Monthly Archives: October 2019

Werribee Open Range Zoo (Werribee, Australia)

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Werribee Open Range Zoo

Our second whole day in Australia was to be spent on a half-day tour of the Werribee Open Range Zoo, about 32 kms. (20 mi.) southwest of Melbourne.  After brunch at our apartment, we walked towards the Melbourne Central Station where we took a one-hour train ride to Werribee Station. We arrived at the station by 11:20 AM and, from the station, we caught the Bus 439 Werribee South to the zoo.

Check out “Melbourne Central Station“

The 225-hectare (560-acre) Werribee Open Range Zoo, an African-themed zoo in Werribee, is ocated on the Werribee River in Werribee Park, adjacent to the Werribee Mansion.

Jandy, Kyle and Bryan at the Werribee Visitor Information Center

Gift shop

It is part of the Zoological Parks and Gardens Board or ‘Zoos Victoria’ which also includes Melbourne Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary.

Ticket Office

Meerkat Cafe

Cafe interior

Here’s the historical timeline of the zoo:

  • In 1975, the 120 hectares of land on which Werribee Open Range Zoo now sits was acquired to act as agistment for the surplus stock from Melbourne Zoo. The board aimed to use the property’s landscape to develop an open range zoo.
  • In 1983 Werribee Open Range Zoo was opened to the public and guests were offered a guided safari-like tour around the property. Species at the zoo were mostly ungulates including bison and deer along with ostrich and kangaroos. Whipsnade Zoo provided a pair of Southern White Rhinoceros.
  • For the next ten years, guests boarded a bus, paying an admission fee as they entered, from a shelter at the Werribee Park Mansion, across the road from the zoo.
  • In 1996, the zoo was completely relaunched with a bistro, shop, discovery center and walking trail opened to add to the experience.
  • The next year, the Volcanic Plains Trail, showing off the Western basalt plains which is an endangered grasslands ecosystem, was opened.
  • During 1999, four new rhinos from South Africa arrived at the zoo to begin a breeding program.
  • In 2002, the zoo’s first rhino calf was born and was named Ganini.
  • In 2004, the Lions on the Edge habitat was unveiled.
  • In September 2006, Kubu River Hippos, the zoo’s largest development ever, was opened.
  • In December 2008, an African wildlife habitat was unveiled.
  • In 2010, the zoo celebrated its 25th birthday.
  • Also in 2010, the Australian comedy duo Hamish and Andy, posing as gorillas playing with golf clubs and toy cars, appeared in the zoo’s under construction gorilla enclosure as part of filming for a TV show.
  • In 2011, a gorilla exhibit opened with three male western lowland gorillas (an adult silverback and his two sons) gained from Melbourne Zoo.
  • In 2014, a koala habitat was opened along with a bandicoot hideaway (a nocturnal house where people can discover critically endangered eastern barred bandicoots). Squirrel gliders, dunnarts, tawny frogmouths and striped legless lizards also live here.

The African-themed village

The zoo has a simulated African village whose educational and entertaining includes a mock scenario of an African ranger and his adventures tracking lions, and an interactive soundscape walk with simulated lion sounds surrounding the walker.

A Learning Center teaches more about the history and geography of animals in their environments. This very children-friendly zoo also has lots of animal-themed playgrounds (such as the monkey rope play) around the walking trail near the exhibits.

Children’s playground

Werribee Open Range Zoo also has an animal/adoption sponsorship program, which is used for gifts and other altruistic purposes.

We followed two independent trails with signs everywhere pointing us in different directions to each animal enclosure.

Meerkats

The Pula Reserve Walking Trail focuses on African animals, including a antelopes, rhinoceros, zebras, lions, hippopotamus  and meerkats at the picturesque grassy savanna.

The new Gorillas Calling, a 10,000 sq. m. (2.5-acre) island home sanctuary (one of the largest in the world), houses the 3 gorillas and features wide-open spaces, climbing structures and indoor facilities.

A pair of camels

Rhinoceros

This facility enabled Zoos Victoria to provide best-practice care for the bachelor gorillas and confirm the organization’s reputation as a world leader in gorilla management.

Hippopotamus

Kubu River Hippos, a 3-hectare (7.41 acre) hippo paradise, is Australia’s only drive through hippo river. It has a boardwalk that allows visitors to view the hippos from every angle while the Kubu Queen, a semi submerged barge, allows for a closer view.

The area also has an adventure trail, archaeological dig site, interpretive centers and a hippo water play area with 5 life size hippo sculptures.  It can also be experienced on the safari tour.

A pride of lions

Lions on the Edge, with its beautiful pride of lions, has many great interactive elements including an abandoned jeep, half in and half out of the exhibit, where you can sit face to face with a lion.

Smaller habitats for prowling cheetahs, a troop of 18 vervet monkeys  (the only one’s of their kind on display in Australia) at play, and serval are also available for viewing.

Kangaroos

The author

The Australian Journey Walk, through Victoria’s vulnerable basalt plains grasslands, focuses on free wandering Australian animals such as the brolga, koala, emu and kangaroo as well as the cassowary.

A pair of emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae)

An ostrich

Come 3:30 PM, we availed of a bus tour (included in the zoo admission price), which takes up to 140 people in a unique safari bus and normally lasts 35–40 minutes, multiple times a day.

The unique, open air tour bus

The tour takes us out into the 45-hectare open savanna section of the zoo where we could find animals such as the hippo as well as animals of the grassland, such as bison, zebra, waterbuck, giraffe, ostrich, eland, antelopes and rhinoceros, as well as the camel and the scimitar-horned oryx.

A small herd of zebras

Werribee Open Range Zoo: K Rd, Werribee South, Victoria, 3030 Australia. Open daily (except Christmas Day), 9 AM – 5 PM (entry closes 3:30 PM).  Tel: 1300 966 784. Admission: adult (38AUD), child (19AUD) on weekdays, free on weekends. Visitors can also book various ‘specialty’ tours, including the Off Road Safari, or close encounters where you can feed gorillas, stroke servals or giraffe. E-mail: contact@zoo.org.au. Website: www..zoo.org.au/werribee/.

 

Flinders Street Station (Melbourne, Australia)

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Flinders Street Station

The Flinders Street Railway Station complex, served by Metro‘s suburban services and V/Line regional services to Gippsland, covers two whole city blocks and extends from Swanston Street to Queen Street.

Kyle, Grace, Cheska and Jandy checking out train schedules at station

Here are some interesting trivia regarding this railway station:

  • It is the busiest station on Melbourne’s metropolitan network, with over 1,500 trains passing through each day and 77,153 daily entries were recorded in the 2017/2018 fiscal year.
  • By 1926, Finders Street Station became the busiest passenger station in the world, surpassing Gare Saint-Lazare in Paris, Grand Central Station in New York City and Liverpool Street Station in London. On the January 11th1922, The Argus Newspaper reported 200,000 passengers passed through the station in one day.
  • Flinders was the first and oldest railway station in an Australian city
  • In the late 1920s, it was the world’s busiest passenger station.
  • The main building is one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks and a cultural icon of Melbourne.
  • An urban myth, widely reported, is that the design and plans for the Flinders Street Station and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (originally named Victoria Terminus) in Mumbai (India) were switched, resulting in an Italian Gothic style station in India and a vaguely East-Indian style building in Melbourne.
  • The building is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
  • Prior to Federation Square, Flinders Street Station was a favorite and popular informal meeting place for Melbournians since the station’s opening and is often a congregation point for subculture. Although the station was not intended for this purpose plus there is no seating or other infrastructure to suggest it as a destination, the location (opposite the well-known Young and Jackson Hotel and overlooking two of the busiest tram routes in the city) meant it was accessible and visible to many of the city’s main pedestrian thoroughfares. “I’ll meet you under the clocks” (referring to the row of clocks above the main entrance) and “I’ll meet you on the steps” (referring to the wide staircase underneath these clocks) are popular Melburnian The site’s cultural significance extends beyond its main function as a transport hub.
  • The ghostly figure a man on platform 10 holding fishing gear, known as George, has reportedly been seen by commuters, seeming somewhat disoriented as he gazes out at the Yarra River before vanishing into thin air. Many believe he has been around since the days of Melbourne’s settlement, whereas others believe he is the spirit of George Mansfield (later identified as Ernest Leahy) who was pulled from the river, after a boating accident, on October 21, 1902.
  • Martin Kingham, former Victorian secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, revealed that when he worked on the station’s refurbishment in the late 1980s, the builders incorporated heating into the steps so that those sitting there wouldn’t get cold.
  • The 708-m. long main station platform 1 is Australia’s longest and is also, reportedly, the fourth longest railway platform in the world. Servicing the South Morang and Hurstbridge lines, it was, once upon a time, home to the Milk Dock and the Parcels Office and, up until 1986, most of Melbourne’s milk was unloaded here off trains from Gippsland.
  • Flinders Street Station is responsible for two of Melbourne’s busiest pedestrian crossings, both across Flinders Street, including one of Melbourne’s few pedestrian scrambles.
  • Flinders Street Station has appeared on screen in films including Squizzy Taylor (1982) and On the Beach (1959, starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins). It also featured in the background of Steven Spielberg’s TV mini-series The Pacific.

