Melbourne City
Melbourne City- First day in the city
We visited Melbourne city Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th August. We got a daily train ticket from Seaford train station (near where we were staying). This cost us $9.90 each (£6) and allows us to use it all day on trams, trains and buses. The journey from Seaford into the city was about 50 minutes. We got off at Flinders street, which is a busy shopping street.

Leah, Paul and Ruth on the big Screen-Flinders St
I had heard that Melbourne had a look of English cities. It felt very like England when we came out of the train station and it was windy and raining. In Brisbane we got away with just needing our jacket in the evening, but here in Melbourne we needed our rain jackets, scarves and clothes (which we borrowed from Rachel). The buildings also reminded me of England, with their old Cathedrals. St. Paul’s Cathedral is just across from Flinders station. We took a look around there first The church is beautiful with lot’s of decoration in the windows.
We then took the tram to Parliament, where we were given a free tour of Parliament.

Parliament
We were feeling a little cold, so we went to a café opposite Parliament to have hot chocolates and cake. We are going to need to buy some more jumpers ready for New Zealand, as it’s going to be cool there also. We only bought summer clothes with us, as we knew we wouldn’t need jumpers for at least 6 months.
We looked around St. Patrick’s Cathedral next. (Found opposite Parliament).

St. Patricks Cathedral
We also visited China Town-It doesn’t feel so special after having visited China itself. It was just a small China town.
Next we got tram No. 30 from Central station to the Docklands, and we walked along the waterfront. There were loads of shops and restaurants along the waterfront. It had a lovely relaxing atmosphere here.
There is a free tram that you can get around the city, called the circle tram. It takes you round in a loop. This is the old traditional trams. We took this tram around the city.
Free Circle TramWe got a tram to Lygon street. This is known as the Italian Quarter of the city. This is where you will find all the Italian restaurants and bars. We got talking to a man in a restaurant who was from Sicily and hadn’t been home for over 20 years.
Day 2 in the City
This morning we visited Victoria Market in the city. This is open every day apart from Mondays. We looked around at the souvenirs and I also bought some Cinnamon Almonds.
We went to Visit St. Francis Church.
Then we walked over to South Bank where the Casino is. South bank is a really nice walk way along the river, with restaurants and bars. We looked around the Casino. The Casino was massive, much bigger than any one that I’d seen before. Also in the casino there was a theatre, cinema, bars and restaurants.
We really enjoyed our time in the city. It had an English feel to the city, with old cathedrals and buildings.
We also went into the city one more time with Beth (Rachel and Jared’s daughter), on Saturday 21st August. She loved coming into the city with us. We took her around the botanical gardens, docklands and went for dinner together.

Botanical Gardens
Ruth and Paul
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