Melbourne

I'd better explain:
Both of us were rather exhausted by the time we got to Melbourne which was why we couldn't take in too much anymore. On top of that, Andrea felt really bad and got sick. All of this did have a negative impact on our general impressions of Melbourne. However, other people we talked to said that you cannot possibly compare Melbourne to Sydney. It's much better to go and see Melbourne before you go and visit Sydney.

However, Melbourne has some beautiful sights too, like the River Yarra (59 kB). Like Sydney, there are interesting skyscrapers (39 kB), which are partly built next to beautiful old houses (39 kB).

We basically took our time in Melbourne without bothering about the sights described in our Melboune travel guide. We got to observe a cockatoo (34 kB) building its nest at St. Kilda's beach. Apart from that, we did quite a bit of shopping in Melbourne. When building the big department store 'Daimaru', the architects were imposed the condition to integrate the tower of an old lead bullet works (73 kB), which was classified as a historical monument, into the new building. Melted lead was dropped off the top of the tower, forming a perfect ball when falling and solifying in a water tank at the bottom. Nearby you may admire the world's largest pocket watch (48 kB) attached to the arcades. It's 3.10 m in diameter and weighs 2 tons. Every full hour, it plays Australia's secret national anthem 'Waltzing Matilda'.

Melbourne was our last stop in Australia. We flew on to Bali to have a couple of days' rest.

last update: 25.11.1999