Melbourne city

Today was pretty relaxed. Breakfast at yesterday’s laneway, then a walk along the riverbank to catch one of the free city center trams to Melbourne’s version of the London Eye. The skies were really clear for our half-hour viewing over the city and Docklands area.

Later, we caught the free tram to the Melbourne Museum to explore their First Peoples exhibit. We learned a bit about the history and culture of the Aboriginal people in the area around Melbourne. The history after European contact is, as we know, much like it was for the indigenous peoples of North America — introduced diseases, loss of land and resources, and removal to settlements/reservations.

Still, it seems the modern-day Aboriginal people are doing more to try to preserve their culture today, as we saw videos and stories of the making of bark canoes, sacred possum capes, and carved tools.

Tomorrow we leave the city areas and head to the Outback. A few impressions of our time here so far: it’s still winter in these parts (brrr!); the people have been very friendly and like to hear where we’re from; the cities are very tourist-friendly—clean, public restrooms are not scary, good signage and great transportation coverage.Read more