The next day, we started the day with a city tour. Our guide was a young, very entertaining sociology student. He told great stories about the history and culture of the city. We were joined by Heather, a person we had met on our tour last year in Vietnam who lives in Melbourne. It was fun to see her and learn about the area from her.
We were very impressed with what we learned about our city. It is considered one of most livable cities in the world, and we could see why. There is a big rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne. We don’t have a favorite and believe that they are both fabulous. In a nutshell, Melbourne is more a city of small neighborhoods and areas. I think that the skyline is very elegant.
 |
| The Yarra River in Melbourne |
 |
| Our friend Heather on the riverfront |
 |
| The main shopping area decorated for Christmas |
 |
Street art along a "lane way"
|
After the tour and a nice lunch with Heather, we walked to the cities war memorial with a good view of the city. We walked back to our hotel and eventually ended up back in town for a nice pizza for dinner. I think that we walked about 12 miles during the day.
 |
| Shrine of Remembrance |
The next day, Wednesday, we headed out of town on a Yarra Valley wine tour. By 10 AM, we were sipping wine in the countryside. As you probably know, Australia has a huge wine industry. The varied landscape offers many opportunities for wine growing. The area near Melbourne is considered to be very similar to Burgundy in France.
We visited 3 vineyards, a dairy (for cheese) and a chocolatier throughout the day. We learned a lot about viticulture in Australia. It was a fabulous trip. It was a warm beautiful day. We had dinner at a local street market, with fabulous food in a fun family environment.
 |
| Two fisted drinking at 10 AM |
 |
| Australian Cows are different than we have at home |
On last day in Melbourne we went to the beach. We were joined by by most of Melbourne population under 25 years of age wearing skimpy swimsuits. It was a balmy 92 degrees and a perfect day for the beach.
Sorry , it’s taken us awhile to sit down and enjoy your blog. Melbourne does look beautiful, it has peaked our interest to travel there much more than the back country with all of 6e snakes! Had you planned to meet your friend there ? We are enjoying a bottle of wine as a matter of fact from Australia- toasting to you tonight ! Julie you look stunning, are you getting your hair done over there’s? �� I,m sure you both fit in beautifully At the beach, Rob wants to know if Richard wore his thong?😳
ReplyDelete