Melbourne, Australia- Part 1

Our trip to Melbourne is the second trip before the middle of June.

Last year we spent some time in Sydney. This year we traveled to Melbourne.

Both cities are located on the southeastern coast of Australia.

The first step in our travels was to fly out of here and head to Melbourne. It is a direct flight so it should have been easy. I may have mentioned that the airport has expanded and has constructed a new terminal. The idea behind the new T3 is for it to become a through hub for international flights, to compete with Singapore's airport. A while ago they opened T3 to domestic flights by the national carrier, Garuda. Things haven't gone smoothly for T3. However, on May 1, they opened T3 to Garuda international flights as well. We were among the first guinea pigs to try this out.

How did it go? Not as well as we'd hoped. There are quite a few things that still need to be sorted out.
We ended up having a long wait. Our flight was due to take off at 11:55 pm (yes, that 5 minutes before midnight!) Due to computer issues at check-in, we didn't actually depart until after 1 am. We were pretty tired by then.

We arrived at the Melbourne airport late, around 10 am. Melbourne's airport has scanners for immigration so that step in the process went quickly. After catching a bus to carry us into downtown and then a different bus to carry us to our hotel located in South Wharf, it was around 11:15-11:30 when we finally arrived. Our room wasn't ready, but when we returned after grabbing a bite to eat we were able to check in. Nice room with a great view of the Yarra River.

Temps were wonderful for the entire trip. In the mornings very cool, generally 6-9C (43-48F). One morning the low was only 4C (39F). High temps averaged 15-17C (59-63F)with one day reaching 19C (66F). At the wharf we spotted our first trees with fall color. In the southern hemisphere, it is now fall, well on the way towards winter.

On our first afternoon we had some  rain. Naturally we'd opted not to carry our rain gear ( we should have known better) but we managed to walk under a lot of awnings, etc., so it wasn't too bad. First stop? The Sealife Melbourne Aquarium. It was a fairly short walk from the hotel and we were tired. It is described as an interactive discovery into the Southern Ocean. I will say this spot was expensive. The bargain is in becoming a member and coming here often.

We saw Port Jackson sharks having a meeting?

Weedy sea dragons

Giant cuttlefish ( They can reach 20 inches!)

Fiddler Ray or Banjo Ray. In the genus of guitarfish.

Mermaids. They have an entire mermaid garden. Here's just one. The water was pretty turbid.

Sandbar whaler sharks

Red-tooth triggerfish

Penguins- Gentoo and King

We happened to be present during the exhibit clean up. As staff entered the area all of the penguins moved away from the entrance. Oh, and I also want to point out that there were several chicks in a separate area at the far left. Each time staff left the area, the penguins moved back towards the door. 

For those of you reading this on a desktop or laptop (compatible viewer) here is some video of what happened once the staff had finished cleaning the exhibit, and had replaced the "snow" and closed the door!

More Aquarium art

We saw this someplace else and it really looks fun. Visitors can add their own sea creatures to a virtual underwater world. Still photography definitely works better with slow moving creatures like seahorses and jellies. The digital fish swim too quickly to capture anything but blurs.

Something we missed! They apparently have the world's only display of elephant sharks which aren't sharks at all.

For dinner we ate early nearby the hotel and I had a wonderful autumnal grilled chicken with sweet potato puree and fennel. Yummy! We almost went back so I could have it again. Absolutely delicious.