A Travellerspoint blog

Melbourne AUS

Beyond the Australian Open .. Coffee, Architecture ...and more

rain
View 50th Anniversary - 2023 on Where2FromHere's travel map.

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.

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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)
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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. 20230107_101445.jpg
Our tour began with cheese tasting (fabulous goat cheese), and gelato .. we picked Pistachio di Bronti (one of the most popular) ummm... delicious

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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 11ee86c0-8e86-11ed-a525-815ecb866d35.jpg

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!)
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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 -
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We finished the tour with a lunch in the Federation complex and a tram ride through Melbourne back to the Docklands. 20230107_134008.jpg20230107_133658.jpg

Posted by Where2FromHere 20:46 Archived in Australia

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Hi Barb
I'm enjoying your journey through your pictures! Thanks for sharing! I'm wondering if you plan on walking across the top of the Sydney Great Harbour Bridge when you get there again! Interesting stop in New Caledonia. My dad was stationed there in WWII. A long story but significant in the early days of the war. I'm sure it's a lot different today than back in 1942. Regards Ned

by nedstewart

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