Blog 17 Melbourne

St. Patrick’s Day (and my birthday) started early as we had a 10:35 flight from Launceston to Melbourne where we were to meet the rest of our tour and begin our travels around Australia.  When we got to the airport, we learned that our flight had been delayed due to fog at the Melbourne airport.  At first it was only an hour, then another hour, and finally scheduled for take-off at 1:45.  We were traveling on Qantas and they provided each of us with a $20 voucher for food (unfortunately not for use on wine).  Our poor guide, Ben.  He had 6 members of our group flying in from the States this morning, but because of the fog, their flight was diverted to Sydney.  Because they had been on an Airbus 380 and the crew had run out of crew time, the passengers were rebooked on flights from Sydney to Melbourne.  Unfortunately they were not all booked on the same flight.  So Ben had four arriving at 1:30 and two at 6:30 PM – all the while we were stuck in Launceston.  Happily, with the help of some other OAT representatives and one other tour company, these six were met and escorted to the hotel.  We finally took off about 1:45 on a Dash 8 turboprop.  The flight was okay until about 10 minutes from touchdown when we hit some moderate turbulence.  And then the pilot seemed to slam the airplane down on the runway – I swear all Australian pilots must be former Navy pilots used to landing on a carrier!  But finally we were at our hotel.

Melbourne is a city of broad boulevards and Victorian architecture.  Although founded in 1835 by free settlers from the colony of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), it was the gold rush of the 1850’s that promoted the city to a place of prominence in Australia.  During this “Marvelous Melbourne” era, it became one of the most important cities in the British Empire and one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world.  And after the Australian states all came together as the “Federation of Australia” in 1901, it served as the capital of Australia until Canberra became Australia’s permanent capital in 1927.  Much of the old Victorian architecture of the Marvelous Melbourne era remains today, preserved as Heritage sites by the Australian government.  In addition to its efficient tram system (largest in the world), abundant parks scattered throughout the city, a theater district showing Broadway plays, expensive and exclusive stores that rival the shopping centers of Paris, it also has 6 major universities and the highest number of international students in the world.  It is truly a multicultural city.  Although we were here for about a week at the beginning of this trip, there is still much to see and we had the next three days to make more discoveries.

Our hotel this time was the beautiful Pullman on the Park, located just outside the Central Business District and very close to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) which seats 100,000 people.  Cricket and Aussie Rules Football are very big here in Melbourne, but I don’t think Bill or I will ever figure out how the games are played.  We had a room on the 12^th story and had a good view of the MCG.

Melbourne Cricket Ground

Our Welcome Dinner was held at the Young and Jackson Hotel, which opened in 1861.  We ate in their Pub, one of the last remaining original pubs, where we all had to walk by Chloe, a nude painting by French artist Jules Joseph Lefebvre in 1875.  Originally hung in the National Gallery of Victoria for three weeks in 1883, it was removed because of opposition by the Presbyterian Assembly.  In 1908 the hotel bought the picture and hung it in the Pub.  It was damaged in 1943 by an American serviceman who threw a glass of beer at it.

For dinner I had the grilled barramundi while Bill had a steak.  We had to share my birthday with thousands of Melbourne citizens who were celebrating not only St. Patrick’s Day, but also the final day of the Formula 1 Melbourne Grand Prix.

On Monday 16 March, we went to the Royal Botanical Gardens, a 19^th-century English garden, where we were met by an indigenous (or Aborigine) guide, Jacobi, who conducted a Welcoming Smoke Ceremony which is done to welcome people into Australia and help them cleanse their spirit and (hopefully) become more appreciative of the land.  The smoking ceremony is designed to give thanks, cleanse your spirit, and show respect for the land.  This is how the indigenous people connect with the sky above.  He started a smoldering fire in a wooden cradle and then added leaves or branches from three trees:

1.      Silver Wattle – this symbolizes tandoor, the bringing together of the 38 tribes of this region.  The indigenous people use the silver wattle for water, nectar, and turn the seeds into juice or damper (flat bread).  This how they connect with the sky above.  They look to bongal, the wedged-tail eagle, for protection.  The Eagle represents the older generation.  He is also the top spirit for this group of indigenous tribes.

2.      Eucalyptus leaves – they represent the 38 tribes and the middle generation and are used to show respect to their ancestors.  Our guide then gave each of us a eucalyptus leaf to use later in the ceremony.