Check out “Grand Central Terminal“

The Art Nouveau-style main station building, with its distinctive façade, has a prominent green copper dome, arched entrance, tower and clocks. Takeaway stands line the concourse, and the upper floors were purpose-built to house a library, gym and a lecture hall (later used as a ballroom).

Here is the historical timeline of the railway station:

  • In 1882, the government decided to build a new central passenger station to replace the existing ad-hoc station buildings.
  • In 1883, the first signal boxes were opened at the station one at each end of the platforms.
  • By the 1890s a third island platform had been constructed.
  • In 1899, a design competition, essentially for the detailed design of the station building, was finally held and 17 entries were received. First prize was awarded to to railway employees James Fawcett and HPC Ashworth, of Fawcett and Ashworth, who won £500 for their French Renaissance style “Green Light” project. It included a large dome over the main entrance and a tall clock tower over the Elizabeth Street entrance. A train shed over the platforms was intended to have many arched roofs running north-south, but only an alternative plan, depicting an impressive three-arched roof (running east-west) over the concourse, survives. The location of the concourse and entrances, the track and platform layout, the type of platform roofing, and even the room layout to some extent, were already decided.
  • In 1900, work began on the rearrangement of the station tracks, while the final design of the station building was still being worked on.
  • In 1901, work on the central pedestrian subway started
  • By 1903, the foundations of the main building were completed.
  • In 1904, in mid construction, the plans were extensively modified by the Railways Commissioners. The proposed train shed was replaced by individual platform roofs, and it was decided not to include a concourse roof. To increase office space, a fourth storey was added to the main building, which resulted in the arches above each entrance on Flinders Street being lowered, decreasing their dominance.
  • In 1905, work began on the station building itself, starting at the west end and progressing towards the main dome. Ballarat builder Peter Rodger was awarded the £93,000 contract. The building was originally to have been faced in stone, but that was considered too costly, so red brick, with cement render details, was used for the main building instead. At ground level, on the Flinders Street side, grey granite from Harcourt was used for many details. The southern facade of the main building consisted of a lightweight timber frame clad with zinc sheets, which were scored into blocks and painted red in order to look like large bricks. That was done to created corridors instead of what were to be open-access balconies inside the train shed.
  • In 1906, work on the dome started. The structure required heavy foundations as it extended over railway tracks.
  • Between August 1906 and November 1907, the Elizabeth Street clock tower was constructed.
  • In May 1908, work was progressing more slowly than planned
  • In August 1908, with the expected completion date of April 1909 increasingly unlikely to be met, Rodger’s contract was terminated.
  • In May 1910, a Royal Commission was appointed finding that Rodger could be held accountable for the slow progress in 1908, but he should be compensated for the difficulties before then. The Way and Works Branch of the Victorian Railways took over the project
  • By mid-1909, the station was essentially finished. The veranda along Flinders Street, and the concourse roof and veranda along Swanston Street, were not completed until after the official opening in 1910.
  • In 1919, the first electric train service operated from Flinders Street to Essendon.
  • In June 1933, the Railways Department established The Children’s Nursery featuring three cot rooms, two play rooms, a kitchen and a rooftop playground. The childcare facility was used by mothers visiting the city.
  • In 1937, a polio outbreak led to the closure of the Children’s Nursery.
  • By 1942, the Children’s Nursery was permanently closed.
  • In 1954, to cater for the increasing numbers of passengers, the Degraves Street subway from the station was extended to the north side of Flinders Street.
  • In 1962, the Minister for Transport and HKJ Pty Ltd signed an agreement for a £30 million redevelopment of the station that would have resulted in the demolition of the clock tower and replacement with an office building up to 60 stories high.
  • In March 1966, the length of Platform One was extended to 708 m. (2,322 ft.).
  • In 1967, a company purchased the option to lease the space above Flinders Street Station, planning to build a shopping plaza and two office towers, the dome and clock tower being kept as part of the design, but strong opposition saw this project lapse.
  • In 1972, Victorian Premier Henry Bolte unveiled another redevelopment plan, to cover 110,000 m2 (27 acres) of space above the Flinders Street Station and Jolimont Yard, for a complex of shops, offices, theaters and other community facilities.
  • In 1974, a newspaper report said that planning was still underway for the $250 million proposal
  • By 1975, public perceptions had begun to turn towards retention of the station. At the time, a Builders Labourers Federation green ban  helped preserve it in its existing form.
  • In June 1980, the 87-m. long ACMI’s Gallery 1, now holding major exhibitions, was created by converting the terminals for the Epping and Hurstbridge Lines at Princes Bridge Railway Station, which was incorporated into Flinders Street Station as platforms 14, 15 and 16.
  • In July 1980, television displays used to display next train information were added to each platform.
  • In 1982, a $7 million refurbishment, divided into four phases and designed by the railways architect Kris Kudlicki, was announced by Stephen Crabb, the Minister of Transport Minister for Transport.
  • Completed by 1984, the first escalators at the station provided on platform 2 / 3 replaced the ramps, and new public toilets were provided, replacing those over the platforms. The main station concourse was tiled and extended westward over the tracks, with skylights added above the ramps,16 new shops opened on the concourse.
  • In October 1985, a restaurant, built on the southern side facing the river, was opened.
  • In 1994, the restaurant was converted into the “Clocks on Flinders” poker machine
  • In June 1985, the main steps were embedded with electrical circuits to keep them dry.
  • In 1989, under the John Cain Government, an agreement to construct the “Festival Marketplace” was signed. Planned to feature shops, restaurants and cafes, it was designed by Daryl Jackson architects and it was to be built over the existing platforms in a style sympathetic to the existing station, and be completed by 1992.
  • In 1991, the project was abandoned after the inability of the financiers to come up with the $205 million required due to the early 1990s recession.
  • In 1993, the Elizabeth Street pedestrian subway opened at the Southbank
  • In 1997/98, the tracks to the east of the station were rebuilt to clear the way for the Federation SquareJolimont Yard was eliminated, with $40 million spent to reduce 53 operating lines between Flinders Street and Richmond Station to just 12. The number of points was also reduced, from 164 to 48.  Platform usage at the station was also reallocated, with country trains being shifted from platform 1 to platform 10, and Clifton Hill group trains being shifted from the deleted Princes Bridge Station to platform 1.
  • By 2007, the refurbishment of the building roof and concourse foundations, an upgrade of platform 10 with escalators and a lift replacing the ramp, the relocation of all ticket booking offices to the main entrance under the main dome and new LCD Passenger Information Displays installed on the platforms, subways and concourse were completed.
  • In 2008, the retail pavilions on the concourse were rebuilt, increasing their area.
  • That same year, an investigation of the potential of the abandoned spaces in the station, overseen by a task force comprising representatives from Connex, the Committee for Melbourne, Melbourne City Council, Heritage Victoria, was completed but the conclusions have not been made public
  • In March 2009, an escalator replaced the lift to platform 12 and 13, with platform 13 also extended westwards into daylight along the alignment of the former platform 11.
  • In January 2010, one of the first announcements by the new Minister for Public Transport was that the government was investigating the refurbishment of the abandoned spaces for “cultural uses.”
  • In November 2011, the Victorian Government launched a $1 million international design competition to rejuvenate and restore the station.
  • In October 2012, after receiving 118 submissions, six finalists were selected. The public could vote.
  • On August 8, 2013, the jury’s choice and people’s choice winner were announced. The competition winner was Hassell+ Herzog & de Meuron, while the people’s choice winner were University of Melbourne students Eduardo Velasquez, Manuel Pineda and Santiago Medina.
  • In mid-February 2015, Premier Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan  (Minister for Public Transport) announced that $100 million would be spent for urgent refurbishment works to upgrade station platforms, entrances, toilets, information displays and the restoration of exterior of the main building.
  • By July 2017, the station had been almost completely repainted in the original 1910 colors.
  • In January 2018, as painting continued, a further round of works was announced including the renewal of the Elizabeth Street pedestrian subway and rebuilding of the subway’s south entrance to include direct access to platform 10.

