Day 3

Melbourne, Australia

As our ship approached Melbourne, Australia, over the speakers came the morning introduction that we were soon to arrive at the most livable city in the World.  Wow!  So I looked it up and there is an index based on Education, Affordability, Environment, Infrastructure, and Arts and Entertainment.  Not only is Melbourne #1, but Australia has 3 other cities in the top 10 (Adelaide, Sydney, and Perth) and New Zealand has one - Auckland.  The highest ranked U.S. city is Honolulu which is 19th.

We (I) had two tours today.  We went to downtown and got glimpses of the most livable city.  The tallest building in the background has two floors dedicated too ‘gyms’ and are on the gold colored floors.

We then moved on to the Botanical Gardens.  The climate in Sydney is great for growing most everything including the amazing native flora of Australia.  The next picture shows a new oak tree that has grown to 25 feet in only 4 years.  It is a variety that handles the increased temperatures of the earth during global warming.  

There were lots of interesting trees like the bottle tree, the fern tree, and the walking stick tree.

After the Botanical Garden, we traveled around downtown by bus.  We did see Rod Laver Stadium - home of the Australian Open.  Viewing landmarks at 25 miles an hour is not my favorite way to sightsee.

After we got back to our ship, Shari agreed to my idea of me riding a bike through town.  Bike travel here mimics automotive travel in that it is opposite from the States.

I walked over a mile to the nearest bike store 

where I asked to rent an electric bike.  They couldn’t accommodate me, but offered to help me rent an electric bike from the City.  It was all new to me but they were so helpful that this option panned out.

It was great to have the speed of a bike and the freedom to see so much of the city.

It’s a bit strange hearing ‘Merry Christmas’.  But, it’s celebrated here just as much by the Aussies as back home.  It's still a bit strange!

G'Day!