Sunday 29th April

Taking a self guided walk provided by the excellent visitors' centre I  walked through Batman Park (!)  towards Enterprize Park, both on the waterfront. Enterprize Park is the site of the Scar Project. Traditionally indigenous people would take the bark from some trees to make canoes, cradles and shields and these "scar" trees would then be a sign for other clans to know they had entered the lands of another community. They are very rare today but are very precious to Aboriginal people. This project represents these trees and was constructed using original wharf poles from Queen's Bridge.

The Yarra's waterfall was destroyed in the mid 19th century to allow tall ships into the wide basin and five carved figureheads evoke the spirit of these ships.

Queen's Bridge is where, in 1910, Houdini dived into the river locked in chains.

He came up laughing twenty five seconds later - the river was shallow here and was the only place for miles that the river could be crossed over a reef of rocks. From here it was a quick walk to Federation Square and morning service in  the Anglican Cathedral of St Paul. The interior is beautiful with stunning tiled floors.

The singing was lovely, although there is no choir school per se the choir has a lot of training and junior members are eligible for scholarships at Trinity Grammar School or other Anglican schools in the city.

After church I continued along the waterfront to Birrarung Marr, a riverside park popular for its great city views,

and for the Federation Bells which play three times daily. There is a website which enables people to submit their own compositions to be played on the bells.

On the way past the sporting arenas,

I saw this fabulous sign,

presumably written by my tomtom man who keeps telling me to "turn round where possible".

I entered the Botanical Gardens near the Separation Tree which is where Victorians in 1850 celebrated news of their coming independence from New South Wales. The tree has been badly damaged and various attempts at grafting on healthy parts are presently being carried out.

The Botanical Gardens proved to be a peaceful place for quiet contemplation - and a Devonshire cream  tea!

Then it was time to return along the riverbank, past the Yarra barbecues- free electric barbecues for the use of all- very popular even with the threatening clouds,

 past the boathouses and back to Federation Square (which isn't a square!)

The mood then changed as I embarked on a tour of the arcades and lanes of Melbourne's shopping district. As you will know I am not famed for my love of shopping but Melbourne is renowned for fashion, cafes and consumption in general so thought I should take a look.Degraves Street is apparently a mecca for Melbourne's cafe society, a theme continued in most of the arcades.

The scales, brought in a lot of 100  to Melbourne from the UK are now quite rare as similar ones in England were melted down for the war effort.

Crossing the heart of the shopping district at Burke Street Mall and passing the sculpture entitled The Public Purse,

I made my way to Niagara Lane and some examples of 1880s warehouses,

 then went to Little Collins Street where the serious fashion begins. Passing a dozen lanes and arcades I came to Howey Place. Between the 1890s and 1920s the western (left on the photo) side of Howey Place was part of Cole's Book Arcade , was probably the biggest bookshop in the world with over two million books.

Walking back through several more lanes and arcades and along Flinders Street , home to many of the best galleries in the city, I arrived at Young and Jackson's which has been a pub for over a hundred years and has the distinction of housing the nude portrait , Chloe, which shocked conservative Melbourne and made the hotel famous. After a very full day I returned to the hotel to decide what to see tomorrow!