Whoa – huge walking day!! What was planned as a Guided Tour around the center of Melbourne turned into a huge day. We were the designated tour guides for Paul and Gail who we stayed with in Perth and Paul’s brother Mike and his wife Cheryl who live in Golden Colorado. They had just been in Tasmania for ten days visiting a neice and Mike and Cheryl were just finishing off their trip with a day in Melbourne.
We were trying to think of how best to show them some highlights of Melbourne and incorporate the flavour of the city. Our first task was to go and meet them in their serviced apartment in the city.
As you can see, the view from the top floor of their building was superb. We were initially thinking of taking them up the top of the Eureka Building which is 91 stories high and has a glass floor platform but the view from the 53rd floor here was fine. We were able to give them a good overview of the layout of the city before we headed off.
This little perla was also on the top floor which the guys said they were keen to try out but it was shut down for ten days – wouldn’t that piss you off!!!
First order of the day was to fill up our bellies with food, so it was off to the strip of restaurants along the shore of the Yarra River for some breakky. It was then the start of the forced march or boot camp as some might want to call it. We walked to a tram that took us south to the Shrine of Remembrance on the edge of the Botannical gardens.
The Shrine of Remembrance (commonly known among locals as The Shrine) is a war memorial in Melbourne. It was built to honour the men and women of Victoria who served in World War I, but is now a memorial to all Australians who have served in war. It is a site of annual observances of ANZAC Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November) and is one of the largest war memorials in Australia.
It was then a short walk to the Botannic Gardens and back along the Yarra River. We walked back towards the city and on our way we stopped off at the outdoor Canadian Club bar that had been set up for the tennis viewing and partook of some beverages. We also got to sit in comfy chairs and lay on the grass watching a huge outdoor screen showing the live tennis. Raonic from Canada was playing a Swiss chap who he beat but in a gruelling five set match that went for hours. The tennis has taken over Melbourne and the atmosphere is great. We saw kids who they had put in wheelchairs try their hand at tennis which gave them and us a good appreciation as to how hard it is.
We were quite fortunate with the weather as it was overcast by the humidity was killing. It was very difficult to keep the fluids up.
After our small siesta it was into Young and Jackson our favourite pub where Cloe hangs out. We have mentioned her on a few separate occasions. A very light lunch and then back out on the trail. We took the guys on a tour of the lane ways which Melbourne is well known for and a couple of the better known arcades, The Block and The Royal. Going through the arcades makes you think you are in London.
Trammed back to the Casino and wandered through there and back to their apartment where nibbles were partaken of and shoes taken off feet. Between us we had bunions, neuromas, plantar warts, corns and old feet that were beginning to show signs of wanting to give up and they were not smiling back at us…..BUT…. we soldiered on. Our tanks were refilled and out we went again.
We caught the number 96 tram down to St Kilda where super light snack was had and waited until sunset as we were heading out to see the Little Penguins. So off down the long pier for lots of standing and waiting whilst it got darker and in the end we viewed half a dozen of them which wasn’t great but better than nothing.
By the time we got back to the tram to see the guys off, we all checked our phones and we had done well more than our daily requirement of 10,000 steps. We were 22,500 and still counting. Oh, our legs were all so heavy. We bid Mike and Cheryl a fond farewell as they are off back to Colorado in the morning. We will hopefully get to pay them a visit in the very near future. Gail and Paul are moving out to an AirBnB in Elwood tomorrow so we will pick them up in the city so they do not need to lug bags on and off teams.
It was home to a cold shower, a pissed off Henry who made his feelings known and then collapsed into bed!!!!
Rowkin Rovings Blog 