Melbourne: Likeable, Livable, Cool, and Cultured

We spent four nights and three days in Melbourne (pronounced “Mel-bn” by the locals). We’ve been there once before for a two-day cruise stop in 2013, so we had already seen some of the sights. 

We didn’t recall that Melbourne had as many skyscrapers as it does now. Perhaps many have been built during the last 13 years. In any case, we loved the architecture and designs. This has been a common theme among the cities we visited in Australia and the larger cities in New Zealand. We took a lot of pictures of the interesting buildings, and have included some of them in a separate post.

The Southbank Promenade, along the Yarra River, is a focal point for city life and sightseeing.

The Southbank Promenade and city skyline were beautiful at night.

We found this restaurant on the second floor above the promenade. The food was delicious and we enjoyed the lovely view.

We spotted this sign at one end of the promenade. To be fair, we didn’t see any pedestrians who appeared to be high.

Here’s a 360-degree view of some interesting buildings.

We have been impressed with the level of culture in New Zealand and Australia. Melbourne was no exception. Clearly, the people and their government value it by supporting museums, theatres, and performance venues. Most museums are free, and they’re impressive!

The National Gallery of Victoria was large and impressive, with a variety of different kinds of art. 

These animated signs were in the green space outside the National Gallery of Victoria. The botanic garden begins on the other side of the road.

The National Gallery of Victoria has expanded into a second building, the Ian Potter Gallery.

The building itself was a work of art.

We also visited the Australian Center for the Moving Image (ACMI). We’ve been to a couple of film museums elsewhere (Amsterdam) and not been impressed, but this one was good. This section of the museum dealt with miniature sets. Here’s a UFO that has crash-landed.

When we visited Melbourne during our cruise from New Zealand to Australia in 2013, we took a wine tour in the Yarra Valley, east of Melbourne. During this trip, we took another one and chose a tour that visited different wineries.

In this video, you’ll see kangaroos scampering across the meadow in the distance.

The kangaroos didn’t show up in this still photo, so Jeff uploaded it to Gemini (AI) and asked it to add a kangaroo in the foreground. He requested the result as a pencil sketch.

Here’s what Gemini came up with.

We sampled several wines at Soumah Winery, then had lunch with a glass of our choice.

We wanted to place an offer on that house atop the hill in the distance, but alas, they wouldn’t accept a check.

The third winery we visited, Helen & Joey, had a nice restaurant and grounds that would make a beautiful wedding venue.

We stopped at a chocolate company. Here’s Jeff – just a kid in a candy store!

We expected Lucy and Ethel to show up at any moment.

This is not something we would want to get for Easter, but… there’s something for everyone, we suppose.

We thoroughly enjoyed Melbourne. It’s a big city, but it seemed relaxed, friendly, and safe. They have great public transportation, and buses and trams within the central business district are free! It’s no wonder Melbourne is frequently listed among the world’s most livable cities.

Here’s the link to check out more of Melbourne’s buildings.