3.      Native cherry – the last branch added to the fire is the native cherry which represents the youngest generation.  The native cherry is a parasite that needs a host like a eucalyptus tree to grow and flourish.  The native cherry is used in birthing ceremonies.

He then invited us to place our leaf on the fire and to fan the smoke towards us.  By doing this, we are cleansing our spirits and agreeing to follow their laws:

·         Protect the little ones

·         Agree to respect the land

·         And Bongal agrees in return to protect us

Starting the Smoking Ceremony

Bill participating in the Ceremony

Sherry participating in the Ceremony

He then took us on a walk through the gardens, pointing out native trees and how the indigenous people use them.  He talked first about the Banksia Serrata, a tree with a brush-like flower and cone.  The indigenous people use the cone to transport their fire from one location to another.  It took a long time to start a fire using two pieces of sticks, so when the tribes moved to a new location, they would lit the Banksia cone on fire and it would smolder for a long time.  In that way they were able to transport their fire to their new location.  We saw the Blanket Plant that has leaves that are smooth on one side and soft on the other.  They are used to make mattresses and for toilet paper.  He also pointed out the Hoop Pine, a slow growing conifer.  It can take up to 200 years to produce seeds.  The sap has many uses for the Aborigines, and when mixed with ash it dries like cement.  He also pointed out the lemon myrtle tree whose leaves really have a very lemony smell.  They are used in teas and as antiseptics.  The last tree he talked about was the Giant Stinging Tree.  The tree has little hairs on the bark that sting when touched.  Minor stings can last one to two hours, while a severe sting may last for months.  The stings can be poisonous to dogs and horses that brush up against them.

Banksia Serrata flower/cone

Leaf of Blanket Plant

Rock Orchid growing in a Silver Ash tree

Pine Hoop Tree

At the end of the walk we went back to where the smoking ceremony had been held and had a cup of lemon myrtle tea.  He showed us a map that had all the different indigenous tribes in Australia.  There are 256 indigenous nations or language groups.  Within these nations there are 700 clans or different dialects, and it is further broken down into families (which might also have some differences in the dialect).

Our guide then explained the indigenous flag.  The black represents of the skin of the indigenous people, the yellow circle is the sun which binds the people to the land, and the red represents the land. 

Map showing indigenous tribes in Australia

Lemon Myrtle Leaf Tea

Indigenous Flag

After our walk through the gardens, we drove to the Abbotsford Convent where we had lunch in the bakery (actually now a bakery school).  For more than 100 years, the convent was one of the largest in the state of Victoria and provided shelter, food, education, and work for thousands of poverty-stricken women and children.  The convent closed in 1975 and the site has become a center for the arts, education, and cultural events.

Good Shepherd Chapel in Abbotsford Convent

After lunch we returned to the center of Melbourne where Ben took us on a walking tour of some of the iconic laneways, with their artistic graffiti, and down Collins St, the shopping center of Melbourne, where we walked through The Block, a Renaissance-era arcade of very expensive stores and Italian marble flooring, and the Royal Arcade, a shopping center with more reasonably priced stores.  Then it was free time to do as we wanted.  Bill and I returned to the hotel and spent a quiet evening at the hotel.  We ate in the hotel’s dining room and had a delicious dinner of lamb rump.

Graffiti art on laneway

Graffiti art on laneway

Sign on entry to laneway -- everyone was doing selfies

The Block - It. Marble floor

It. Marble floor

Tuesday we left the city for a day in the Yarra Valley, one of the more important wine regions of this area, with our bus driver and local guide Kyle.  Kyle works with the Melbourne Zoo and is very knowledgeable of the native animals.  Our first stop was the Healeyville Wildlife Sanctuary where we saw koalas, kangaroos, including a female with a joey in her pouch, flying kangaroos, echidnas, and platypuses.  Much like Bonorong in Tasmania, this sanctuary takes in injured and orphan native wildlife.  A highlight of the visit (and I say this hesitantly) was a visit to the animal hospital they have.  Visitors are allowed to go in and observe the vets and staff working on the animals.  Today they were taking x-rays of a red-bellied black snake, a highly venomous snake.  Once it was anesthetized, one of the vets had to insert a breathing tube into its mouth (apparently reptiles cannot breathe when they are asleep).  It was a very delicate procedure as they did not want to get pricked by the snake’s fangs.  One nurse held a tongue depressor between the fangs while the vet inserted the tube.  Not a place I could ever work in!!!