At the concourse (or Swanston Street end), the building has three levels and four at the lower Elizabeth Street (or platform) end. Numerous shops and lettable spaces were provided.  Some are on the concourse (especially along the Flinders Street frontage), many at lower than street level, accessed by stairs which created a fifth/basement level.

The top three levels of the main building, particularly along the Flinders Street frontage, contain a large number of rooms, mostly intended for railway use, but also many as lettable spaces.

At each entry, numerous ticket windows were located while at the concourse (or platform level) are services such as a restaurant, country booking office, lost luggage office and visitors help booth. Much of the third floor was purpose-built for the then new Victorian Railway Institute, including a library, gym and a lecture hall.

The latter was later used as a grand, 400-seat ballroom where dance classes, ballroom competitions and concerts were held. During World War II, dances were held for Allied servicemen and, in the 1950s and 1960s, it was one of the most popular dance halls in Melbourne. The last dance was held on September 10, 1983.

Next door is a gymnasium, once used by the station’s male employees, which featured a boxing ring and billiards room. These rooms have since been closed off to the public and are largely abandoned, derelict and decaying. It also had a 440-yard long rooftop running track and it is completely normal to see men running across the station roof.

A clock tower has also existed at the end of Elizabeth Street since 1883. The first clock was known as the ‘Water Tower Clock’, after a wooden framed water tower erected on the site in 1853. This clock remained in place until 1905 when work begun on the new station, the clock tower being moved to outside Princes Bridge station.

In 1911 it was moved to Spencer Street station, where it remained until the station redevelopment of 1967. Sold to a private collector, it was returned to public ownership and in 1999 was put on display at the Scienceworks Museum, Spotswood. It was returned to Southern Cross station in 2014.

Clock tower

The Elizabeth Street clock tower was constructed between August 1906 and November 1907. The distinctive clocks, a fixture of the station’s façade under the main dome, are part of 60 Bathgate indicators purchased from England for use at the Flinders Street, Spencer Street, Richmond and South Yarra stations.

It has, since the 1860s, shown the departure times of the next trains. When the old station was demolished in 1904, those at Flinders Street were placed into storage.  In 1910, 28 were placed into the new station and are located at the main entry under the dome, the southern side archway, and the Degraves and Elizabeth Street entrances.

The clocks at the main entrance, changed an average of 900 times, were manually operated, during an 8-hour period, by a railway officer using a long pole. In 1983, as part of a redevelopment of the station, the original indicator clocks were removed from service, with their replacement by digital displays planned.

However, within one day, an outpouring of public outrage and sentimentality saw the decision reversed. The clocks at the main entrance were altered to automatic operation by computer but those at the Degraves and Elizabeth Street entrances were replaced by large airport-style split-flap displays.

The author

In the 1930s and 1940s, the building featured a creche next to the main dome on the top floor.  It had an open-air playground on an adjoining roof. Since 1910, the basement store, beside the main entrance, has been occupied by City Hatters, a hat store known as since 1933.

The station as seen from St. Paul’s Cathedral

The Swanston Street concourse, which has undergone the most change of any part of the station, is now three times the depth of the original structure with only the canopy and roofed area on Swanston Street remaining of the original. 

The author, Kyle, Grace and Jandy

Flinders Street Station: cor. Flinders and Swanston Sts., Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Website: www.flindersstreetstation.com.au.

Eureka Tower and Skydeck 88 (Melbourne, Australia)

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Eureka Tower

We decided to end our first day in Melbourne with a visit to the Eureka Skydeck 88, an observation deck that occupies the entire 88th floor of the 297.3 m. (975 ft.) high, 91 storey (with one basement level) Eureka Tower.

The beehive art installation

Opened to the public on May 15, 2007, at 285 m. (935 ft.) high, it is the highest public vantage point in a building in the Southern Hemisphere.

Here are some interesting trivia regarding this building:

  • Until surpassed by Ocean Heights and the HHHR Tower in Dubai, it was the world’s tallest residential tower when measured to its highest floor
  • When measured either by the height of its roof, or by the height of its highest habitable floor, Eureka Tower was the tallest residential building in the world when completed.
  • It is the second tallest building in Australia, behind Q1, Queensland on the Gold Coast
  • Eureka Tower is the tallest to roof (excluding spire)
  • It is one of only seven buildings in the world with 90 or more storeys
  • Eureka Tower is the equal 77th tallest building in the world.
  • It is also the second-tallest building in Australia and the tallest building in Melbourne.
  • As of 2016 it was the 15th tallest residential building in the world.
  • As far as can be ascertained this is the highest building with plants on
  • Currently, it is also the building with the most floors available for residential occupancy in the world.
  • In all, there are 556 apartments in 84 floors (including some floors shared between car parking and apartments), with the remainder being used for building facilities and the observation deck.
  • The single level basement and first 9 floors contain car parking.
  • Eureka Tower Pty Ltd, the developer of the tower, is a joint venture consisting of Daniel Grollo (Grocon), investor Tab Fried and Nonda Katsalidis, one of the Tower’s architects.
  • Eureka Tower is named after the Eureka Stockade, a rebellion during the Victorian gold rush in 1854. The building’s gold crown represents the gold rush, the red stripe the blood spilt during the revolt, the blue glass cladding (that covers most of the building) the blue background of the stockade’s flag and the white lines the Eureka Stockade flag. The white horizontal stripes also represent markings on a surveyor’s measuring staff.
  • The project was designed by Melbourne architectural firm Fender Katsalidis Architectsand was built by Grocon (Grollo Australia).
  • The tower was built using reinforced concreteusing a slipform About 5,000 tons (4,900 long tons; 5,500 short tons) of reinforced steel and 110,000 tons (110,000 long tons; 120,000 short tons) of concrete were used.
  • On November 9, 2004, Eureka Tower’s lift core superseded the height of Rialto Towers.
  • Started in August 2002, the exterior completed on June 1, 2006 and the building was officially opened on October 11, 2006 by then Premier of Victoria, Steve Bracks
  • An art installation resembling a manmade beehive, at the base of the tower, contains bees inside a white box, with two regular sized bees outside the box, and one queen bee on the top. Created by Richard Stringer and Nonda Katsalidis, it was completed in December 2007.  The gold color of the bees complements the gold at the top of the tower.
  • Since 2012, the Eureka Climb event, where participants climb 1642 steps to the observation deck, has been held annually. The current record is 7 minutes to climb up 88 floors.
  • A system of pumps constantly moves water between the two 300,000 liter tanks, at Levels 90 and 91, to counteract wind-induced oscillations.
  • Eureka Tower has 24 carat (99.9%) gold plated glass windows (installation completed in March 2006)on the top 10 floors of the building.

