WALTZING AUSTRALIA: Melbourne September 17-20, 2010

An endless gray hovered over Melbourne’s skyline as we scanned the landscape on our first day out; but, perhaps, it only seemed so, after spending the last 15.5 hours on air travel, reversing day into night as we crossed the International Dateline.  From the Southbank where we were situated, a chill emanated from Port Phillip Bay below, but we were set on uncovering the heart of the city center in the next three days.

We quickly found out that a leisurely way to do just that was to hop on and off the free City Circle Tram from where we got a sampling of the sights: Parliament House, the grand Windsor Hotel, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Princes Bridge, Federation Square - all the while getting glimpses of the Yarra River that framed these sights.

Then, it was time for an up close and personal look.  We hobnobbed with the local folk and tourists, strolling along Federation Square, visiting the National Gallery of Victoria that featured not-well known Australian impressionists and modern artists - even stopping for possibly a starving artist who used the sidewalk for his canvas.

Street artist in Southgate

We negotiated the unending maze of vendors at the Victoria Market, ending up with a bagful of gifts and souvenirs.

Flagstaff Park on the way to Victoria Market

We joined the throng of locals that swarmed the suburban railway on Flinders Street.

We celebrated mass and Holy Eucharist at St. Paul’s Cathedral that boasted of a sumptuous yet tasteful array of stain-glass altars and windows and ornately-designed tile work on its aisles.

St. Paul's Cathedral

And just so there was an even mixture of the spiritual and the profane, we crossed the street to Chloe’s Bar, now famous for its life-sized painting of a nude Parisian model that was immortalized as Chloe.

Walking toward Richmond, we joined the lively scenery on Bridge Road, a shopper’s paradise of clothing shops and cafes.

Yarra River

Topping it all off was the dizzying array of cuisine that we sampled - but no kangaroo platter or crocodile satay.  In the buzzy bistro of the Richmond Hill Café and Larder, we lunched on ham and pea croquettes and eggplant and chili-topped goat cheese on multi-grain sourdough bread.  In the food court at Southgate, we enjoyed a plate of jasmine rice with chicken curry, tom yum soup, and pad thai noodles.

But enough of Melbourne, tomorrow we fly to sultry Cairns.