Day 97 - Tuesday 4 April - Melbourne City Adventures

Day 97

Tuesday

4 April 2017 –

Finished the Book Burial Rites By Hannah Kent – what an awesome read. Loved the flawed character Anges and how the reader is engaged in her story, only to find out in the end that there is a whole lot of truth in the story.  A top novel from an Aussie author who is still so young, but obviously completely invested in her tale.

Bonbeach – Melbourne

Today we woke to another glorious day in Melbourne. We were happy to lay in bed and read until 8am and then it was time to get up and get cracking.  We were all ready to make our way into Melbourne by 9.30am, electing to walk the 2km to the train station , making it just as train pulled out, but it didn’t matter as another came to replace it 10min later.

We found our selves a seat and then sat back and enjoyed the peaceful and relaxed journey into the city. It took 50min to finally arrive at Flinders Street Train Station, the iconic yellow-faced building. We alighted and made our way out onto the street and heading in the direction of South Bank.

We walked along the river frontage, checking out the eating establishments, art work and the goings on on the river. We walked all the way to the exhibition centre before we passed over a bridge and walked back along the bank and the homeless hangout. There seems to be a real problem in this city for it and all the government can do is make being homeless illegal.

We made our way into the city malls, walking down Bourke St, the scene of the tragedy in January where so many lost their lives to a moronic car driver. It was a little sad to wander where they had, also enjoying the holidays.

We weaved our way through to China Town once again and found a different dim sum joint to try out. This one was better than yesterdays. The food was delicious and exceptionally filling, glad we were going to be walking it off.

When we left the restaurant, we walked back to Bourke St mall to get some info about the 35 circle route tram and then made our way through some of the more interesting malls and laneways to Flinders Street. We stopped for a quick drink at Young and Jackson again and then hopped on the old tram.

We stayed on board for the circle, checking out the different areas. Commentary was provided on board, giving us some idea of where things were and what we were looking at. It was very useful and informative.

We didn’t quite finish the loop, alighting on Flinders Street near the MCG. We walked over to the famed sports ground and then walked through the sports stadium area of Melbourne. Some serious tennis players were hitting up on the outdoor practise courts at Rod Laver Arena, so we watched for a while and continued on. We passed Hisense Arena, home of the Melbourne United Basketball team and the Glasshouse, where I watched the Wildcats play North Melbourne Giants back in 1992 or 3.

We made it back to the banks of the Yarra and walked back towards the city, checking out the art installations along the way. They have trees covered in knitted shawls all the way along the bank. They are bright and colourful, but I wonder if they would be of better use to the homeless.

We made our way through Federation Square before returning to Young & Jackson once again, a quick drink before we caught the train back to Bonbeach. Once at the station we completed the final 2km walk and were back at the van for 5pm, all walked out.

We hung out in the van recapping the day, reading and relaxing.