Some Melbourne highlights - which of course included some wine

I've been in Melbourne for the past few days and in addition to my "Australia Day" escapades I've caught up with friends here as well as done a bit of exploring.

About an hour east of Melbourne is the beautiful area known as the Yarra Valley - a great place to spend some time and of course the wineries always call to me.  This area is Victoria's premier cool climate wine region with over 70 cellar doors to explore!  No, I definitely haven't been to them all, but this time I got to a new one - Shantell Vineyard - where friends took me for an absolutely delicious lunch ... and a few glasses of wine!

Frozen chocolate with violet sorbet, honeycomb and caramel!  I, of course, couldn't pass up the violet sorbet.

Over the next few days I did a variety of different things in Melbourne - with much of my time just spent walking and loving being in Melbourne.

The State Library built in 1856

I thought my crafty friends might like to see the very interesting way the trees are decorated on this city block.

Flinder's Street Station, built in 1910

St. Paul's Cathedral, built in 1885

Federation Square - opened in 2002 as a public meeting space.  I happily partook in Australian culture this afternoon by grabbing one of those chairs and happily watching Raonic win his fourth round match!

The Yarra River

Part of the Melbourne skyline with the Melbourne Arts Centre spire on the left and the Eureka Building standing out prominently.

Melbourne's China Town, established in the 1850's when many Chinese immigrants came to Melbourne to seek their fortunes in the gold rush.

Something I had never done before is to take a tour of Melbourne's Town Hall which was built in 1870 and continues today to be the working Town Hall for the City of Melbourne.

This is the main council chamber - virtually unchanged from when it was built originally and still used today:

The coat of arms for the city of Melbourne - one of the stained glass windows in the council chamber

The front portico was added on about 20 years later

Looking south (above) and north (below) on Swanston Street from the portico

In 1964, The Beatles attended a civic reception at the Melbourne Town Hall. Outside 20,000 teenagers had gathered to obtain a glimpse of the pop idols. Again, frenzied and hysterical cheering and uncontrollable screaming erupted when the Beatles emerged out onto the portico. After greeting the crowds the Beatles then went inside to this room in the Town Hall and Paul McCartney played on this piano ... So I can now say I've played a piano that Paul McCartney has also played! 

The Main Auditorium includes a magnificent concert organ comprising 147 ranks and nearly 10,000 pipes. The organ was originally built by Hill, Norman & Beard (of England) in 1929 and was recently rebuilt and enlarged.

It was chandelier cleaning day today which only happens once a year.

Considered the finest secular Gothic Revival building in Australia, this building was erected as the head office of the English, Scottish & Australian Bank in1883-87.  It is now known as the ANZ "Gothic Bank" and is still functioning as a bank and makes up part of the complex that is the ANZ world headquarters (the sky rise you can see in the background on the left).

Melbourne's first Stock Exchange, built in 1887 is also part of the ANZ bank complex

As is this building,  the original Melbourne Safe Deposit

Melbourne has an expansive network of laneways throughout the CBD and walking these really does help you to discover the true heart of Melbourne.  There are laneways filled with cafes, shopping, dining, bars and pubs, music - you name it you can probably find it in a laneway here.

The ones I love the best though are the ones that showcase Melbourne's ever changing street art - a feast of colour, ideas and energy.

And of course I needed a couple of really good "Australian" experiences while I was here so firstly I went to see Georgy Girl, a new musical featuring the career and music of The Seekers.  It was EXCELLENT - with fabulous music and great voices performing.

And secondly, how could I possibly be in Melbourne during the Australian Open and not take in a bit of the tennis??  Thanks to my very wonderful, generous friend, I was given a day pass to the tennis which I most certainly took advantage of.  I saw a bit of one of the women's semi-final matches (Kerber defeating Konta), but I also loved wandering around the outside courts and seeing the action happening there.  I had hoped to see Djokovic and Federer practicing before their game in the evening but because it had been raining and the courts were still a bit wet, both chose instead to practice indoors on courts that unfortunately don't have as much public access as the outdoor courts do.  Fingers crossed now for Roanic who is playing his semi-final match against Murray tonight.

Talk about talented athletes! This tennis was really something to watch!

Happy Australia Day

January 26 - Australia Day - and I tried to make the most of it.

My day started with an official flag raising ceremony at the Old Town Hall, followed by a parade. The Old Town Hall is a magnificent building and there will be more photos and information about it in another post - this post will be only to celebrate Australia Day.

Not a breeze to be had, but I promise you there are flags at the top

Temperatures were already well into the high twenty degree range even at 10:30 in the morning, so I know standing there for the full ceremony was a tough thing to do for many of the men and women in uniform.

At the end they turned and marched away, leading the parade.

Navy

Army

Air Force

After the parade I walked over to a beautiful parkland area, known as King's Domain.

Here I managed to catch a flyover demonstration by the Roulettes.  The Roulettes are the Royal Australian Air Forces's formation aerobatic display team and they provide about 150 flying displays a year.

Part of the celebrations today was a display of veteran, vintage and classic vehicles.

Also there was a company showing off various Australian animals and reptiles.  Thankfully most, but not all, of the snakes were in tanks (especially since they're all highly poisonous) - and these two little creatures also took my fancy.

 A red-bellied black snake

A python

 A barking owl

A 14 week old kookaburra

After that I was off to Government House Victoria which was having an Open House today to celebrate Australia Day.  Government House here in Melbourne is the office and official residence of the Governor of Victoria and it was the official residence of the Governor-General of Australia from 1901 to 1930.  It is the largest Government House in the former British Empire.  Construction of the building began in 1871 and was completed in 1876 and has been in use continually since then.

 Dinner anyone?  The dining room table here can seat up to 54

 A scale model of Government House Victoria made out of ... lego

 "Super Impressive" - an ex race and police force horse

 Hopetoun Stables at Government House Victoria

After my tour in and around Government House Victoria I went over to the Shrine of Remembrance which was also having a special Australia Day ceremony, including the flag lowering to end my day.
The Shrine of Remembrance was built as a memorial to the men and women of Victoria who served in World War 1 and is now a memorial to all Australians who have served in war.  It is a site of annual observances of ANZAC Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November) and is one of the largest war memorials in Australia.