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G'day travellers...
I thought I would take you on a little sight-seeing tour of my city. Maybe you are like me, I always studied science etc, at school and university so my geography knowledge is pretty poor, and when you read peoples web pages, you wonder where they are from?. Well I am going to give you a short (promise!) look at my home.
First a cultural point, if you want to fit in around here you have to pronounce it "mel-ben" or "mel-bin" ...none of the "mel-BORN" stuff.
I hope you enjoy your trip. |
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Well to start with ...the map on the left is where we are, the bottom part of Australia. This map seems to point a little more to Tasmania, which is represented here as the little dot under Australia, Melbourne is actually a little higher up...the very edge of the mainland (artistic licence). For a more detailed look try this map |
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Melbourne is the capital city of Victoria, Australia. It covers 7,280 sq kilometres, and about 3.2 million people call it home.
It was founded on August 30 1835, and was named after Lord Melbourne, the British Prime Minister of the time, first settlement was on the northern bank of the Yarra river (photos below)
Through the middle of it, runs the Yarra River, and the city itself is laid out in a rectangular grid, with numerous parks and gardens. In fact in Australia we are known as "the garden state"...or we used to be, the last State Government changed our logo to "on the move"...where we are moving to exactly, I'm not too sure!!.Uh oh...December update, our state slogon is now "the place to be" I guess wherever we were "on the move" to, we are staying for awhile! |
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This is Flinders St, the main train station, as you can see we also use "trams" as the other main form of public transport...the only city in Australia that does so. |
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The city centre, showing the Yarra River |
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It's a very pretty city, particularly at night. |
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Entering the city from the other side (the "right" side, imagine going backwards from this photo...I live about 10 minutes away)...along St Kilda road, the main business district. |
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(left)..and the gardens...lots of them, all around the city centre |
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Well, what can I say?...we have lots of it! All different, all the time. That's where the comment at the top comes from, "four seasons in one day". It's a bit unpredictable to say the least. Always make sure you have an umbrella and some sunscreen with you. It can be the beach in the morning, and the heater at night....or vice versa! Other comments include, "don't like the weather in Melbourne?...wait 5 minutes (it will change)" or you can tell it's summer....the rain is warm". Hey, but if you like change, and get bored with the same thing (like me), then it's perfect for you. If you want the same thing day after day...try further up north. |
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This, of course is Sydney, there's a little bit of rivalry between the two cities. They always say it rains more in Melb. But as you can see, it's raining in this photo, but not in the photos of Melbourne....need I say more? |
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A LITTLE FARTHER OUT |
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Not too far here, as Australia is mostly populated along it's coastline, for most of us the ocean is never far away. This is St Kilda beach, the closest to Melbourne, about a 15 minute drive from the city centre |
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The Yarra river continues to wind through the suburbs, this is in Warrandyte, about an hour out of Melbourne |
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and here we have Bass Strait...it's the bit between Victoria and Tasmania. The seas can be quite rough around here, this is near Phillip Island, known for it's surf beaches, and where I spent many childhood holidays. |
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Drive in any direction for 1-2 hours, and this is what you'll see |
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Running along the east of Australia is "The Great Dividing Range", a range of mountains, in Victoria they are called "The Dandenong Ranges" The two pictures on the left are from around there. It's what we call the "bush". Two hours east of Melbourne, lots of winding roads. Growing up, I lived about an hour from here, memories of picnics in places just like this (actually memories of getting car sick from the winding roads, and usually freezing my butt off up here are predominant). I'm more a "city girl". |
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Well, that's it in a nutshell...just a quick look around. Hope you liked your visit. Let me know what you think of my city....by E-MAIL or sign the guestbook below
(hey did you notice....not a kangaroo or koala in sight! *smile*) |
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* The photos marked "corbis", are from the Yahoo Picture gallery
* All others are from "bigben", who has his own site HERE with heaps more information and photos, a good place to visit if you are interested in more of Melbourne and Victoria
* The offical tourist sites for MELBOURNE and VICTORIA (click on the name) |
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Photo © Ben Kreunen |
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back to the main page for the cat bits! |
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OK, I lied!...I couldn't resist the obvious |
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