May 10 -- On to Melbourne

The day started off with excitement -- just as we were sitting down to breakfast, the hotel fire alarm went off and we all evacuated! Fortunately, it was a small thing -- the chef set off the alarm with cooking issues -- and we got back to breakfast that had now cooled down some. Our flight to Melbourne was a bit delayed, but we got to our hotel at nearly 1pm.

Our plane from Launceston -- at least you could stand up in it.

This is actually an apartment hotel, so we have a kitchen, living room, bedroom, and (ta da) a washer-dryer. Since we are nearly out of clean clothes for cool weather, we were very excited to try this out.  Unfortunately, the directions are a bit obscure, and when we came back from our orientation walk 3 hours later, everything was still wet. When we tried to set it to dry only, it sounded like it was washing again, and another 3 hours later, clothes were still wet. The hotel staff came to look and reset for drying (exactly how I had) and in about 10 minutes, we'll see if we were on the right track after all.

We met the last 3 ladies in our group and set off at 1:15 to explore Melbourne. We have what looks like a fine location -- about a block from a mall/grocery/food court, about a block from Chinatown, a couple blocks from the river, and a couple blocks from the small lanes that make Melbourne interesting to walk around. Our first goal was the food court and lunch. The mall originally was the site of a shot factory -- dropping hot lead from a great height to make ammunition -- and when a Japanese group wanted to develop the area into a mall, they got permission only if they preserved the shot factory. So in the center of the mall, there it stands with a conical glass roof over it.

Shot factory captured in a mall

Next we crossed a street to go to the state library. It is huge and really deserves more time to explore than we had. This is a university town and we could be grandparents to practically everyone we saw. The library on a Saturday afternoon was jammed to the gills with students studying something.

We wandered on down to the river and passed Federation Square with several buildings with unusual designs. Vic told us that when new buildings were needed, there often weren't adequately competent Australian architects so the projects were put out for bids and ideas came from all over the world. Each major building has a designer from somewhere else that tends to reflect their home country, so the design is very eclectic.

Railway Station designed by an Indian

Federation Square buildings look kind of like Gaudi might have inspired them.

 

Interesting pedestrian bridge across the Yarra

Kayakers enjoying a Saturday afternoon jaunt on the Yarra.

An interesting feature of Melbourne are the small lanes with tons of businesses, restaurants, and bars. Initially the small roads were only for deliveries, but they have since taken on a life of their own. We will have another day and a half to explore. One of the places we went had a high-end chocolate shop called Haigh's. I think I know a couple folks back home who will be very happy if we do some shopping there! Fortunately, there is also a store in Sydney at the end of our trip, so we don't have to buy now and hope it doesn't melt as we get to warmer locations.

We completed the day with a welcome dinner for the group at a local restaurant in a nearby lane. Now all we have to do is get the laundry done!