Welcome to Melbourne!
It’s my first day here and I’m going on a free 3-hour walking tour of the city highlights. I’ll be here for just over a week so I’ll make note of places to return on future days.
This company is called I’m Free and they base their tours off the popular free walking tours offered throughout Europe. The guides don’t get paid anything except for donations at the end of the tour; you can donate whatever you feel the tour was worth. This particular company also offers walking tours gratis in Sydney. The tours happen twice a day at 10:30a and 2:30p departing from central locations in both cities.
The monument on the left below represents the Aussie battle for an 8-hour work day. Below right is the Royal Exhibition Building next to Carlton Gardens; it was built to host the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880 and is now an UNESCO World Heritage Site. For comparison’s sake, when Paris hosted the International Exhibition nine years later, they built the Eiffel Tower. This building was designed to impress.
A colorful patch of Carlton Gardens:
These metal bands around tree trunks may be an eyesore, but they prevent damage by the local possums.
The Melbourne Museum is located on the same block, just next to the Royal Exhibition Building.
And here’s the regal-looking Parliament building:
This photo below was taken at the Old Melbourne Gaol (Jail) which offers an interactive tour — for $25 they will lock you up and treat you like a prisoner. What a deal!
There’s a refreshing fountain in the Parliament Gardens if you need to cool off.
During my visit, Legally Blonde is running at the ornate Princess Theatre.
Our group passes through colorful Chinatown.
Here’s a little taste of the graffiti in Melbourne. More coming tomorrow!
And now we are officially in the CBD. That stands for Central Business District and it’s a very common word to describe the “downtown” area of any city in Australia or New Zealand (and perhaps elsewhere? I’ve never heard of this term back in the States).
Our guide points out Duke’s Coffee Roasters and declares it the best java joint in town. I make a note to return the next day (and the day after that).
We pass through several “secret” streets, which I’ll share tomorrow. We emerge across from the ACMI building (Australian Centre for the Moving Image).
The ACMI is currently presenting an exhibit on Hollywood costumes. I add this to my list of places to check out later in the week.
And now we are at Federation Square, a major hub in the city.
Federation Square is a great outdoor space — lots of room to sit down and relax, enjoy free public WiFi, and take in views of the city skyline.
Our free walking tour continues over the bridge just south of the CBD.
This stadium is part of Melbourne & Olympic Parks, home to the Australian Open tennis championship. It also hosts soccer, football, and rugby matches.
The building below is the tallest in the city.
Our guide points out Arts Centre Melbourne, the city’s premiere concert hall and theater venue.
We are now in Southbank, looking back towards the impressive skyline.
Our guide was excellent and we tip him well. We covered so much during our 3-hour tour, and I’m leaving out some of the best parts to show you tomorrow!
I continue walking towards the Southbank Footbridge in the distance.
In case it’s not yet clear, I’m a little enamored with this bridge and enjoy shooting it from various angles.
It’s Love Padlocks like you might find in Paris, just on a much smaller scale.
One final view looking back towards the Southbank Footbridge.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this first glimpse of Melbourne. Tomorrow I’ll show you my favorite parts of the walking tour that I skipped over in this post — secret alleyways and impressive street art.
