A traveller's reflection: 2013 Aussie Holiday: 08 Melbourne City Tour

My Travel Journal

"There isn't much I haven't shared with you along the road and through it all there'd always be tomorrow's episode" - Elton John

I started traveling around the world since early 80s when I had the opportunity to combine business trips with vacations. Then later when my rezeki is in abundance, there were numerous other trips along the way for vacations, most of the time with hubby and the kids when the timing is right. I have also started to compile the journal and photo-pages covering almost more than 45 years of world wide travel. Some destinations I visited just once, others many times. Many of those places are the obvious famous places people would like to visit but some, the casual traveler doesn't even think to try. I have placed links to my travel at the side bar of my personal page, My Life Reflections, and will be updating them from time to time.

My wish is to continue my travel and complete circumnavigate the globe, insyaAllah…

Saturday, 29 June 2013

2013 Aussie Holiday: 08 Melbourne City Tour

"Traveling is almost like talking with men of other centuries..." - René Descartes

Day 08: 29 June 2013

(Melbourne City Tour)

(On a free visitor hop-on hop-off bus)

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We had early breakfast and by 09:30 we drove out to city centre and parked at the Federation Square. From there we took the free Melbourne Visitor Hop-On Hop-Off Shuttle for an hour city tour of Melbourne with 14 stops.

(My reflection at the Federation Square)

(Walking through the maze)

(Are we in Hollywood?)

(A stuning gothic architecture of St Paul Cathedral)

(Finders Street Station, central hub of transportation network)

(Melbourne Visitor Centre, a one stop service centre)

Another way to tour the city is by taking the City Sightseeing Hop-on Hop-off. The bus stops at the same 14 stops but it costs A$35 for adults and A$15 for children.

(Australian Centre for Contemporary Art)

(Iconic landmarks of Melbourne)

(Horse Carriage - another form of transportation)

After the free city tour we went to visit a laneway where we stayed a while there to admire unique graffiti on the walls. Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. Everything including; sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting can be found in many places throughout the city.

Visiting the famous Hosier Lane)

(Most photographed street arts lane)

(A man deep in thought in a Museum)

We had our filet-o-fish lunch at McDonald and later shopped for more souvenirs. As we still have ample time we decided to go to Luna park and check out the rides there. Melbourne's Luna Park is a historic amusement park located on the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay in St Kilda. It opened in 1912 and has been operating almost continuously since then. This was the first of the five Luna Parks that were built in Australia, of which only Melbourne and Luna Park Sydney are still operating. The adults paid A$40/person tickets for unlimited rides and A$15/each for some rides for the toddlers.

(The entrance of the Luna Park)

(Hana on a carousel)

(Alia with her dad)

(Flying high on a Pirate Ship)

(Rotating Ferris Wheel)

(The Scenic Railway Roller-coaster)

The Scenic Railway was built in 1911 is the oldest continually-operating roller coaster in the world, and one of only three roller-coasters (the others being in Plymouth, UK, and Copenhagen, Denmark) that require a brakesman to stand in the middle of the train. For these reasons, it is regarded as an ACE Coaster Classic. Other rides are Sky Rider Ferris Wheel built 1971, Twin Dragon - a Japanese built Pirate ship type ride, The Ghost Train - a ghost train which retains its 1936 tracks, G-Force built 1983, Amazing Mirror Maze, Arabian Merry and Magical Carousels.