[Okay, so I know I just got done saying I wasn't going to do this. But in the back of my mind, when I said "I'm not going to worry about all the trips I went on in the past 10 years that I didn't blog about. We'll just consider those opportunities gone. And I'll focus on trips I take in the present"--What I was really thinking was that I wasn't going to go through archives of old photos and try to remember what the narrative had been.
I had forgotten that I had a few of these travelogues already written up on my other blog.
So for the old travelogues that are already written up, I think I am actually going to dig those up and re-post them here.
Fair warning.... I've got a few more of these coming for the next couple days.
This one is for Melbourne, Australia. It's from February 2010.]
First off is a short video of my dorm room.
Then a video showing how close the dormitory building is to the University campus.
The University campus is quite beautiful in its own way, but it’s also pretty much exactly what you would imagine—old stone buildings with Ivy crawling around them, small gardens in the courtyards, green lawns where students lay out and study, pretty much just like any other University anywhere else in the world. So I didn’t feel a need to take a lot of pictures. That, plus I suspect the University website and promotional literature already has several pictures of the University campus looking picturesque.
Next, I headed down towards the central part of the city.
One of the nice things about the streets here is that, even though it’s a big city, there’s still plenty of green on the roads.
In downtown, there were several important buildings, statues, and various historical markers. And once you start taking photos, there’s a temptation to just take photos of everything in sight. I tried to avoid that for the most part, and just got a couple things.
There was a statue commemorating the tragic expedition of Burkes and Wills (I had read about this in Bill Bryson’s book, so it was of interest to me.)
And I stopped briefly in Saint Paul’s cathedral, which is apparently of some historical significance.
And the central train station right across the street.
Right after the train station is Yarro River. One of the big buildings off in the distance is the Crown Casino (again, of interest to me because it was mention in Bryson’s book, which I’m currently reading).
Next, Queen Victoria Gardens, which go on for quite a way.
And the War Memorial.
I have mixed feelings about these War Memorials. As a pacifist, I find them somewhat disturbing (or at least I find disturbing the subtext that these men died for a noble cause.) As a history geek, I’m pretty interested in them.
For example, I had no idea the Australian army was in Malaya in 1948-1960. Or Borneo from 1962-1966. Or in Thai-Malay from 1960-1966, Thailand from 1965-1968, Malaysia 1962-1966, Namibia 1989-1990, et cetera.
There’s also a really good view from the balcony of the war memorial, where you can see the ocean.
Next, down the road towards Albert Lake. At this point, you begin to see a lot of Palm Trees lining the street (which is not so noticeable up by the University, but is certainly an indication that I am no longer in West Michigan).
And then you get to the lake itself.
Heading down to Port Philip beach, the streets become more residential, and it is almost indistinguishable from an American suburb, except maybe the houses look a bit older and more Victorian in their architecture. (Actually it reminded me of Heritage Hills in Grand Rapids.)
And then the beach.
And that’s pretty much it. (Although the walk there and back takes up the better part of a day, something I guess that gets lost when you sum it up in only a few photographs).
And going back into town, I noticed that one of the Streets was named “Batman Avenue”. Which I thought was pretty funny (if you’ll indulge me.)
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