Category: Hell Yeah, Schnabelteah

Walking through Melbourne

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The second day in Melbourne started with a free walking tour by I’m Free Tours. Here we got to know some of the city, whereby the walking tour focused to a large extent on the really impressive street art of the city. It was quite an entertaining walk – but I didn’t retain much of the information. Since the tour ended at the Arts Centre with its funny Eiffel Tower-esque roof construction on the other side of the Yarra River – probably Melbourne’s answer to Sydney’s Opera House – we made our way from here towards the Shrine of Remembrance. On the way, we visited the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, which are really worth seeing.

The Shrine of Remembrance is one of the largest war memorials in Australia. Originally built as a memorial to all the men and women of Victoria who served in the First World War, it quickly became the central memorial to all 60000 Australians who died in the war. Today it serves as a memorial to all Australians who served in the war. The monument is truly impressive. From the Terrace you also have an excellent panoramic view.

After resting a little at the hotel, we went back to the city centre in the evening to see the musical Come From Away at the Comedy Theatre. The play, which revolves around the events of 9/11 and the resulting closure of American airspace, is quite remarkable. Each actor plays at least 10 roles, whether a resident of Newfoundland or one of the passengers on the 38 planes stranded in Gander. Several smaller stories are told; some tragic, some funny and some simply beautiful.

After our visit to the theatre, we went to one of the many rooftop bars in the city. The pleasant climate, the great ambience and the lighting of the other skyscrapers created an atmosphere that I have rarely experienced. Melbourne is a truly great city.

Pictures Melbourne

 

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Hell Yeah, Schnabelteah Day 6 to 8 / Victoria

Enjoying the Skyline of Melbourne

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Melbourne Star

After the second night in Queenscliff, we wanted to go to the capital of Victoria and therefore had to drive around Port Philipp Bay to the other side. Since the short ferry connection to Sorrento is quite expensive, we decided to go via Geelong. Following the M1, we reached Melbourne after about 100 minutes and the first destination of our day; the Melbourne Star Ferris wheel.

Operated and manufactured by the Sanoyas Hishino Meisho Corporation, the Ferris wheel is located in the very modern Waterfront City shopping and entertainment district in the Melbourne Docklands. Located between the harbour and Melbourne’s city centre, the 120m high wheel offers a unique view of the metropolis’ skyline and infrastructure.

Melbourne

Although the visit to the Melbourne Star was a rather spontaneous idea, it offered us an extremely impressive first view of the city of 4.3 million inhabitants, which we wanted to take a closer look at in the afternoon. Freshly stocked up with the first souvenirs, we went to our motel. We stayed at the Crest on Park in St. Kilda, so we could reach many destinations on foot. But the tram also ran right past our hotel, so that we could get to the city centre quite quickly.

For Aris, Albert Park was especially important, and we immediately set our sights on it. As a Formula 1 fan, he always wanted to visit the famous Albert Park Circuit. It’s a bit funny to be allowed to walk or drive freely on parts of the track, because a large part of it is just a normal street. The quietness of the pit lane naturally makes it seem like a foreign body within the sports park. Due to its location within the city and the truly impressive skyline, which is best observed from the shore of the central lake, it must be a very special event to be in Melbourne during the Grand Prix.

Passing the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre and the South Melbourne Football Club, we took the tram towards the city centre. Here we first had a look at Chinatown, which was founded in 1850 with the start of the gold rush in Australia. This makes Melbourne’s Chinatown one of the oldest in the world.

On Exhibition Street we came across the next evening’s destination, the Comedy Theatre. After we had eaten something in Chinatown, we moved on through the city centre. After a stop at the impressive Myer department stores’, we headed towards St. Paul’s Cathedral, which we could only admire from the outside. At the neighbouring Flinders Street station, we took the tram back to the hotel.

Pictures Melbourne and Melbourne Star

 

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Hell Yeah, Schnabelteah Day 6 to 8 / Victoria

Snorkelling with Seals

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After a good night’s sleep and a great breakfast at the Athelstane House, we had some time to explore Queenscliff a bit further, as our booked tour with Sea All Dolphin Swims would not start before 2pm. Therefore, we spend some time at the beach nearby the White Lighthouse, had a look at the Queenscliff South Pier and enjoyed the view from the marina’s observation tower. We also walked through the harbour towards the station of the Bellarine Railway – unfortunately, there would be no trains running the next days.

Dolphin and Seal Swim

Punctually at 2 pm we then started our little boat trip within the southern reaches of Port Phillip Bay. After some time on the boat, we first stopped at Chinaman’s Hat where we made the encounter with a large group of Australian Fur Seals. While most of them haul-out in the open hut, we particularly enjoyed the encounter of the seals swimming and interacting with our group. There was also a large stingray swimming close to the ground.

While our first stop just showed the open sea, the second stop was far more impressive and colourful. We were guided to snorkel around Pope’s Eye, which is part of the Phillip Heads Marine National Park. The island once was intended to serve as another fort to defend the entrance of Port Philip in the 1880s, yet due to technological advancements this was never the case. Construction was stopped soon after they begun. Nowadays, Pope’s Eye is home to a reef which provides a rich habitat that is home to a diverse fauna of fish and marine invertebrates, including sponges and soft corals. While I didn’t feel safe during the first stop, I truly enjoyed the snorkelling on Pope’s Eye as it gave me a great insight to the sea life. Now, I would love to visit other reefs in the future and try to learn how to snorkel or dive.

The last part of our boat trip just concentrated to find the dolphins which are usually to be found in this area of Port Phillip Bay. It took us quite a while and when we finally tried to swim with the dolphins, it did not work at all. After two trials, where we hold on to a rope which is dragged through the water, we even stopped trying it. The dolphins were not in the mood to do so, and we respected it. Normally, they would swim around you, and it is probably a very nice experience even though you are just holding to a rope and don’t even get to a close contact with them. At least, we saw some dolphins in the ocean and that’s quite a nice sight.

After three and a half hours, we returned to Queenscliff. I enjoyed our boating trip, and it was an overall nice experience – even though we basically only swam with the seals and had a nice snorkelling at Pope’s Eye. In the evening, we returned to the Queenscliff Brewery, where we had some fantastic fish and chips – probably the best ones I ever had in my life, even though I lived in England for two years – and some nice beers. I especially enjoyed the Chardonnay IPA they were brewing. Overall, the Prickly Moses beers are fully recommendable and so is a visit to Queenscliff.

Pictures Queenscliff and Seal and Dolphin Swim

 

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Hell Yeah, Schnabelteah Day 5 / Victoria