Emu

An emu's double feather

Sleeping Koala

Mother kangaroo and her joey -- can you see the joey's tail?

Male Red Kangaroo

Flying Kangaroo

Bill feeding a Black Cockatoo

Then we went to the Soumah 




























Winery for wine tasting and lunch.  The Yarra Valley established itself as a wine region in the 19^th century and has continued to grow.  Today there are about 90 wineries in the area.  The Yarra Valley produces some of Australia's finest pinot noir, sparkling wine, and other cool-climate wines.  At Soumah we tasted 2 whites and 3 reds, with the last being a very good sweet desert wine.  Lunch was a very delicious lamb – it had been slow-cooked, shredded, pressed into a brick, and then fried.  Yummy, Yummy!!!  We sat outside and just admired the beautiful view of the vineyards.

View from our lunch

Lamb dinner

Our last stop was in a small town by the Yarra River – Warrandyte.  Founded in 1851 when gold was discovered there, the town prospered during the gold rush era.  When the gold petered out, the town nearly died.  They had to re-invent themselves, and with the natural beauty of the area around the Yarra River, it became a haven for artists who are interested in painting nature.  It has a wonderful walkway along the River.  It is also famous for the Cocoa Moon Café, which has some of the best ice cream.  I can attest to that – I had cup of white chocolate raspberry that was very delicious, while Bill had a cup of chocolate brownie.

Yarra River

Yarra River

Then it was back to Melbourne for a restful evening.  Bill and I went down to the bar for Happy Hour (I can get used to this) and then split a hamburger for dinner.

Our last day in Melbourne was a free day.  Bill and I took a tram to the South Wharf area (near where we had stayed the first time we were in Melbourne.  Bill had seen an interesting bridge on the internet – Webb Bridge—and wanted to see it himself.  It is a pedestrian bridge and the first half was quite normal, but has you reach the other side of the river, the bridge resembles a mesh tunnel that snakes around until you reach the other side.

walking across Webb Bridge

Other end of Webb Bridge

We had hoped to visit the Polly Woodside, a tall ship built in 1885 in Belfast.  It sailed the world as a cargo vessel, covering over a million miles.  Unfortunately we could only see it from the outside – the ship is only open on weekends. 

Melbourne Skyline

Polly Woodside

From the wharf area we returned to the Central Business District where we took a tram to the Shrine of Remembrance, located in the King’s Domain, a large park area.  Opened in 1934, it was originally designed to commemorate the 114,000 Victorians who served in and the 19,100 who did not return from World War I.  Today it honors all Victorians who have served their country.  The design was chosen by returning WWI veterans from 83 entries, and is based on one of the seven wonders of the ancient world – the tomb of King Mausolus at Halicarnassus.  In the center of the inner sanctum is a wreath and a bronze plaque that reads "Greater Love Hath No Man."  When the shrine was built it took an engineer 900 pages of calculations to determine the exact location of a small hole in one side of the shrine so that at 11 AM on November 11th (day and time WWI ended), a ray of sunlight falls directly on the bronze plaque.

Shrine of Remembrance

Bronze Plaque

Then it was time to head back to the hotel to rest and get ready for dinner.  We got off the bus a stop before our hotel and walked through Fitzroy Gardens.  There we saw Cook’s Cottage, an English cottage that belonged to the parents of Capt. James Cook who first sailed into Sydney Harbor.  It is also the oldest building in Australia.  Built originally in Yorkshire England in 1755, it was brought to Melbourne in 1934 by Sir Russell Grimwade.  Although Capt. Cook never lived in this cottage (he had moved away from his parents before it was built), Grimwade felt the connection to Cook was enough to have it transported to Melbourne.  The house was dismantled, brick-by-brick, with each brick numbered, and packed in barrels (it took 253 cases and 40 barrels) before being shipped.  It was then painstakingly reassembled in Fitzroy Gardens.  The ivy that now covers much of the cottage came from cuttings of the original ivy.

Cook's Cottage

Fitzroy Gardens

Rainbow Lorikeet

For our last night’s dinner in Melbourne, we went to Hardware Lane in the Central Business District, to the Grill Steak Seafood restaurant.  Bill and I both had the seafood linguini.  It was a beautiful night and a great ending to our time in Melbourne.  Tomorrow we are off to Alice Springs and the Outback.