In Melbourne's Fair City

Where things are so pretty... Indeed! Melbourne is a lovely Australian city with heeps of history, interesting architecture and very friendly people.

Now we realize it has been months and months since our last posting and we are dreadfully sorry but we have researched all the excuses and find that most of them fit so, well, just have at it and enough said about that. The good news is: we're back!! See!

Small non-SLR camera in hand we had but a few hours to indulge ourself with a tour of this unique city. We started with a ride on the City Circle tram that takes people around FOR FREE in an oblong path around central Melbourne. We understand that calling the tram "OBLONG CITY TRAM" could possibly be too anal. Possibly. We, for one, love preciseness, see.

We found amazing architecture of which the Flinders street station building is only one...but we loved the color so took the shots.

And THIS is the same corner as seen from one of the spots where the FREE tram stops. Oh, and there are other NOT FREE trams that offer the possibility of limitless excursions up, down, around, through, and in-between the city. There are buses and trains, too. There is no way you can't get to wherever you are going!

And speaking of architecture, this is a reflection off the side of the building that houses the National Aboriginal Art. WE, for one, were almost as fascinated by the building as the wonderful treasures inside.

SOOO we were inspired to catch these abstracts in our most humble homage to this vibrant and intersting city.

True to our nature we were forced into seeing the incredible Melbourne aquarium. We LOVE aquariums. We suspect we have relatives who are fish...or at least like to fish...or maybe they are mammals in the water. Possibly they just like to swim...???

There are HUGE stingrays - as big as 3-5 meters wide and weighing over 200 kilos. (OK, OK, so we're not quite sure on those numbers ... and really ... between friends... what's a kilo anyway ???) but they are BIG and so awesomely graceful!

There are many kinds of fishes and the variety is very much what one would find in the waters surrounding Melbourne. Not that they are lost, you understand but if you went to find them, they'd be there. See?

Our personal favorite, were the sharks. We told them so. We think flatteryis a good tactic when you are about to get in the tank and share their home, see. Yes, we went diving in the aquarium. We are quick to point out that it was not ONLY us...there were other divers as well. We PLANNED to go in the water, see? We were accompanied by aquarium personnel trained to do this sort of thing with visitors. That's what they told us.

We also learned that each of the sharks and Sting rays has a name. This one, who felt the need to follow us, is named Mitchell. It's an olde aboriginal name that means: "He who snacks on visitors." Of course the aquarium personnel didn't tell us that until after our dive, see?