The ticket office

To access the Skydeck, we first paid an entry fee at the ground floor. From one of its 13 elevators, we traveled up to 9 m. per second (30 ft./sec.).

Skydeck 88

The Skydeck features several free binoculars as well as 30 viewfinders that helped us pinpoint numerous significant landmarks around all parts of Melbourne.

View of Melbourne Central Business District

View of the Yarra River. In the foreground is the Arts Centre Spire.

The Skydeck also has a small outside area called The Terrace (closed in high winds) where daring people can do a “skywalk” 350 m. (1,150 ft) high. Not for us.  However, we all tried out The Edge.  Once inside this glass cube, the glass inside was initially opaque but once it projected 3 m. (10 ft.) out from the building, the glass became clear as we hung over the edge of the tower.  Adding to our viewing experience, we were suspended almost 300 m. (984 ft.).

Nightime view of Melbourne CBD

Eureka Skydeck: 7 Riverside Quay, Southbank, Melbourne, Victoria 3006, Australia. Open daily; 10 AM – 10 PM, Admission: Adult: 23AUD; Child: 14.50AUD

 

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (Melbourne, Australia)

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Royal Botanic Gardens

From the Shrine of Remembrance, Grace, Jandy, Bryan, Cheska, Kyle and I walked to the nearby Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.  This  botanic gardens, across Melbourne and Cranbourne, is home to the State Botanical Collection which is housed in the National Herbarium of Victoria.

Check out “Shrine of Remembrance“

National Herbarium of Victoria

It includes 1.5 million preserved plants, algae and fungi, and Australia’s most comprehensive botanical library. Under the Royal Botanic Gardens Act 1991, the gardens are governed by the Royal Botanic Gardens Board who is responsible to the Minister for Environment.

The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, founded in 1846, were initially intended to be a horticultural exhibition for the public to enjoy.  It was built on land reserved on the south side of the Yarra River for a new botanic garden.

Melbourne Observatory

Observatory House

Extending across 36 hectares (89 acres) that slope to the river with trees, garden beds, lakes and lawns, it displays, in 30 living plant collections, almost 50,000 individual plants (representing 8,500 different species).

Garden House

Visitor’s Center

Many seeds were traded between early European botanists such as Arthur and Von Mueller, who planted non-native species.

Bust of Baron Ferdinand von Mueller. Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria by Gov. Charles La Trobe in 1853 and, later, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens.

On occasions throughout the gardens history, the Queen and her grandfather, Dame Nellie Melba and Paderewski contributed plantings.

The author relaxing at a park bench

Since its earliest days, plant research and identification in the Royal Botanic Gardens was done primarily through the National Herbarium of Victoria which is based at the Gardens.

Asteraceae (Olearia pannosa)

The State Botanical Collection, also housed in the Herbarium, includes over 1.2 million dried plant specimens plus an extensive collection of books, journals and artworks.

Cockscomb Coral Tree (Erythrina crista galli)

Wolgan Snow Gum (Eucallyptus gregsoniana)

Research findings are published in the journal Mulleria, a scientific representation of the work done in the Gardens in any one year. More recently, the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology has been established to look at plants which specifically grow in urban environments.

Common Correa (Correa reflexa)

Enfield Grevillea (Grevillea bedggoodiana)

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne, established in 1970, was built on land was acquired by the Gardens on Melbourne’s south-eastern urban fringe for the purpose of establishing a garden dedicated to Australian plants.

Kawaka (Liboocedrus plumosa)

Opened to the public in 1989, this generally wild site is significant for biodiversity conservation and focuses solely on Australian native plants.

Liliaceae (Asparagus desiflorus Myersii)

Here’s the historical timeline of the gardens:

  • In 1846, Charles La Trobe selected the site for the Royal Botanic Gardens from marshland and swamp. Initially, much of the native wetlands and swamp lands in the gardens were left.
  • In 1857, botanist Ferdinand von Mueller, the first director, created the National Herbarium of Victoria and planted a range of species from around the world.
  • In 1873, Director William Guilfoyle added tropical and temperate plants and changed the style of the Gardens to something more like the picturesque gardens that were around at that time.
  • In 1877, Sir Edmund Barton, Australia’s first Prime Minister, and Jane Ross were married at the Royal Botanic Gardens.
  • Around the turn of the 20th century, the native wetlands and swamplands were re-landscaped to create the Ornamental Lake.
  • In 1924, a shooting massacre, resulting in the death of four people, occurred at the Gardens.
  • In August 2010, the prominent  Separation Tree, a 300-year-old River Red Gum under which Victoria was declared a separate colony, was attacked by vandals
  • In 2013, the Separation Tree was attacked again by vandals.
  • By 2015, the Separation tree was dead and removal of the canopy and branches commenced.
  • In June 2015, the Gardens brought together the elements of the organization under the name Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. It incorporated Melbourne Gardens, Cranbourne Gardens, the National Herbarium of Victoria and the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology (ARCUE)

Marble Daisy Bush (Olearia astroloba)

Living collections at the Botanic Gardens include:

  • Australian Forest Walk
  • California Garden
  • Cacti and Succulents
  • Camellia Collection
  • Cycad Collection
  • Eucalypts
  • Fern Gully
  • Grey Garden
  • Herb Garden
  • Long Island
  • New Caledonia Collection
  • New Zealand Collection
  • Oak Lawn
  • Perennial Border
  • Roses
  • Southern China Collection
  • Tropical Display-Glasshouse
  • Viburnum Collection
  • Water Conservation Garden

Rose Pavilion

The gardens, including a mixture of native and non-native vegetation, invariably host a diverse range of both native and non-native fauna.

Rhamnaceae (Pomaderris subplicata)

Hosting over 10,000 floral species (the majority being non-native species), the gardens were the origin from which many introduced species spread throughout southeastern Australia.

Red Rod (Eremophila calorhabdos)

In the mid-19th century, seeds were traded between early European botanists studying the Australian flora.

Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden

The 5,000 sq. m. Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden, based in South Yarra, off the main site, was designed as a discovery area for children of all ages and abilities. For two months of the year (from the end of the Victorian July school holidays), this area is closed for rest and maintenance.

Running Postman (Kennedia Prostrata)

Royal Botanical Gardens: Spring St, East Melbourne VIC 3002, Australia. Open daily, 7:30 AM – 6:30PM.  Admission is free.

Shrine of Remembrance (Melbourne, Australia)

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Shrine of Remembrance

On our first day in Melbourne, we decided to visit the Shrine of Remembrance, commonly referred to as The Shrine and one of the largest war memorials in Australia.  Initially built to honor the men and women of Victoria who served in World War I, it now functions as a memorial to all Australians who have served in any war.  This war memorial is a site of annual observances for ANZAC Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November).

World War II Forecourt

We approached the shrine through the World War II Forecourt, a wide expanse of stone in front of the Shrine’s north face, designed by E. E. Milston and dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II on February 28, 1954, that commemorates the Australian war dead of the second great conflict. The Forecourt replaced a reflecting pool that had previously stood in front of the Shrine. It consists of the Eternal Flame, a permanent gas flame set just to the west of the north face; and the World War II Memorial, a 12.5 m. (41 ft.) high cenotaph a little further west.

Cenotaph

The surface of the cenotaph, built with Harcourt granite, is inscribed with the names of the defense forces, together with the theatres of war they served in. Atop it is a basalt sculpture, symbolizing “the debt of the living to the dead,” of six servicemen carrying a bier with a corpse, draped by the Australian flag.  The nearby Eternal Flame, representing eternal life, has burned continuously, with few interruptions, since it was first lit.

