Melbourne AUS

We left on Tuesday and finally got to Sydney on Friday AM. Dismal weather beginning with a deluge of rain in LA and exactly the same upon arrival 15 hours later in Sydney.

Unfortunately, due to the late arrival, the pouring rain, the delay in getting out bags, and so on ... we missed our flight from Sydney to Melbourne. but were able to catch another flight and arrive in the early afternoon after our long days of travel.
The Docklands area was our new home .. Beautiful hotel with an infinity pool on the roof and a nearby harbour where we could watch the rowing crews in the early morning (Saturday in AUS, Friday in USA)

Saturday:
A walking, tasting, sight-seeing day Down Under - We met at the Princess Theater on a gorgeous morning. Harry Potter was on the Playbill and the outdoor depicted the theme of the play.
Our tour began with cheese tasting (fabulous goat cheese), and gelato .. we picked Pistachio di Bronti (one of the most popular) ummm... delicious

Did you know .. there are more coffee shops per person in Melbourne than any other place in the world! So, of course we enjoyed a rich taste of Melbourne's best at one of the more famous shops, Pellegrini's Espresso Bar

We learned a lot about Melbourne - how the Gold rush there increased the population and the wealth tremendously and that it has the oldest continuous Chinatown in the world (continuous means the one in San Francisco would be older but was interrupted due to the massive earthquake in 1906). We watched the preparation of dumpling and tasted some vegetarian, freshly steamed ones (not Jeff's favorite!)

We also when to "Tang" the import grocery of food from China...unbelievable inventory... everything from check feet to prepackaged snacks.

In my opinion, the best part and the least expected part about Melbourne was the interesting architecture. So many unique buildings -

We finished the tour with a lunch in the Federation complex and a tram ride through Melbourne back to the Docklands.