Melbourne

The first of two posts today, Tuesday, March 18

The morning of February 29 we were off the ship and walking to the end of the pier right after 9:30. Melbourne is a city with an incredible public transportation system, so we took full advantage of it. At the terminal at the pier, we purchased all day transportation passes for $6.50 Aus and that was the only money we spent on transportation for an entire day of getting around the city. We got on the 109 tram at the end of the pier and rode into the city center. The trams are mostly new, very clean, safe, quiet and abundant. They run on train tracks and are powered by electric wires overhead. They are very easy to figure out, and whenever we had trouble we just asked people nearby and they helped us.

At city center we switched to the free city center shuttle tram that runs a loop around the downtown area, with stops at major attractions and shopping areas. We rode that about half way around the loop and got off at the stop closest to the Victoria Market, the largest outdoor market in the southern hemisphere. It is an amazing complex of buildings and semi-open structures housing over 1000 vendors selling everything – organic produce, doughnuts, fabulous cheeses, meats, prepared foods, and stuff of all kinds. The variety and abundance of food was mouth-watering. After wandering through the stalls for a while, we headed off on foot to find Chinatown and lunch. We got turned around a couple of times, but managed to find the area of streets with Chinese lettering on all of the store signs and the perfect restaurant – Post Deng. It was named for Deng Xiao Ping to recognize his love of food and his making Szechwan food popular. Jerry had hot and sour soup and vegetables with rice and I had steamed vegetable dumplings and vegetables with rice. We chose the restaurant because it wasn’t glitzy and it was very crowded. It turned out to be an award winning restaurant and the food tasted like it.

From there we walked back to a stop where we could board a number 16 tram to St. Kilda, a popular seaside suburb, on another part of the bay from where the ship was docked. There is a lovely beach and a very new complex of spas and indoor swimming pools. We wandered a bit there and went into a restaurant for a cup of tea. In addition to the tea we shared an excellent nougat candy with cherries and pistachio nuts in it. Back on the number 16 tram, we rode it until we reached Royal Botanical Gardens and the Shrine of Remembrance, a monument honoring Australians who died in wars. More wandering through the gardens until nearly 5 p.m. when we decided it was enough for one day and we headed back to the ship. We weren’t sure which way to go, so we asked a man walking past and he said we needed to board the number 8 tram, the same as he was. We sat with him on the ride and shared a few minutes of interesting conversation.

We left the number 8 tram at Federation Square and walked a few blocks across the city in rush hour traffic, with commuters mostly on foot and trams until we reached a stop where we could board the number 109 back to the ship after a fun-filled day in another Australian port.