Eternal Flame

At the other side of the forecourt were three flagpoles comprising the Australian flag on the left, the Victorian flag in the middle and one of the flags of the three defense forces on the right. On special occasions, other flags may be flown, arranged according to strict protocols.

Inscriptions commemorating Australia’s involvement in Korea and Borneo

Australia’s involvements in later wars, such as the Korean War, the Borneo campaign (1945), the Malayan Emergency, the Indonesian Confrontation in North Borneo and Sarawak, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War, are commemorated by inscriptions.

The Shrine

The Shrine, built from granodiorite quarried from Tynong within Australia, was designed by Melbourne  architects and World War I veterans Phillip Hudson and James Wardrop who, among 83 entries, won (in December 1923) a competition, launched in March 1922, to find a design for the new memorial. On November 11, 1927, the shrine’s foundation stone was laid by the Governor of Victoria, Lord Somers and its construction was handled by the contractors Vaughan & Lodge.

The author, Jandy, Kyle and Grace at the Shrine of Remembrance

Although both the Victorian and Commonwealth governments made contributions, most of the (£160,000 cost (out of a total of £250,000; equating to about £ 9.4 million out of £ 14.7 million in 2019) of the Shrine was raised in less than six months by public contributions, with  General Sir John Monash as chief fundraiser (as an engineer, he also took personal charge of the construction).

Work was finally completed in September 1934 and, on November 11, 1934, the Shrine was officially dedicated by the Duke of Gloucester, witnessed by a crowd of over 300,000 people (a “massive turnout” given that Melbourne’s population at the time was approximately 1 million and, according to Carl Bridge, the “largest crowd ever to assemble in Australia to that date”).

Its Classical style is based on the ancient  Tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.  This structure, of square plan, is roofed by a ziggurat-like stepped pyramid whose crowning element at the top references the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates.  It is entered on the north and south through classical porticos, each of eight fluted Doric columns supporting a pediment containing sculpture in high relief, and approached by wide flights of steps which rise in stages to the podium on which the Shrine sits.

Some of the statuary

The east and west facing fronts, marked at the corners by four groups of statuary by Paul Raphael Montford, representing Peace, Justice, Patriotism and Sacrifice whose symbolism is Neo-Classical, are in the Art Deco style and the motifs draw on Greek and Assyrian sculpture.

The outer stone balustrade, marking the Shrine’s external boundary, are surrounded by 16 stone “battle honors” discs representing the battle honors granted by King George V and commemorating Australia’s contributions to the Landing at Anzac (Gallipoli) and the battles of Sari Bair, Rumani, Gaza-Beersheba, the North Sea, the Cocos Islands, Megiddo, Damascus, Villers-Bretonneux, Amiens, Mont St Quentin, the Hindenburg Line, Ypres, Messines, Pozieres and Bullecourt.

The internal walls of the Shrine use sandstone from Redesdale while the black marble columns used stone from Buchan.

The Shrine originally consisted of the central sanctuary, a high vaulted space entered by four tall portals of Classical design, surrounded by an ambulatory or passage.  A simple entablature, carried on 16 tall fluted Ionic columns, supports a frieze with 12 relief panels sculpted by Lyndon Dadswell, depicting the armed services at work and in action during World War I.

A frieze with some of the reliefs panels

At the center of the sanctuary is the marble Stone of Remembrance (placed in the position where an Unknown Soldier might have been laid), sunk below the pavement so that visitors must bow their heads to read the engraved inscription on it which is the words “Greater love hath no man,” part of a verse from the Bible (John 15:13).

Stone of Remembrance

The Stone is aligned with an aperture in the roof of the Sanctuary so that, at 11 AM on Remembrance Day (November 11, marking the hour and day of the Armistice which ended World War I), a ray of sunlight shines through an aperture in the roof to light up the word “Love” in the inscription. However, since the introduction of daylight saving in Victoria, the ray of sunlight is no longer in the right place at 11 AM. Instead, a mirror has been installed to direct sunlight onto the Stone at 11 AM. During the rest of the year, a light is used to simulate the effect.

Book of Remembrance

Along the ambulatory are 42 bronze caskets containing hand-written, illuminated Books of Remembrance which list the names of every Victorian who enlisted for active service with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) or Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force in World War I or died in camp prior to embarkation.

The Crypt

Beneath the sanctuary lies the Crypt which contains a bronze statue, in the center, of a soldier father and son, representing the two generations who served in the two world wars.

Jandy beneath the Bronze Statue of a Father and Son

Panels here list every unit of the Australian Imperial Force, down to battalion and regiment, along with the colors of their shoulder patch. The Crypt is also hung with the standards of various battalions and regiments, listing their battle honors.

Standards of various battalions and regiments

The space under the Shrine provided a large space for development and, at a planned cost of $5.5 million, a new development provided a visitor’s center, administration facilities, an improved access to the Shrine’s crypt, two new courtyards and place the new gallery under the northern steps.

Visitor’s Center

Construction of the 2 new courtyards and the gallery, designed by Melbourne architects Ashton Raggatt McDougall, commenced in 2002 and the new areas were opened in August 2003. In 2004, the Royal Australian Institute of Architects awarded the completed project the Victorian Architecture Medal.

Entrance Courtyard (Northeast, 2003) (2)

The austere and dramatic Entrance Courtyard (Northeast entry), the primary visitor entry, is emblazoned in a dried red blood color and employs key texts and emblems derived from histories of the Great War. One wall is inscribed with “Lest We Forget” while the other wall is inscribed with a quote from former Governor-General Sir William Deane.

Garden Courtyard (Northwest, 2003)

The Garden Courtyard, on the northwest, recalls the landscape of Europe and the Dardanelles and features a large, transplanted and multi-stemmed Legacy Olive Tree and surfaces and seating area derived from wharves and battlements of gun emplacements and trenches. Both courtyards were finished in Tynong Granite.

Education Courtyard

In 2014, an Education Center and the Galleries of Remembrance were added. A further two courtyards (Terrace Courtyard and Education Courtyard)were also added so that the two axes of symmetry of the original building are complemented by another two axes of symmetry on the diagonal.

The giant, floating red, steel and cloth poppy-shaped canopy

The “Galleries of Remembrance,” opened on Remembrance Day, displays a lifeboat from the ship SS Devanha, deployed during the landing at Anzac Cove at the start of the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915.

Lifeboat from the SS Devanha

The Education Courtyard, an arrival space for school groups, is shaded by a giant, floating red, steel and cloth poppy-shaped canopy over the amphitheater and acoustically softened with rubber seating terraces. A back lit map of the world, perforated with the dots and dashes of Morse Code, can be found on the walls. The floor surface pattern, executed in a period zig-zag ‘razzle dazzle’ camouflage, is derived from World War I battleships.

Terrace Courtyard (Southwest, 2014)

The Terrace Courtyard, a terraced, public courtyard that serves as an outdoor functions space for the returned service people, was designed to recall conflicts in South East Asia and the Pacific, has red wall tiling that names the Victorian towns from which soldiers came in World War II.

The red tiling with names of Victorian towns from which the soldiers came in World War II

Embedded into its concrete walls is the contemporary, pixelated camouflage used today by Australian soldiers.

The Gallery of Medals

The 40 m. (130 ft.) long Gallery of Medals displays around 4,000 medals (each symbolically representing 100 Victorians who have served in war and peacekeeping operations and six who have died). The Victoria Cross, awarded to Captain Robert Grieve during the Battle of Messines in 1917, was lent to the Shrine by Wesley College, Melbourne.

The Man With the Donkey

Away from the Shrine are a number of statues added in the surrounding parklands. “The Man with the Donkey,” representing John Simpson Kirkpatrick (although he was not named on the statue), officially is said to represent the “valor and compassion of the Australian soldier.”  Done by Wallace Anderson, it was installed in 1936 on the initiative of women who had funded a “Mother’s Tribute.”

