Melbourne, Australia- Part 4 Royal Botanic Gardens, Shrine of Remembrance, the Zoo

We were so happy we waited to do the Botanic Gardens on a day with terrific weather. It was pretty chilly first thing in the morning but later in the day even I took my jacket off. When leaving our hotel, we spotted a Tesla parked outside the coffee shop. The license plate read ELON. We thought, hmmm... This is the Tesla guy's car! B said, "Yep, that's him inside!" Once again our skills as photographers failed us. We didn't even think to photograph this event.  Later that night I did a little research and Elon Musk is developing a green community in Melbourne. Makes sense he might have a car there.

After our star car sighting, our first task on this day was to find a 7/11 and buy Myki transportation cards to take the tram and we were off early! Today we went outside of the free tram loop. Our first stop was near the Shrine of Remembrance-- one of Melbourne's iconic landmarks. It honors the service and sacrifice of Australian men and women who served in armed combat and peacekeeping operations. Inside are objects, photographs and artworks depicting the experiences and stories of Victorians and Australians during these times. Medals of all sorts line the walls of the main hallway. 

This Gallery of Medals is about the service and sacrifice of Victorians in war and peacekeeping operations from the Boer War (1899-1902) to the present. The service of 400,000 Victorian men and women is symbolized by the service medals that have been awarded to military personnel of all ranks, and civilians who have contributed strong support to military activities.

A set of 22 replica medals, service medals awarded to Australians by the British, Australian and South Vietnamese governments are repeated to make over 4, 000 medals in the 40 meter long wall. Each medal represents 100 Victorians who have served in military and peacekeeping operations and six who lost their lives.

Of the 24,000 Victorians who have lost their lives in service some 19,000 died in the First World War (1914-18). Really an interesting place.

Next stop was the Royal Botanic Gardens (note: we walked from the Shrine of Remembrance to the gardens). Fabulous place especially on such a lovely day. After picking up an Autumn guide, we were off! I believe we only did about 50% of the garden. I'd plotted out a course to cut across one side of it. Some garden info: Founded in 1846, 38 hectares of garden beds.50,000 individual plants, including 8,500 different species.

 A little touch of fall color.

The sky was so gorgeous on this day.

 This is an enormous old Monterey Cypress. Magnificent.

This garden was FILLED with late fall blooming flowers for all of the bees to enjoy!

 Cockatoo sighting!

 Yes, we were there!

I would love to be able to walk here on a regular basis.

Our next stop, still on the same day, was a short visit to the Melbourne Zoo. It's an older zoo with some exhibits under renovation. At the kangaroo walkabout (a common exhibit at zoos in North America as well), there were no staff members around. We witnessed a young man who had climbed over a barrier and then leaned his full body over a fence in order to "pet" a kangaroo lying nearby. Argh!

We got to see a few koalas.

 And a platypus!

For folks with compatible viewers, here is a very short video of the platypus.

Wading birds

 An interesting caterpillar.

A pretty bird.

 Ducks on a log.

 Pied heron.

Such a cool fish: Aracana ornata. Ornate cowfish. So cool. 

Lastly, RED PANDAS! This one was running around so quickly it was really difficult to capture!

It was a really long day but the weather was great. We loved just being outdoors!