Royal Botanic Gardens Mebourne

Located on the south side of the Yarra River, the gardens are easily the best in Australia and an absolute delight to walk in.

The South Gate is a good place to start since you walk downhill most of the way to the other side of the gardens near the river. Take a number 8 tram from the city which stops right outside the gate.

A map showing the layout. We are down at the bottom right at the South Gate.

More evidence of water conservation.

The strong sunlight in Australia can be magical at times.

Walking the dog and getting a little exercise has to be good for the backside.

A pavilion where we rested for a while.

Ceiling of the pavilion. Isn't it beautiful.

Detail of the ceiling.

Local wildlife. That renowned ornithologist, Dr Richard T. Watson (my brother in law) has declared that it is a purple swamp hen or Pukeko.

This actually used to be where the river flowed but when the gardens were created the river was diverted and this lake was formed.

So this is the end of the photos for the gardens. If you ever come to Melbourne, make sure you take the time to visit the gardens. You will be so glad you did.

And so we are down to the Yarra River with the skyscrapers in the background. Between 1888 and 1891, Melbourne was perhaps the leading city in the world for building early skyscrapers. Most are gone now.

One of the older bridges over the Yarra. It's no longer used for traffic and is now just for foot traffic and bicycles.

It's an absolute joy to walk around the older sections of Melbourne. It really was a rich and powerful city and they wanted to show off.

Finally, a sculler on the river. Back in 1973, a few of us decided we were going to learn how to row so we joined one of the local rowing clubs (Banks) and so we rowed up and down the river in a four seater. It really was a lot of fun and good exercise but we never got any good at it. Ah, the old days.

Prahan, Melbourne

When Marianne first came to Melbourne in 1975, we lived in Prahran. It's a great suburb that is close to the center of Melbourne, it has a great market and shopping, along with parks and interesting places to walk.

On the way into Melbourne, we were stopped in a traffic jam and so were able to take a picture of this wire picture / sculpture thingie. It certainly gets your attention.

Suburban train near where we were staying. If you want to read a history of how Australia finished up with three rail gauges, 3'6", 4'8" and 5'3", read here. It's definitely not a good example of forward thinking, planning and cooperation.

Parking spots in the area are very scarce. Imagine it's 5:50 pm on Friday, what can you do? The P means one hour. The answer is you can come back in 10 minutes and park for two hours.

Fancy house and gate.

Melbourne made a wise choice and kept it's trams. They are very convenient.

Inside the Prahran market. It's not a huge market, but it is wonderful to explore.

Large mushrooms. Those at the top would be 6" across.

Many locals use these trolleys to cart their purchases home.

Australia is virtually closed to foreign imports of fruit and vegetables so all the produce is relatively local and has been grown for taste rather than ability to travel. This is the prime reason why food tastes so good in Oz.

Back in 1975, lamb chops were 5 lb for a dollar.

This is where we lived back in 1975, middle floor at the back. The flat was pretty basic but adequate.

As we trying to take photos of our former abode, this woman in the house next door was a little concerned about what we were doing. We explained and she subsequently invited us in for a cup of coffee. She worked in the marketing department of Melbourne Uni and had bought the house from the former Greek owners back in 1980. She had done a wonderful job of fixing the place up over the years.

View of our unit from the back of the lady's house. Since I had a clothes drier, we did not have to drape our washing over the railing. Marianne was not convinced however since the drier was quite puny in it's capacity to actually dry clothes. Australians ability to actually recognize and deal with cold weather is quite suspect.

Each weekday, this was my walk to work across Fawkner Park.

It's filled with playing fields and here are some people playing cricket.

There are lots of wonderful old trees that line the paths.

One feature of the park is the forks in the paths. You really need to know which one to take.

I find that a good conversation stopper these days is to mention that I used to work for BP. Yes, the same crew responsible for the oil leak. This used to be their headquarters in Australia and it was a wonderful building to work in with marvelous views. BP sold it off years ago and it is now filled with units.

The next few photos were taken in Domain Street near Fawkner Park. Enjoy.

I enjoyed the lunatic cat. Note the top sign about using a rain water tank. The prolonged drought in Australia resulted in sever water restrictions. Use of city water for watering of plants was prohibited and so keen gardeners installed rain water tanks so that they could water their gardens. There are not too many people in Oz who are skeptical about climate change.

Matching old Jaguar cars for a bridal party. They were just drop dead gorgeous and would have to be worth a mint of money. They appear to be Mark V Drophead Coupes.

Australia is infested with red light and speed cameras. Actually, it works very well since traffic moves exactly at the speed limit and speeders are very uncommon.