Statue of The Driver

The bronze soldiers at the Driver and Wipers Memorial, commemorating the thousands of Australian lives lost during the fighting at Ypres (“Wipers” is the way servicemen pronounced “Ypres” during World War I), were done by the British sculptor Charles Sergeant Jagger.  Originally standing outside the Museum and State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, they were transferred to the Shrine in 1998.

Statue of The Wiper

The Driver, a recasting of one of the figures from the Royal Artillery Memorial in Hyde Park, London, UK, is a soldier holding a horse whip and bridles, wearing breeches (a protective legging), spurs and a steel helmet. The “Wipers” figure, a recasting, taken from the Hoylake and West Kirby War Memorial in Merseyside, UK, is a British infantry soldier standing guard with standard issue .303 rifle with a fixed bayonet, a German helmet at his feet.

The Remembrance Garden, added beneath the western face of the Shrine in 1985 to honor those who served during post-World War II conflicts, features a pool, waterfall and Harcourt granite wall bearing the names of the conflicts and peacekeeping operations in which Australia participated following World War II, such as Kuwait (Gulf War) and East Timor.

On July 19, 2008, the 92nd anniversary of the Battle of Fromelles, a replica of the 1998 sculpture, depicting Sergeant Simon Fraser, 57th Battalion, (a farmer from Byaduk, Victoria), rescuing a wounded compatriot from no man’s land after the battle, by Peter Corlett in the Australian Memorial Park, Fromelles was unveiled.

The cross-shaped Legacy Garden of Appreciation, near to the Shrine entrance and outlined by hedges, was established in 1978. This garden is planted with Red Flanders Poppies from seed originating from Villers-Bretonneux in France.  They flower in late spring. Widow and Children, a sculpture by Louis Laumen, was commissioned to mark the 75th anniversary of Legacy Australia in 1998.

Widow and Children

The Ex-Servicewomen’s Memorial Cairn (1985), relocated from the King’s Domain in 2010, is the focus of The Women’s Garden, north of the shrine, which incorporates concrete memorial violets within a grove of jacarandas.

Shrine of Remembrance: Birdwood Ave., Kings Domain, St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Victoria, 3001, Australia. Open daily, 10 AM – 5 PM. Admission is free.

Melbourne Central Station (Australia)

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Melbourne Central Station

The nearest railway station from the Melbourne Empire Apartments, our home for our week-long stay in Melbourne, was Melbourne Central railway station which was just a 5-min. (200 m.) walk away.

Check out “Hotel and Inn Review: Melbourne Empire Apartments”

This underground station is on the metro network , on the northern edge of the CBD, is located under La Trobe Street, between Swanston and Elizabeth Streets. The station, named after the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre which it is beneath, feeds into Melbourne’s main metro network station, Flinders Street and also Southern Cross, Melbourne’s main regional terminus.

Here are some interesting trivia regarding this station:

  • In 2017/18, it was the third busiest station in Melbourne’s metropolitan network, with 15.859 million passenger movements.
  • The station was built using cut and cover
  • It is one of five stations (and one of three underground) on the City Loop, which encircles the Melbourne CBD.
  • The station was designed by architectural firm of Perrott Lyon Mathieson, with concept design by David Simpson, and detailed design by Graeme Butler. The design included the two pairs of platforms, a spacious concourse directly under LaTrobe Street, with entries facing the Elizabeth Street and Swanston Street corners. The Swanston Street corner included a set of raised circular platforms above the entry.
  • At peak times, with a train arriving every 2.5 mins., the station has a passenger flow of 30,000 per hour.

The Melbourne Central Station, a premium station (meaning that it is staffed from first to last train and provides extra customer services), has an underground concourse and two levels of platforms below it (2 island platforms and four tracks). Each platform serves a separate group of rail lines that leave the Loop and radiate out into the city’s suburbs. Three elevators were initially provided, as well as 21 escalators.

The adjoining Melbourne Central Shopping Center was built around the existing escalators to street level, with only minor integration between the station concourse and shopping center.

Bryan and Kyle at the train platform

Here’s the historical timeline of the station:

  • In December 1973, to permit excavation of the station, La Trobe Street and its tram tracks were temporarily relocated to the south onto the site of what is now the Melbourne Central Shopping Center. The pit was 168 m. (551 ft.) long and 22.5 m. (74 ft) wide, 29 m. (95 ft.) deep at the Swanston Street end and 22 m. (72 ft.) deep at the Elizabeth Street end. Seven layers of struts were used to support the excavation, with 2,600 tons of steel temporary supports required.
  • In 1978, on completion of the work, , La Trobe Street and its tram tracks were moved back.
  • On May 28, 1980, during the Royal Visit, Queen Elizabeth was shown around the not yet operational station on and unveiled a plaque naming it the Queen Elizabeth Plaza.
  • On January 24, 1981, the station was finally opened and was named Museum Station after the adjacent National Museum of Victoria and Science Museum of Victoria in the State Library of Victoria complex on the opposite side of Swanston Street. It was the first station on the loop to open, initially services only operated for the Burnley and Caulfield Groups on platforms 2 and 4
  • On October 31, 1982, trains from the Clifton Hill Group started to use platform 1
  • On May 1, 1984, trains from the Northern Group started to use platform 3.
  • On April 5, 1982, the Elizabeth Street entrance to the station opened.
  • In 1991, the 55,100 sq. m. Melbourne Central Shopping Center was opened.
  • On February 16, 1997, the station was renamed after the shopping center.
  • On July 13, 1997, the Museum of Victoria closed on the State Library site in preparation for being relocated to Carlton, where it reopened as the Melbourne Museum in Carlton in 2000.
  • In 2002/03, the station concourse was extensively redeveloped as part of the renovation of the shopping center, integrating it into the complex.
  • In November 2003, the direct escalators from the concourse to Swanston Street were closed and were replaced by escalators rising into the atrium under the cone in the center of the shopping center, making the path through more convoluted. The concourse under LaTrobe Street was integrated into the shopping center with the installation of numerous shops.
  • In 2025, the Pakenham, Cranbourne and Sunbury railway lines ceased to stop at Melbourne Central Station as the Metro Tunnel Project opened.

 

Plaque commemorating Queen Elizabeth’s visit

The concourse has two sections separated by the shopping center food court. The Elizabeth Street concourse has stairs and three escalators providing access to the street, a walkway to the Swanston Street concourse, a booking office, ticket barriers, toilets, and stairs and five escalators leading down to the platforms.

Inside the ticket barriers of the Swanston Street concourse are toilets, two lifts and five escalators going to the platforms while outside is a food court, an exit to La Trobe Street and Level LG of the shopping center (which passes under Little Lonsdale Street).

To the shopping center level above, there is also a lift and four escalators. Level G, the next level up, has access, via the shopping center, to Little Lonsdale and LaTrobe Streets. Access to Swanston Street is via three escalators rising another floor (or the lift to level 1 and a 70 m. walk), and a walk through the shopping center past the shot tower.

The Shot Tower

The historic, 50 m. (160 ft.) high Coop’s Shot Tower, a shot tower  completed on June 29, 1889, was saved from demolition in 1973.  Incorporated into Melbourne Central complex in 1991, it is located underneath an 84 m-high conical glass roof. The site is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

The conical glass roof above the tower

The tower, built with furnace fire bricks, is 9 storeys high, has a 40 ft. deep foundation, 3 ft. thick walls, and has 327 steps and 12 landing places to the top. The tower produced six tons of shot weekly up until 1961 (when, because of new firearm regulations, the demand for the lead shot dwindled). The tower was operated by the Coops family, who also managed Clifton Hill Shot Tower. Inside of the tower, at the back of R.M. Williams and DJI (D1 Store) a tenant in the tower, is the Shot Tower Museum.

Melbourne Central Station: cor. La Trobe Street and Swanston Streets Melbourne CBD, Melbourne, Australia.  Tel: 03 9922 1122. Website: www.melbournecentral.au.

