Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne, Australia - population 5 million! Our first steps in Australia. G'day mate!

We took the free excursion around Melbourne. Impressions? Nice city, very interesting architecture, people dress like normal upscale Western-style city dwellers; windy.

Our tour guides all seemed especially respectful of the aborigines who occupied the continent some 60,000 years before Captain Cook showed up.

We visited the Shrine of Remembrance, which housed all sorts of history and especially honored the men and women who sacrificed greatly and sometimes gave their lives for Australia. The facility was truly interesting and deserved a solid day, but we had to be back to the bus after a couple or so hours.

Nearby we walked the Botanical Gardens where we observed especially the majestic trees.

After lunch back at the ship, we took a shuttle into city center, where we treated ourselves to pedicures plus a manicure for Cathy.Read more