Melbourne, Victoria where I was born is a fabulous place to visit and obviously for 4.4 million people a great place to live. Recently, when visiting Australia, time permitted a leisurely Sunday in the CBD (Central Business District or Downtown) where I used to work. It was fun to spend time in this lovely clean city – especially in the middle of a sunny Spring day.
Cook’s Cottage, Fitzroy Gardens
Cook’s Cottage was constructed in 1755 in the village of Great Ayton
by the parents of James Cook.
It was shipped to Victoria and re-erected in the Fitzroy Gardens in 1934.
The “oldest building in Australia”
History of Melbourne
Early history and growth of a prosperous city:
- 1830 Failed settlement at Sorrento
- 1835 John Batman responsible for settlement on Yarra river
- 1851 Colony of Victoria established
- 1852 Beginning of the Gold Rush for next 10 years
- and 100 million pounds of gold was taken from the gold fields and the population of Melbourne grew to 300,000
- 1879 Population 500,000
Melbourne has much to offer
There is much to love and appreciate about this vibrant city:
- Melbourne is a world-renowned cultural centre with outstanding art galleries and museums, such as the Australian Museum
- Home to Melbourne University – the best university in Australia and RMIT (University)
- Melbourne CBD is a very friendly, easily accessible city offering a variety of restaurants and the greatest coffee shops in the most unlikely places
CBD Free City Circle Tram
The City Circle Free tourist tram is just a convenient and fun way to get around downtown as it stops at malls and major attractions you may wish to visit. The trams travel clockwise and anti-clockwise stopping at major stops and here is a map of the free tram zone The heritage City Centre free trams are a distinctive maroon and green colour and easy to see. Here are some places to visit from malls to museums on the free tram :
- Start off with a visit to Federation Square
- The grand St Paul’s Cathedral is an easy walk from here before catching the tram
- Hop on the tram at the distinctive Flinders Street railway station which is an iconic building across the street from the very popular …
- Young & Jackson Hotel which is home to the infamous painting of Chloe
- A stop at one of Melbourne’s best known gardens, The Fitzroy Gardens is always a pleasure. Captain Cook’s cottage is located here
Take a break for coffee and lunch:
- Next on the ride heading along Spring St in an anti-clockwise direction is the Old Treasury building
- Time permitting take a tour of Parliament House when not in session
- A visit to the World Heritage Royal Exhibition building in the stately Carlton Gardens
- Experience a relaxing walk through the oldest gardens in Melbourne – the Flagstaff Gardens
- And return to Flinders Street railway station. To round off your tour walk across the bridge over the Yarra River for a coffee at the National Art Gallery
What could be simpler? Except perhaps enjoying the colourful, creative urban art.
There are ample choices of places to visit, but do your homework and pick the places you really would like to see; and include lunch in one of the beautiful city gardens which are a treasure in such a large city. A few other places you may wish to visit in the CBD are :
Being a country girl at heart it can be a little overwhelming in a big city such as Melbourne but it was a wonderful way to spend the day. It’s easy to see why Melbourne is repeatedly voted top City to Live 6 years in a row. Hope you have enjoyed this brief tour of my hometown.
Be safe. Happy travels in 2017.
Links & References
- Map of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Zip Code 3000
- Google map of Melbourne
- Statistics of population Melbourne Australia
- History of the Melbourne Cup horse race when it seems all of Australia “shuts down”
- The best coffee shops in Melbourne
- Melbourne’s trams going solar in 2018
- Al Gore will be the principal speaker at the Ecocity World Summit in Melbourne in July, 2017
Here’s a few travel ideas if you are visiting Victoria, Australia:
- The Great Bike Ride
- A short car drive or convenient train from Southern Cross Railway north to the large country town of Ballarat
- For a contrast visit a farm in Victoria
- Goodbye to Australia A – Z for now
And here’s a few Twitter #Oz Moments from our 2016 visit to Australia:
- Passionfruit a tasty fruit, great on Pavlova or plain yoghurt
- Vegemite. You either love it – or not. Australian iconic spread since 1922
- Slip slap slop in Australia with Sid Seagull (video)
- Swagbot robot rover herding cattle in Australia
- The vulnerable koala
- 72 million sheep renowned for their merino wool
- Oldest chocolate bar in Australia – the cherry ripe