Melbourne Airport (Australia)

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Melbourne Airport

Our gateway for our week long visit to Melbourne was to be Melbourne Airport (IATA: MEL, ICAO: YMML), colloquially known as Tullamarine Airport.  After an 8-hour, non-stop flight from NAIA Terminal 3, it was almost midnight when our Cebu Pacific Airbus A321 plane landed in this airport’s Terminal 2 (one of the airports four terminals) which handles all international, and limited domestic, flights out of Melbourne Airport.

Cheska, Grace, Bryan and Jandy

The terminal has 20 gates with aero bridges. On arrival, we streamed on to the first floor to connect with the current first floor arrivals deck. Departures take place on the lower deck (similar to the A380 boarding lounges currently in use at Gates 9 and 11).  All gates, including 18 and 20, are now handling passengers.

Cathay Pacific, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Air New Zealand and Emirates all operate airline lounges in this terminal. The terminal contains works by noted Australian Indigenous artists including Daisy Jugadai Napaltjarri and Gloria Petyarre.

Here are some interesting trivia regarding this international airport:

  • It is the primary airport serving the city of Melbourne
  • Melbourne is the second busiest airport in Australia for passenger movements, behind Sydney and ahead of Brisbane.
  • It opened in 1970 to replace the nearby Essendon Airport (which was officially designated an international airport in 1950).
  • Melbourne Airport is the main international airport of the four airports serving the Melbourne metropolitan area, the other international airport being Avalon Airport.
  • The airport comprises four terminals: one international terminal, two domestic terminals and one budget domestic terminal.
  • The airport has its own suburb and postcode—Melbourne Airport, Victoria (postcode 3045).
  • In 2016-17, Melbourne Airport recorded around 25 million domestic passenger movements and around 10 million international passenger movements. In that year there were 239,466 aircraft movements in total.
  • The Melbourne–Sydney air route is the third most-traveled passenger air route in the world.
  • The airport features direct flights to 33 domestic destinations and to destinations in the Pacific, Europe, Asia, North America and South America.
  • Melbourne Airport is the number one arrival/departure point for the airports of four of Australia’s eight other capital cities.
  • Melbourne serves as a major hub for Qantas and Virgin Australia, while Jetstar Airways and Tigerair Australia utilize the airport as home base.
  • Domestically, Melbourne serves as headquarters for Australian airExpress and Toll Priority and handles more domestic freight than any other airport in the nation.
  • Melbourne Airport, originally called Melbourne International Airport, is commonly referred to as Tullamarine or simply as Tulla to distinguish the airport from the other three Melbourne airports: Avalon, Essendon and Moorabbin.
  • Tullamarine is a name derived from the indigenous name Tullamareena.
  • Melbourne Airport is categorized as a Leased Commonwealth Airport.
  • The airport was the first in Australia to be capable of handling the A380.
  • It the first airport in Australia to receive, in 2004, an ISO 14001 accreditation, the world’s best practice standard.
  • The Melbourne FIR center controls 6% of the world’s airspace (Victoria, Tasmania, southern New South Wales, most of South Australia, the southern half of Western Australia and airspace over the Indian and Southern Ocean).
  • The airport is the home of the Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne approach facilities, which provide control services to aircraft arriving and departing at those airports.
  • The airport is curfew-free and operates 24 hours a day (although, between 2 AM and 4 AM, freight aircraft are more prevalent than passenger flights).

Jandy and the author

Here’s the historical timeline of the airport:

  • In February 1958, the search for a replacement for Essendon commenced when a panel was appointed to assess Melbourne’s civil aviation needs.
  • In 1959, the Commonwealth Government acquired 5,300 ha. (13,000 acres) of grassland in then-rural Tullamarine.
  • In May 1959 it was announced that a new airport would be built at Tullamarine
  • On November 27, 1962, Prime Minister Robert Menzies announced a five-year plan to provide Melbourne with a A$45 million “jetport” by 1967.
  • In November 1964, the first sod at Tullamarine was turned. In line with the five-year plan, the runways at Essendon were expanded to handle larger aircraft
  • In October 1964, Ansett Australia launched the Boeing 727 there, the first jet aircraft used for domestic air travel in Australia.
  • On July 1, 1970, Prime Minister John Gorton opened Melbourne Airport to international operations ending Essendon’s near two decade run as Melbourne’s international airport. Essendon still was home to domestic flights for one year.  On opening, Melbourne Airport consisted of three connected terminals: International in the centre, with Ansett to the South and Trans Australia Airlines to the North. The design capacity of the airport was eight Boeing 707s at a rate of 500 passengers per hour.
  • On June 26, 1971, Essendon’s airport operations was transferred to Melbourne Airport with the first arrival of a Boeing 747 occurring later that year. In the first year of operations, Melbourne handled six international airlines and 155,275 international passengers.
  • In 1973, minor expansion works was completed allowing Boeing 747s to serve the airport.
  • By the late 1980s, peak passenger flows at the airport had reached 900 per hour, causing major congestion.
  • In 1988, the Australian Government formed the Federal Airports Corporation(FAC), placing Melbourne Airport under the operational control of the new corporation along with 21 other airports around the nation.
  • In 1989, expansion of the Ansett domestic terminal was approved
  • In 1991, the expansion was completed with the addition of a second pier for use by smaller regional airlines.
  • In 1991, work on an upgrade of the international terminal commenced.
  • In 1992, Terminal 1 passed to Qantas when it acquired Trans Australia Airlines.
  • In late 1993, the ‘SkyPlaza’ retail complex was completed on a site flanking the main international departure gates.
  • In April 1994, the Australian Government announced that all airports operated by FAC would be privatized in several phases.Melbourne Airport was included in the first phase, being acquired by the newly formed Australia Pacific Airports Corporation Limited for $1.3 billion.
  • Between 1995 and August 1997, the multi-storey carpark outside the terminal was completed at a cost of $49 million, providing 3,100 parking spaces, the majority undercover. This initially four-level structure replaced the previous open air car park outside the terminal.
  • On June 30, 1997, the transfer was completed on a 50-year long-term lease, with the option for a further 49 years.
  • In 1995, the new three-level satellite concourse was opened at the end of the existing concourse. Diamond shaped and measuring 80 m. (260 ft.) on each side, the additional 10 aerobridges provided by the expansion doubled the international passenger handing capacity at Melbourne Airport.
  • In October 1997, improvements on the original Terminal 1 commenced.
  • In January 1999, work commenced on the six-storey, 276-room Hilton Hotel (now Park Royal) above the car park
  • In late 1999, improvements on the Qantas domestic terminal (Terminal 1), featuring a second pier, stands for 9 additional aircraft, an extended access roadway and the expansion of the terminal, was completed at a cost of $50 million.
  • In mid-2000, the Hilton Hotel was completed at a cost of $55 million.
  • In December 2000, the Domestic Express Terminal (the first passenger terminal facility to be built at Melbourne Airport since 1971), located to the south of the main terminal building and built at a cost of $9 million, was opened.
  • In 2004, revenue from retail operations at Melbourne Airport broke the $100 million mark for the first time this being a 100% increase in revenue since the first year of privatization.
  • In 2004, the expansion of car parks continued with a $40 million project commenced, doubling the size of the short term carpark with the addition of 2,500 spaces over six levels, along with 1,200 new spaces added to the 5,000 already available in the long term car park.
  • In 2005, the airport undertook construction works to prepare the airport for the arrival of the double-decker Airbus A380. The main work was the widening of the main north–south runway by 15 m. (49 ft.)
  • In May 2005, over a 29-day period, the improvements were completed. It included the construction of dual air bridges (Gates 9 and 11) with the ability to board both decks simultaneously to reduce turnaround times, the extension of the international terminal building by 20 m. (66 ft.) to include new penthouse airline lounges, and the construction of an additional baggage carousel in the arrivals hall.
  • On June 5, 2008, it was announced that the airport would install a Category III landing system (the first of its kind in Australia), allowing planes to land in low visibility conditions, such as fog.
  • In July 2005, the current terminal numbering system was introduced. Previously, they were known as Qantas Domestic, International and South (formerly Ansett Domestic).
  • On November 14, 2005, the A380 made its first test flight into the airport.
  • In March 2006, the airport undertook a 5,000 sq. m. (54,000 sq. ft.) expansion of Terminal 2, and the construction of an additional level of airline lounges above the terminal.
  • In June 2007, a A$5 million refit for Terminal 4 began along the lines of the budget terminal model at Singapore Changi Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
  • In 2008, a further 25,000 sq. m. (270,000 sq. ft.) expansion of Terminal 2 commenced, costing $330 million.
  • On November 23, 2007, Tiger Airways Australia operated its first domestic flight at Terminal 4.
  • On May 15, 2008, the A380 made its first passenger flight into the airport when a Singapore Airlines Sydney-bound flight was diverted from Sydney Airport because of fog.
  • Beginning in October 2008, Qantas became the first airline to operate the A380 from the airport, flying nonstop to Los Angeles International Airport twice a week. This was the inaugural route for the Qantas A380.
  • On March 2010, the new, $10 million Category III landing system was commissioned.
  • In 2011, the expansion of Terminal 2, adding 5 additional aero bridges on a new passenger concourse, and a new 5,000 sq. m. (54,000 sq. ft.) outbound passenger security and customs processing zone, was completed.
  • In March 2012, airport officials broke ground for the expansion of Terminal 4 facilities to accommodate Tiger Airways Australia and Jetstar Airways flights
  • On August 18, 2015, the new Terminal 4 was opened.
  • In November 2015, Jetstar moved into Terminal 4.

