Last of Melbourne

March 11, 2020


Finally we woke up to a bright, sunny albeit cool morning (in the teens) so we decided to head to the Melbourne Beach at St. Kilda’s. ‘Melbourne’ is a bit like saying the Golden Horseshoe it goes on for hundreds of kilometers in all directions. On a more local level however it is made up of all sorts of little divisions like Toronto and along the bay, St. Kilda’s is one of them. This is where all the industrial container ships comes into Melbourne and also in the past where the royals were welcomed into Melbourne from their yacht’s so it was called the gateway to Melbourne. By Aussie standards this is considered a poor beach but we thought it was lovely with fine beige sand, lots of crushed shells, a few jellies and we even saw a Fairy Penguin swimming in the bay. We didn’t actually swim in the sea as it was cold and windy, instead we wimped out and swam in the sea baths, basically a sea water pool and hot tub – very decadent.

We trammed back into the CBD proper for some more arcade wandering and shopping. Lots of looking but no buying, however the Lightening Ridge opals were very tempting. We finished the afternoon back down by the river in Federation square to take in the ACMI – Australian Centre for the Moving Image. The ACMI is dedicated to the history of the viewed image from the flip book to virtual reality, TV, movies and even the gaming experience. It has only been open five months but it is absolutely brilliant. You can email yourself a film clip doing the Matrix bullet dodge thing, interact with shadow walls that make you monstrous and try out all sorts of old funky equipment including having a round of Pong.

Foot sore and hungry it was off to Chinatown (along Lt. Bourke Street) for dumplings and noodles, then home to pack because we are off to Cairns first thing in the morning.