Melbourne - The Final Test

Alright folks! If you haven't read Melbourne Round 1, go back and study up because at the end of this post you will be required to report the number of times you correctly pronounced the city name in your head. Go!

While it may come as a surprise, Blake and I are not what you call "thrill-seekers" or "adrenaline junkies." Sure, we appreciate adventure...that's why we're on this whole intercontinental journey, but not the crazy stuff. Above is our faces after we rode the "Scenic Railway," a nearly one hundred year old wooden roller-coaster in St. Kilda Beach, a southern suburb of Melbourne. The roller coaster is a rather basic and simple style. It goes up, then goes around a curve, then goes up and down and up and down and up and then around another curve, and so on until it completes two full ovals with decreasingly sized up/downs until it comes to a full stop. This is the first, and likely last, roller coaster Blake and I will ride together. 

The rest of the park wasn't much to talk about, but it was a coney-island inspired, sea-side permanent carnival type of attraction. Afterwards we walked down the St. Kilda Pier to where Little Penguins nest, and where we glimpsed a few hiding in the rocks! They were all unfortunately too camera shy. The view from the pier looking into Melbourne was quite lovely, and Blake got the great shot below!

We made the 2.5 mile journey (each way) from our Airbnb in the posh enclave of Prahran down to St. Kilda on foot. We came across many different and interesting buildings...but this one took the cake! We think it looks like if Willy Wonka designed shipping containers. What about you?!

The following morning, we kept things a bit closer to "home" by visiting the Prahran market, just steps from our Airbnb! They had myriad fresh fruits, veggies, meats, flowers, coffees, teas, and baked goods! The flora in Australia has been quite spectacular in it's strangeness, take for example the "flowers" below!

Much to our delight we visited the market during a mini-farm petting zoo for the kiddos! Obviously I couldn't keep my hands to myself and couldn't resist petting the soft baby cows and goats. Too fun!

The next day, we got down to the Melbourne Zoo, perhaps inspired by the enjoyment we experienced at the petting zoo. While we found the zoo in the very big city to be surprisingly small and a bit underwhelming (think a barely larger Como Zoo?) we were COMPLETELY surprised by the immersive experience in the Lemur tent! While you were strongly discouraged from being within "1 meter" from the lemurs, they had free range of the entire space where the people were. Here is a lemur just sitting on the pathway as people walked by. 

Our last day in Melbourne was spent visiting an exciting place which I had read about long ago and forgot about until looking up unusual sights in Melbourne. Up until very recently, and in some places still, lead shot, for shot guns, is produced by literally pouring molten metal through a small sieve at the top of a very tall tower. As the molten metal drops fall, they cool into spheres, dropping into a vat of water to cool. Below is one of the few surviving shot towers in the world, and one in the best shape thanks to it being encapsulated by this large dome during the construction of a shopping mall surrounding it! Because it is heritage listed, it couldn't be torn down, so they built around it! Quite fascinating. It's called Coop's Shot Tower, if you feel like brushing up. 

Alright, we've reached the end! If you even once correctly pronounced the city "Mel-bun" in your head, congrats! You're ahead of Blake and I!


Next up: NEW ZELAND. If you've seen the Lord of the Rings movies, you'll know that the hobbits don't have wifi. We're doing it the same way, and have very limited access, so expect a full wrap up when we return to Australia in a week or so!

Until then....