Melbourne Airport’s terminals have 53 domestic and 15 international gates plus five dedicated freighter parking positions (which host 21 dedicated freighter operations a week) on the Southern Freighter Apron.  This airport is located 23 kms. (14 mi.) northwest of the city centre, adjacent to the suburb of Tullamarine, and is accessible via the Tullamarine Freeway.

Terminal 1, hosting domestic and regional services for Qantas Group airlines, Qantas and QantasLink (which is located to the northern end of the building), has a Qantas Club, Business Class and a chairman’s lounge; a wide range of shops and food outlets (situated at the end of the terminal near the entrance into Terminal 2); 16 parking bays served by aero bridges (12 are served by single aero bridges whilst four are served by double aero bridges); and five non-aero bridge gates (used by QantasLink).Departures are located on the first floor, while arrivals are located on the ground floor.

Terminal 3 opened with the airport as the Ansett Australia terminal, is now owned by Melbourne Airport. Terminal 3 is home to Virgin Australia (three gates are dedicated to it) and has eleven parking bays served by single aero bridges and eight parking bays not equipped with aero bridges.

 

Terminal 4, originally called the Domestic Express or South Terminal, was originally constructed for Virgin Blue (formerly Virgin Australia, it eventually moved into Terminal 3 following the demise of Ansett) and Impulse Airlines. It is dedicated to budget airlines and is the first facility of its kind at a conventional airport in Australia.

Due to the basic facilities, lack of jet bridges, and fewer amenities and retail outlets compared to a conventional terminal, lower landing and airport handling fees are charged to airlines. Unlike in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, however, this terminal is located next to the main terminal building. The new, 35,000 sq. m. (380,000 sq. ft.) Terminal 4, currently used by Tigerair Australia, Regional Express Airlines, Jetstar (now has triple the number of gates it had at Terminal 1) and Airnorth, is and linked “under one roof” with Terminal 3.

This airport has won national and state tourism awards namely:

  • In 1997 and 1998, the International Air Transport Association ranked Melbourne among the top five airports in the world.
  • In 2002 and 2004, respectively, Singapore Airlines presented the airport with the Service Partner Award and Premier Business Partner Award.
  • In 2003, Melbourne received the IATA’s Eagle Award for service and two National Tourism Awards for tourism services.
  • In 2006, the airport won the Australian Construction Achievement Award for the runway widening project (dubbed “the most outstanding example of construction excellence for 2006”).
  • In 2012, Parkroyal Melbourne Airport was awarded by Skytrax for the best airport hotel in Australia/the Pacific. According to Skytrax World’s Top 100 Airports List, Melbourne Airport has improved from ranked 43rd in 2012 to 27th in 2018.

Melbourne Airport has two intersecting runways: one 3,657 m (11,998 ft) north–south and one 2,286 m (7,500 ft) east–west. In addition to the onsite control tower, the airport is home to Melbourne Center, an air traffic control facility that is responsible for the separation of aircraft in Australia’s busiest flight information region (FIR), Melbourne FIR.

One freeway off ramp runs directly into the airport grounds, and a second to the south serves freight transport, taxis, buses and airport staff. It also has five car parks, all of which operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. As of 2019, there is no railway connection between the airport and the city.

Melbourne Airport is served by four hotels – the six-storey, 280-room Parkroyal Hotel (originally a Hilton but  relaunched as the Parkroyal on April 4, 2011), located 100 m. (330 ft.) from Terminal 2 atop the multi-level carpark; Holiday Inn, located 400 m. (1,300 ft.) from the terminal precinct; Ibis Budget, located 600 m. (2,000 ft.) from the terminals; and Mantra Tullamarine, located 2 kms. (1.2 mi.) from the terminal precinct.

Melbourne Airport: Victoria 3045, Australia. Tel: +61 3 9297 1600. Website: www.melbourneairport.com.au.

Shilin Night Market (Taipei, Taiwan)

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Shilin Night Market

After our visit to Taipei 101 Mall, Vincent Chen, our Eagle Tour  guide, dropped us all off at the newly renovated Shilin Night Market where we were to have dinner and explore at our leisure.  Often considered to be the largest and most famous night market in Taiwan, it encompasses two distinct sections sharing a symbiotic relationship.

Check out “Taipei 101 Building” and “Taipei 101 Mall“

A section, formerly housed in the old Shilin Market building, contains mostly food vendors, small restaurants and surrounding businesses and shops selling other nonfood items.

The food court houses a long row of 539 fixed stalls while the second floor serves as a parking lot for 400 cars.  Taiwanese street food  or Xiao Tze (which means “small eats”) you can try here include bubble tea, fried buns, fried chicken fillet, fried siopao (NT$50), lemon aiyu jelly, oyster omelet, oyster vermicelli, peanut candy, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, wow frog eggs, grilled vegetable wrapped with pork (NT$10), misua soup (NT$30), Lamien noodles (NT$50), small sausage in a large sausage, stinky tofu (NT$50, served with pickled vegetables), and Taiwanese “tempura.”

Aside from the food court, the side streets and alleys are also lined with storefronts and roadside stands.  Also prevalent in the area are cinemas, video arcades and karaoke bars.

Here, you can also buy shoes, accessories, cheap and fashionable clothes ,Taiwanese candies, preserved fruits and toys; have your fortune told; shoot for money; play mahjong; have a massage that makes use of bamboo sticks (N$100) or knives (NT$100 for 10 minutes or NT$220 for 20 minutes)  or play an interesting game of catching shrimps.

Like most night markets in Taiwan, the local businesses and vendors begin opening around 4 PM. As students start returning home from school, crowds reach their peak between 8 PM and 11 PM, with businesses continuing operations well past midnight, closing around 1 AM or 2 AM. In recent years, due to the opening of the very efficient and clean Taipei Metro system, tourist traffic has increased.

Shilin Night  Market: No. 101號, Jihe Road, Shilin District, Taipei 111.

How to Get There: Shilin Night Market is accessible via the Tamsui–Xinyi line (Tamsui/Red Line) of the Taipei Metro at Jiantan Station (one station before Shilin). One-way fare would range from NT$20 to NT$40. The night market can be seen from the station platform. A number of bus routes also serve the area, with stops at Jiantan Station, nearby Ming Chuan University and Xiao Bei (Hsiao Pei) Street.