Melbourne -- Australia's Other Big City

February 6, 2013, in port Melbourne, Australia:  A Tram to the Treasury.

Silver Whisper docked at Station Pier, Port Melbourne at 8:00am.  We went ashore about 9:30am and walked about 500 yards to the 109 Tram Stop.  Before boarding the tram, we had to buy a tourist day pass in the Cruise Ship Terminal.  Tram conductors do not accept cash, and the automatic ticket takers only recognize special key cards.

Sunrise Over Port Phillip Bay

This was the view on J's morning walk.

 Melbourne from Port Phillip Bay

Cities always look their best from a distance.

Packed into a very crowded tram, and riding for 20 minutes into downtown Melbourne, we reached our tram stop and stepped down onto the sidewalk.  Our intended destination was the Old Treasury Building Museum.  This museum records and displays the history of Melbourne from its founding until the 20th Century.  Currently, there were nine major exhibits, including Early Melbourne, Ned Kelly, Criminals, Victorian Democracy, Built on Gold and others.  Photography was not allowed in the Museum,  so if you want graphics you will have to go to www.oldtreasurybuilding.org.au.  We spent an interesting two hours viewing the exhibits.

Old Treasury Building Museum

The building was used to store the gold from the Victoria gold fields.  (We didn't find any!)

After leaving the museum, we walked around the central portion of the city.   Melbourne is an interesting mixture of 19th, 20th, and 21st Century architecture.

Central Melbourne Buildings along Collins and Flinders Street

Many types of architecture in a relatively small area.  The yellow one is Flinders Street Station.

Collins and Flinders Street in Central Melbourne

The building with the pointy bits is St. Paul's Cathedral.

Exterior and Interior Banking Chamber, Commercial Bank of Australia

From Plaque: "Built in 1891-93 from a design by architects Llyod Taylor and Alfred Dunn, this is one of the finest examples of Victorian Classicism...." 

By the time we finished walking along Flinders and Collins Streets in downtown Melbourne, it was after 12:00pm and was becoming extremely hot.   Deciding that we had seen the "elephant," we walked to the nearest tram stop for our return trip to the ship.   At 10:00pm that night, we sailed for Adelaide, Australia.

February 7, 2013, en route to Adelaide, Australia:  Crossing the Australian Byte.

We sailed west from Melbourne, crossing the Australian Byte.   Weather remained clear and hot.  The sea, however, was anything but glassy, with about a five-foot-long-interval swell.  This is a large enough swell to make many passengers uncomfortable.  But, it is a ship, and we are at sea.