italians are there, it's almost like in Italy!

Koko Black - Chocolate company from Melbourne with 16 outlets in Australia

Seen at Queen Victoria Market

I walked through the CBD, Federation Square, the Queen Victoria Markets, the botanical garden (great!), the sports precinct and everywhere in between. By car we also explored many more place, Docklands, Carlton, Richmond, St. Kilda etc.

The MCG

CBD Melbourne - for our railroad fans

Aussie Opens

The Rod Laver Arena

Botanical Gardens, unfortunately I had the wrong equipment for wildlife with me in Melbourne

The war memorial shrine

The highlight was visiting the MCG, the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground and watching an AFL game. The stadium is massive, with more than 100 000 seats. The game between Carlton and the Adelaide Crows was very competitive and tense until the end, it could have ended both ways. There were only 32 000 people attending the game, so the stadium looked almost empty. But the crowd was still very vocal, must be an amazing experience when it is sold out like it was last week when Kaye's favourite team, Richmond, were playing Essendon. About half the AFL clubs are from the Melbourne area – people are even more sports crazy here than anywhere else in Australia, and beside the MCG, the Etihad stadium (just a few kilometers away) is another major venue with 56 000 seats and the AAMI arena (just next to the MCG) with about 30 000 seats.

Captain Carlton

AFL -  a full on sport, nothing for sissies

Outside the MCG or 'the G' as locally referred to

View from the corporate box section, Alex showed me where he works

Tomorrow I'll start up the van again and head north on an inland, back country route so that I get into NSW either tomorrow or the day after. Due to the limited time that is left and the cold temperatures, I need to migrate north quickly.