We finally made it to mainland Australia! We docked on the largest wooden pier in the southern hemisphere. It was built in 1854. There is a large population of Chinese in Melbourne and one of the largest Greek populations outside of Greece. There are over 100 countries represented in Melbourne, which is known as a melting pot. Melbourne is known for their food and coffee culture. The population is 5 million people – the whole country of New Zealand. Melbourne is likely to overtake Sydney in population soon. During the war days, the main drag was a runway for planes. Melbourne is known as the sporting capital. They had the Australian open tennis tournament there a week or two prior. Their tennis center holds 14,000 people. They have a football/cricket stadium that holds 100,000 people. Marble Park football stadium (soccer) holds 50,000 people. In March, they turn the roads into a speedway and race through the city. The Yarra River flows through Melbourne and there are lots of rowing clubs and sculls on along the Yarra River. . The Yarra valley is known for their wineries. There are over 80 wineries in the area. In 1910, the train station was built in Melbourne and is still in use today. From 1901 to 1927, Melbourne was the capital of Australia. The current capital is Canberra, a city between Melbourne and Sydney. Vegemite (I did try some) is not real good. The spray on kind on crackers was not bad. The paste…ugh. Vegemite was made after 1922 when they stopped importing marmite from UK. Vegemite is made from brewer’s yeast…the scum they scrape off the top. Evidently it is good thinly spread on toast. Meat pies, sausages, fish & chips, and pamajamas (schnitzel) are popular foods. Thai food is also very popular in Melbourne.
Again, we are not big city folks, and Melbourne is a big city. We headed up into into the Dandenong ranges – a cool temperature rain forest. Lots of Melbourner’s go there for day trips to relax. We went to Sherbrook Forest and was able to see the largest, tallest trees at 90-100 meters tall – a mountain ash. They used to be used for masts for ships because they grow so strong and straight. There were also a lot of fern trees. They only grow a cm a year, so these tall trees were old. There were a lot of birds flying around that were very vocal and colorful. Some of the birds can actually mimic mobile phone noises and other birds. There were crimson rosellas, kookaburras, cockatoos, Cara wings, wedge-tailed eagles….over 800 varieties of birds. Our guide, Chris, stated you should never start feeding cockatoos. If you stop, they will ruin your windows…eating the sills. Never start feeding them.
We stopped and had scones with cream and jam before leaving on a ride of the Puffin Billy Railway – Australia’s oldest operating steam railway and only surviving narrow gauge locomotive. We actually got to sit along the edge of the train with our legs hanging out. It was pretty cool!
Messina Musings 