Melbourne and Adelaide

My first stop in Australia was Melbourne, second largest city in Australia and the capital city of the state of Victoria. I was fortunate enough to have some family living here, who generously invited me to stay with them. I have to admit, after three months of hostels and the like, it was very nice to stay in a home. And, of course, they are wonderful people! I also have a friend living in Melbourne, and I spent my first day hanging out with her. It’s an interesting city, very cosmopolitan and modern but with some distinct local flair. Plus, it has a tram, and those are always fun (the Green Line excepted). During my time in Melbourne, I saw the botanical gardens (very nice), a museum (eh), and the state library. I stopped in there mostly to take advantage of free wifi, but stayed for a while because it was a wonderful building with art displays and lots of books on local topics. I enjoy browsing libraries, and unfortunately reading everything electronically means I don’t do it as often. That said, if you try to take away my Kindle, I will give you the evil eye. 🙂 I also drove out to some places in the Dandenong Ranges, which is a low mountain range outside the city. It was very pretty!

After my few days in Melbourne, I flew to Adelaide, which is apparently known as the City of Churches. I did see several of them. I spent a good day wandering and visiting the Adelaide zoo, which was a lot of fun. I always feel a bit conflicted about zoo’s; it’s interesting to see the animals, but I feel bad for them being trapped. Here, at least, in many cases the larger animals are there for rehabilitation before being transferred to a preserve outside the city where they have room to roam. I also have very little sympathy for the birds after one of them dive-bombed me. Seriously, he was going for my eyes! Stupid bird.

I bought myself an authentic Akubra hat, both as a souvenir and for my upcoming outback adventure. I feel very Australian (although amusingly, my tour guide later on scoffed that I needed to beat the hat up before I could wear it with pride). I took it pretty easy in Adelaide for a couple reasons: it was raining for several of the days, and I had a bit of a cold, which I really didn’t want before the next top. So not too exciting a time. But still, Adelaide was an interesting city, and I imagine a fun place to live.

Next stop: Uluru, and the Red Centre!

So, you’ve probably noticed a lack of city photos? My city shooting has been…lacking on this trip. I try, but I’m just not happy with what I get. I’m really going to make an effort in Sydney, so hopefully we’ll see something there.