Eureka Day 9 Rambles through Melbourne

Eureka Day 9 Rambles through Melbourne

I did hear the weather outside my window this morning, but I wanted to be off early enough so that I would not get stuck anywhere. I would still wear a thermal shirt as you never know what could happen during the day. I was planning on visiting the Fitzroy gardens and head off to the cemetery from there. The weather was much nicer than the day before. Once out in it all the weather does seem to hold without too much drama.

There never seems to be huge waits for the train at all. I seem to get one within minutes of arriving to the station heading into the city. I nearly did start running when some of the people began running. Walking got me onto the train that arrived minutes later. On the spur of the moment I got off the train at Richmond station to head towards the MCG. The one place I had wanted to visit since I was passing it since I was on the same line. I followed the outer ring of the stadium and was not too interested in visiting the Rod Laver arena even though it would have been a short walk. I was looking at the monuments and then headed off to the Fitzroy Gardens where hovered outside Captain Cook’s house. From there I found the fairy garden, Tudor model houses that I learnt were older than I had thought. I did have a coffee break before heading of towards the treasury gardens where I was after JF Kennedy memorial. I was sure this was the American one and I was right. It was a small garden with water feature.

The next plan was to look at Hosier Lane on my way to Elizabeth street to catch the tram. Hosier Lane was not what I was expecting as it was one of those legal graffiti streets in the city. I was impressed by the amount of work and it seems to change overnight at times too.  There were plenty of other people in the lane taking pics and some locals who do their own thing too.  It would be interesting to see the changing street scape. I did have a wander into another laneway near Flinders station and observed the mass of people eating at the varied cafes. I found my own lunch and jumped into the tram heading towards the cemetery. This time I was planning to visit.

I thought I was lost trying to find the Melbourne General cemetery and was looking at my phone map to find that I was on the right track, but only had a couple of metres to walk. Once inside I visited the office and got a map that was very different from the one outside. I didn’t have all the people from the historic perspective, but I found the ones I wanted to find like Burke and Wills monument,  Peter Lalor, Someone dedicated to have found gold in Kalgoorlie, an 8 hour monument and a Chinese kiln. I never realised just how big the cemetery was and I thought t was funny to include an Elvis memorial, but who could complain about that one. It was big and a long walk. I found there was a need to watch the footing as it was slippery too. I was feeling it since I had nearly walked everywhere and I was thinking about getting a Lygon street tram, but went to the original place I had caught on the Coburg line as I wanted to visit the mall before catching a train.

Once I had left the area I caught the tram back to the city and was happy to be off my feet. I had to stop to meet with Gog and Magog who rang bells at the shopping centre. I had been feeling pretty tired and was happy to hop onto the train, but had taken an underground route called Degraves street or under it. I like the little lanes and should do a whole tour next time. For once I was early to catch a train back to Oakleigh and avoided the huge crowds. It was still light too, but I was called and was picked up to go out for dinner at a local club. There was some discussion later on about where the gangsters like Carl was buried as it had been thought it was at the same cemetery I had visited. No such luck as they are expensive and built up out in other locations. Would be interesting to look into those ones more like an Underbelly tour. I had only used public transport at Elizabeth street as the rest of the time from the MCG to  Flinders I did on foot. I do have sore feet though, but happy to be off them.