Today we woke up at 6am yet again. However, something is different today. The weather? Nope. That's not the answer. Today we will be on our own. After all the breakfast and washing up, we hopped into Uncle Martin's car, together with a cousin of mine, namely Daniel, Uncle Martin sent us from Glen Waverley towards Glen Iris railway station. From there, we tasted our first time on a Melbourne train.
We bought an Zone 1&2 (AUD10.60) - one day pass at the station and this would make us eligible for any public transport in Melbourne. For more details of the zoning of Melbourne city, you can enquire from the Vline website.
Well, as for me whom had took the train in Singapore, Hongkong, England and this time Melbourne, my comment is, the train is very classical. The speed it is moving is slower compared to the countries named above. This maybe due to the free and easy livestyle of the people of Melbourne, which indirectly make Melbourne one of the favourite city to live in.
The train took us directly to CBD, and we stopped at Melbourne Central. Inside Melbourne Central is the Coops Shot Tower which completed in 1890 with the height 50m.
The old and tall shot tower musuem is coupled with the big clock in the central area where we exited from the train stop. I took alot of photos here. Awesome!
Daniel left us from there as he need to go to his class at RMIT University. This is one of the famous university after Melbourne University in CBD. It is famous in all the artworks and design. In fact, all the artworks around Melbourne are from the hands of Student from RMIT! Great huh!After that we got out of Melbourne Central and directly opposite it is the Melbourne State Library. We are at Swanston Street now. The state library is beautifully built since 19th century. It has a typically Romanic feel.
We headed into La Trobe Street which is on the right of the State Library, and headed east towards our second destination - Carlton Gardens.The weather is nice, the air is fresh, it is not tiring to walk along the Mebourne street. Do not worried about getting lost in Melbourne, they are even having signboards for pedestrians like us. What a wonderful country! At about 15 minutes we reached our destination.
We wandered along the many pathways in the garden, under the shade of tall trees, past glorious flower displays and across sunny lawns. What a beautiful site. The tree leaves are in golden yellowish colour. And the leaves whittered whenever there is a breeze. Brilliant! A total 100% feel of autumn feel.
We strolled around the garden and headed towards the Royal Exhibition Building inside Carlton.
Royal Exhibition Building is the Australia's only World Heritage listed building.
After that we headed towards the Melbourne Musuem and the IMAX theatre. There were alot of school pupils around that area. They should be coming for some education trip to Melbourne Musuem.
Not forgeting IMAX theatre, this theatre is the biggest theatre in Melbourne. The price to watch a movie in Melbourne is very expensive. For this factor, I think Malaysia is the forerunner as it is cheap to watch a movie in Malaysia compared to under country. Malaysia Boleh! for this.At about 1130am, it start to drizzle abit. We walked into Victoria Street towards the Old Melbourne Goal.
The Old Melbourne Goal Crime and Justice experience provide visitor a chance to feel what it was really like to be locked up from Victorian times up to the 1990s when the watch house ceased to take prisoners. Visitors can enter a courtroom and become one of the characters in a dramatic recreation of a real trial, and decide for themselves on the guilt or innocence of the accused through their scripted role. So it is a chilling experience to try out. However, we didn't try this experience due to limited time. For those who are interested can visit this website www.oldmelbournegaol.com.au
Next it is about lunch time, we headed north of Melbourne Gaol towards the famous italian street called Lygon Street. As it is still quite early, some shop are not opened. All the shop are named in italian and we saw some gelato shop along. Typically italian feel.
We are finding for a highly recommended restaurant for our lunch. The name is Tiamo/Tiamo 2. We huffed and puffed and finally we got to that resturant. It is a long street and a long walk too.
Our next destination will be Queen Victoria Market(QVM). We hoped onto the free tourist bus at stop number 6, and it brought us towards the doorstep of QVM.
Melbourne's QVM is a must visit for everyone. With its huge range of souvenirs and clothing. All are placed at an affordable price. It is a magnet to all tourists and the locals as well. Some extra information for you readers, QVM is closed on wednesday.
QVM also offers the fabulous section of hot and dry market where it offers everything that is edible. The vegetables are green, the meats are red, the seafood are fresh. Most importantly, you get these with a super cheap price. We did grabbed some kiwis for out own. AUD2 for 10 kiwis! Wouldnt you believe it? You will be admired when you visit this place. No doubt!
At abt 3pm, we left QVM and we boarded a tram at Elizabeth Street with our daily tram ticket. The tram brought us south down to its end. We can see the famous flinders in front of us.
We saw a lot of very nice shop lots, dining area. All are well built in between walkways building.
Upcoming next is the famous St Paul's Cathedral. The cathedral is a late 19th century Gothic -Revival architecture. It is a holy place, so do keep your sound as low as possible.
The cathedral is well maintained and the artwork and architecture is well designed, built and preserved. The interior is renowned with wonderful carved cedar woodwork, tessellated tilled floors and stained glass.
We spent about 30 min there and we headed next towards Federation Square.
Featuring some of the world's most stunning architecture, Federation Square has become a new centre of cultural activities. Melbourne Visitor Centre, NGV Australia, Cafes, Bars and etc..
Right behind of Fedration Square will be Birrarung Marr. On the north bank of the Yarra River, Birrarung Marr is newest major parkland. The parks name comes from the language of the Wurundjeri people who originally inhabited this area. Birrarung means river of mists and marr relates to side.
The park is designed to host some of Melbourne major events and festivals, with a theatre-like space at the river edge that caters for large crowds. It is a romantic park with very unique artwork around. It is definitely a place for couple to have a date. We managed to see a couple exhanged kisses there too!
As the sun began to set, we boarded a tram at Swanston Street station back to Melbourne Central to meet with Daniel.At 7 pm, we had our dinner at Grill'd burger. One of the Melbourne cheap eats and is a must try. Absolutely yummylicious!
Next we boarded the city circle tram towards docklands to capture some night scene. This is the famous Webb bridge.
Follow up we hopped onto the city circle and we stopped at around Spencer Street Bridge. On this bridge you can see the nightview of Southbank and the CBD. It is very beautiful. The buildings on each side of the Yarra lid up couple with the reflection on the river, it is a sight to behold.
We crossed Spencer Street Bridge into Southbank and we strolled along the promenade while snapping some pictures.
This is the view from the Foot Bridge overlooking towards CBD with the yellow Flinders at its end. I personally like this pic alot.
We crossed the Foot Bridge and back to Flinders Street Station. It is abt 9pm. We boarded a train back to Glen Waverley and this is the end for today.Great day out in the CBD, we promise, we will be back there again!
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