I'm back home after this fantastic journey of ten intense days!
start from the beginning: January 1, 2008, probably the New Year's barbeque was not the best and my stomach has felt great, giving me a long night after dinner in the exotic style ...
After having slept two hours, I finally took the bus and the train to Brisbane Domestic Airport, about 20 minutes from downtown. The first flight was with Virgin Blue, the airline is the Virgin brand (the record to be clear dela) by Richard Branson, the atmosphere in the plane is fun and there is also the background music, I spent well my 2 and a half hour flight.
Once in Melbourne I noticed that probably the bad weather is only a matter of Queensland, in fact arrive in this city there was not a cloud in the sky ... Finally!
Some historical notes and impressions of Melbourne:
this city was founded in May 1835 by John Batman who bought 240,000 hectares of land by Aboriginal people in exchange for objects of various kinds. The river crossing is called Melbourne Yarra River. After 5 years since its foundation, Melbourne had 10,000 people coming from Europe, which gave way to a period of prosperity until the Depression of the late '800. After the Second World War, Melbourne was populated with people from all over the world, resulting in economic development and building.
Melbourne has developed from east to west along the bay called Port Phillip, eponymous name for Phillip Island (MotoGP), the center of the city lies north of the bay, over the Yarra River. The Formula 1 circuit is located in Albert Park, Albert Park is precisely in the southeast of the city.
My tour began in Swanston Street, one of the main streets of Melbourne, which like almost all Australian cities is rectangular. After crossing Queens Bridge, and visited the Southbank, or the southern part of town, after the river, I photographed the ' eurekaskydeck . It 'was very interesting to take the next bridge, The Travellers, is a pedestrian bridge with laminated glass with the words on each, the nation and the number of immigrants in Australia, very interesting!
cross the bridge, I took the City Tram, a free tram that runs along the outer ring of the city center. I was able to see Federation Square, with its palaces really special. Facing the square is the cathedral of St Paul, another interesting building is the Forum Theatre, not bad.
the riverside path, turning left, is the Parliament of Victoria. Turn left (Lt Burke Street) is passed through the door that is the entrance to Chinatown, where you can see the famous "fork of discord" so that made headlines in Milan.
At the end of the street, turning left takes you to the Mall or the Mall in Melbourne.
Unlike Brisbane, in this city the atmosphere is more European, more ancient, the roads are wider, with the tram to the center, the buildings are not too recent and not too immersed in nature, although there are lots of parks. Melbourne is also a city much attention to sports, it hosts many major sporting events and is also very strong influence of art, with spaces for exhibitions and performances.
About immigration, I decided to visit Lygoon Street, also known as Italy locals. The road is very long and full of bars and restaurants, out of curiosity I started reading the menu and I immediately start a conversation with a waiter of Italian descent but born in Australia. When you speak with one of their beautiful country, you can see their eyes shine, I remember the owner of "The Spaghetti" that Mr. Nunzio, born in Australia but with Sicilian roots, he also offered a coffee and when he knew I worked as a waiter even offered me a job, incredible!
Back from Lygoon Street I looked at the prisons, in truth some small, are now used by the RMIT University of Melbourne as a hall and classrooms (try to think about going to class to Bassone ...).
Continued ... Great Ocean Road
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