Don & Kully's World Cruise on Viking Neptune

2/13/2024

Melbourne, Australia — Day 52 of 138

Happy Fat Tuesday from Melbourne, and Happy Birthday to my Son Joshua, I’m technically a day ahead of home but this should post on February 13, USA time.

Melbourne exudes elegance, with broad tree-lined boulevard, botanic gardens and ornate municipal buildings birthed from 19th century gold rush wealth. There is a bustling business district and an Arts Center and is very explorable on foot. The Fitsroy Gardens are a short walk from St. Patrick’s Cathedral, boasts Captain Cook’s Cottage, owned by Cook’s father in the 1750s and moved the house brick by brick from a small village in North Yorkshire, England in the 1930s instantly making it the oldest building in Australia.

We started the day on the Viking included “Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and Shrine of Remembrance” tour but broke off on our own once we arrived at the Royal Botanic Garden. The tour was the typical Viking included tour that began with a bus ride around a few local sites ending up at the Shrine of Remembrance and Botanic Garden which are across the street from each other. The first part of the bus tour took us along the Phillip Bay shoreline and through a suburban neighborhood and shopping area.

The bus continued through Albert Park on the park road which also serves as the Grand Prix Circuit for the Australian Grand Prix. Crews were already setting up grandstands and installing barricades for the race scheduled for late March. We arrived at the Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance originally built to honor WWI veterans, but now honors all of the nation’s veterans. The goal of the shrine is to share the stories of ordinary people in extraordinary time whose efforts and experiences helped build the nation of Australia.

The shrine has three levels. In the center of the first level is the Crypt which commemorates the fighting units of WW I the center piece of the Crypt is a father – son statue where the father is the WW I veteran seeing his son go off to WW II twenty-one years later. The crypt is surrounded by Galleries that are comprehensive exhibits showing photo’s, artifacts and the personal effects of veterans throughout Australia’s history.

The Second level is the Sanctuary, a peaceful area of reflection where a ray of light coming down through the center of the roof illuminated the commemorative stone in the center of the room every half-hour as it does naturally at 11 AM on the 11th day of the 11th month – Remembrance Day (Veteran’s Day in the USA). The inscription on the stone is “Greater Love Hath No Man”.

Finally, the third level is a Balcony offering amazing vistas of Melbourne.

From the Shrine of Remembrance or tour guide led us across the street to the beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria a striking green oasis in the heart of the city. The gardens cover over 28 hectares featuring 31 different collections of plants presented as living works of art. The tour includes a roughly one-hour walking tour of the garden. Pro-trip– break away from the included tour and purchase a “Garden Explorer Tour” at the Garden’s information center for $15 Australian. The tour is an approximately 30-minute tour on a 12-passenger electric cart that gets you through the entire garden. The walking tour only gets you through a portion of the gardens.

From there we took about a 20-minute walk into the city center where we had lunch at a river side restaurant recommended by our tour guide from yesterday, Mabu Mabu – Big Esso, located next to the Yarra River in Federation Square. Mabu Mabu is a saying from the Torres Strait meaning help yourself. Big Esso means the biggest thank you, it is an acknowledgement of the elders and the community who have kept this culture alive. This includes chef Nornie’s cultural heritage; the Komet Tribe of the Meriam People from Mer Island in the Torres Strait. Most plates are small plates intended to share. They also have a full selection of local beers and wines as well as cocktails. If you’re feeling adventurous and want to experience some indigenous cuisine, we highly recommend you give Mabu Mabu a try.