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Melbourne, Australia

Wednesday - February 20, 2008 - Melbourne

Melbourne was settled by free settlers in 1835, 47 years after the first European settlement and became a major metropolis because of the Victorian gold rush in the early 1850’s, and is located in the state of Victoria. This area was settled 40,000 year prior to the European settles by 30 nations or clans of Aboriginal people. These people still live in the state of Victoria, where there is a great deal of dynamic history, beliefs and practices from the original Aboriginal people.

We arrived early at Melbourne and went looking for some interesting things to do. Several of us took the tram into the city and walked to the train station. There we caught a train to Belgrave. At Belgrave, we took another cute little steam train, called “Puffing Billy”.
It’s a narrow track steam engine from way back when narrow gauge railways were used to go up into the hills with people and freight. It was a really good way to see some of the back country and also a lot of the area around Melbourne. The train ride took us to a mountain station where we had some lunch, bought some trinkets and waited for the next train back to Belgrave. The vegetation along the trip was lush and green. The rain probably helps to keep it that way. The weather in Melbourne had been hot and sunny until we got there.

We repeated the trip back down into the city and back to the ship with a little time for shopping. Marilynn purchased a beautiful necklace and earring set. She wore them at dinner that night. We went back to the room for awhile, rested and had a drink in the room. We headed up to dinner and the show and then went to bed early. We were looking forward to the next day when we would be at sea on our way to Tasmania. That meant POOL TIME! Even if it rained, the back area of the ship was covered and warm so we could go swimming anyway. Fortunately it was nice all the next day!