My visit to Melbourne, a city of my Dream

I am glad to post this article on my visit to Melbourne, from the excerpts from My diary:

15.8.2012

When I read about the contest "It's your Time to visit Melbourne Now !" in        Indi blogger I was very glad since it was my long desire to visit this  number one most liveable city of the world. 

I visited the site www.visitmelbourne.com/in to read about the interesting places to visit during the visit if I am selected in the contest. After reading about the interesting places in Melbourne in  some other websites, I went to sleep.

*Next  morning, I was astonished when my son told me that I could visit any place by air with the points accumulated by him due to his frequent visits to USA,UK etc. I asked him whether it was possible to go to Melbourne and return back to Chennai using the points accumulated by him. He  booked the tickets immediately and within a week I could complete the Visa procedure and boarded the flight.

I got down at Melbourne airport at the correct time. I was astonished to see how big and busy the airport was.

Melbourne Airport  also known as Tullamarine Airport, is the primary airport serving the city of Melbourne, and the second busiest in Australia. It was opened in 1970 to replace the nearby Essendon Airport. Melbourne Airport is the sole international airport of the four airports serving the Melbourne metropolitan area.

The airport is 23 km from the city centre. It is the third most traveled passenger air route in the world and it features direct flights to 33 destinations including all states and territories in Australia plus numerous destinations in Oceania, Africa, Asia, Europe and North America

From the airport I went by Taxi to one of my relative's house  who had been inviting me many times to visit his house in Melbourne.

During my short stay, I could visit many tourist attractions in Melbourne and I give below the details of the same.

First Day Sight Seeing by City Circle Tram:

City Circle Tram

I  took  the City Circle tram or Tourist Shuttle to see  many points of interest along its route, and alight as necessary for an extended discovery stop.

The sight seeing tour is completely free on the City Circle Tram. We  get a running commentary on the places of interest along its route. We can get off the tram at any of its stops, so you can visit particular attractions at close hand, and catch the next one.

Flinders St Station:

I visited first Flinders St Station which  is a major Melbourne landmark, the hub of Melbourne's transport system. It is said to be the busiest suburban railway station in the southern hemisphere.

Flinders St Station

It is also a popular meeting place, particularly under the station's domed clock tower. 

Flinders St Station is a fitting  place to start a Melbourne travel and sightseeing tour.The  Station's striking Victorian architecture maintains the city's link with the past even as it sits cheek by jowl with the contrasting 21st century Federation Square. 

Federation Square is a destination in itself — with an art gallery, museum, wine centre and a variety of dining venues.

Federation Square

Federation Square is one of the most complex and ambitious construction projects ever undertaken in Australia. 

Comprising an entire city block the bold and audacious design is the work of Lab Architecture in conjunction with the Australian architects  Bates Smart. 

A unique fusion of civic and cultural activities, Federation  Square is recognised internationally as one of the world's great public spaces.

St Paul's Cathedral:

The next place visited by me was St Paul's Cathedral  which is the grand structure opposite Flinders Street Station. 

It is a great example of late 19th century Gothic-Revival architecture.

The interior is renowned for its wonderful carved cedar woodwork, tessellated tiled floors, stonework and stained glass.

St.Paul's Cathedral

The architecture of St Paul's Cathedral is described as a revival of the style known as Gothic transitional, partly early English Gothic and partly Decorated Gothic. Its foundation stone was laid in 1880 and the cathedral was consecrated in 1891.

Old Treasury Building:

After visiting St.Paul's Cathedral I saw  the Old Treasury Building which  is considered one of the finest public buildings in Australia. 

Old Treasury building

The building  occupies a unique position in Melbourne's history, having had its origins in the 1850s Victorian Gold Rush which accelerated the city's development.

Melbourne Museum:

Next place of my visit was the new Melbourne Museum.The museum was completed in 2000, , with its distinctive soaring roof line and grand proportions. 

It is the largest museum not only in Australia but in the whole southern hemisphere.

Melbourne Museum 

Located at Carlton Gardens in the capital of Victoria, the Melbourne Museum is located among the greenery with its veritable treasures which covers from Australia’s Aboriginal heritage through the years of history to today's digital marvels.

The Melbourne Museum exhibitions range from dinosaurs to forest 

secrets to racing legend Phar Lap. 

The museum is run by Museum Victoria whose collections comprise an estimated 16 million individual items in four museums at three locations, the jewel in the crown being the Melbourne Museum at Carlton Gardens.

Second Day Sight seeing:

Since I wanted to see the native animals of Australia like Kangaroo, etc, I went to Melbourne Zoo on the Second day . The Zoo is celebrating its 150 years anniversary.

I enjoyed watching the gigantic Asian elephant,Baboon,Gorilla,Pelicans,Tree Kangaroo,Penguins,Snow Leopard,Sumatran Tigers etc. in the zoo.

Kangaroo

Wild Sea is the new home for the Zoo's seals and penguins.  For the first time the Zoo will display a myriad of other Victorian marine wildlife, including fish, and Fiddler Rays.

The pools have been designed to show off the swimming skills of the seals and penguins, with large windows extending the full depth of the pools.   

(SourceLhttp://www.zoo.org.au/MelbourneZoo)

16.8.2012

* I suddenly woke up from my deep sleep and realised that my trip to Melbourne starting with the booking of air tickets by my son till the second day visit to the Zoo was only a dream which was due my reading of various interesting places and seeing their photos  in different websites.

Though it was only a dream, it created a lot of enthusiasm and expectation in me to make a visit to Melbourne which city is admired all over the world. 

  

I am glad that I could remember the places visited by me in my dream and write my experience in this post. Otherwise it would have been a difficult task to write an  article about a place without actually visiting it. I have to thank my dream and the websites mentioned in this post which enabled me to consolidate the details of the places seen in my dream. I also thank Google  Images for the beautiful pictures posted by me.

I would definitely love make my dream experiences a reality and  visit  my Dream city 'Melbourne" one day. 

Don't miss  visiting  this lovely city of joy,beauty,excellent roads,loving people etc which have made Melbourne the World's as  Number one most liveable city in the years 2011 and  2012 with the rating of 97.5 followed by Vienna of Austria.

Melbourne, Australia was ranked as the world's most livable city in 2011 and again in 2012. 

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_most_livable_cities )

I hope that I have created enough interest and convinced you that it's your time to visit Melbourne NOW!