Landmarks of Melbourne: part 1

G'day

The weather's been a lot kinder this weekend so I've been out and about, exploring the city and photographing some of Melbourne's landmarks. Buckle up. Here we go...

First off, Rialto Towers. This was the tallest building not just in Melbourne but in the whole of the southern hemisphere until they built ......

... the Eureka Tower. Gold plated at the top (seriously) and part of the viewing platform involves a section of floor that suddenly goes see-through so you're looking straight down 300 metres/1000 feet. Noice!

Then there's Swanston Street, one of the CBD's main streets.

 It's a bit tatty down the bottom end but there are some noice buildings all the same, like the old town hall.

And just round the corner you have the 'Paris' end of Collins Street:

(Not sure which bit of Paris this is supposed to be!). Similarly close are:

Flinders Street - one of the city's main train stations. Facing it is  ...

... Federation Square (known as Fed Square), a newish cultural centre where you can visit such delights as ...

The Ian Potter Gallery with lots of art including a whole floor dedicated to ....

...indigenous (not aboriginal) art. And also part of Fed Square, but sadly not visited by yours truly yet (and possibly ever) is ...

Nearby is pedestrianised Bourke Street where Christmas has come early. Here's the queue to see the Christmas display at Myer (Melbourne's biggest department store). The theme this year is The Nutcracker.

And this is the rather noice Victorian Royal Arcade, slightly spolit by cheap Christmas deccos (as I'm sure Australians call decorations). And no, I didn't venture down to the Dungeon of Magic.

And last up in this batch of Melbourne landmarks is the city's main art gallery, the National Gallery of Victoria (not sure what's 'national' about it as Victoria isn't a nation!).

Things I have learnt

• Don't talk about 'getting on' with people. It doesn't mean that you have a friendly relationship with them. Well, it does, but in the sense of 'pashing' them. Which means 'snogging'. So 'getting on' with someone actually means 'getting off' with them.
• Dooners are duvets, and Manchester is bed linen in general (so when you go to Myer department store you shouldn't be confused by signs pointing to Manchester!).

Things that have made me laugh
I already knew (and maybe you do too) that Australians call flip-flops thongs, but that didn't stop this email causing an extended chuckle when it was sent round to everyone at Lonely Planet's Melbourne office (I've left out the person's name as apparently she got quite a lot of mickey-taking for it):

Subject: Left thong.

Dear Spam

I have broken my left thong, does anyone have a spare I might borrow for an hour or two at lunchtime?

Many thanks!

Comedy gold!

More landmarks and lessons learnt soon.

Cliff