Category Archives: PLACES OF INTEREST

Carlton Gardens (Melbourne, Australia)

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Carlton Gardens

The 26-hectare (64-acre) Carlton Gardens, a World Heritage Site located on the northeastern edge of the Central Business District, is bounded by Victoria Street, Rathdowne Street, Carlton Street, and Nicholson Street.Often called the Exhibition Gardens, it was designed by Edward La Trobe Bateman and laid out in the late 1850s.  Most of this work was obliterated when the Gardens were redesigned for the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition and the central third excised to accommodate Joseph Reed’s Royal Exhibition Building. 

The rectangular site, gently sloping down to the southwest and northeast, contains the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne Museum and Imax Cinema, tennis courts, maintenance depot and curator’s cottage, and the award-winning children’s playground (designed as a Victorian maze) at the northern section and two small ornamental lakes adorning the southern section of the park.

Check out “Royal Exhibition Building” and “Melbourne Museum“

An example of Victorian landscape design, the Carlton Gardens are of scientific (botanical) significance for their outstanding collection of plants, including conifers, palms, evergreen and deciduous trees, many of which have grown to an outstanding size and form.

Kyle posing beside an ornamental lake

It has sweeping lawns and varied European and Australian tree plantings consisting of deciduous English oaks, White Poplar, plane trees, elms, conifers, cedars, turkey oaks, Araucarias and evergreens such as Moreton Bay figs, combined with flower beds of annuals and shrubs.

The 550 cm. high, circa 1880 bronze French Fountain, at the Nicholson Street entrance, features three youths, each supporting a dolphin, above which rests a cupped scallop shell. The fountain forms the centerpiece of a round garden bed and its waters flow into the large, concrete pool in which it sits.

According to the listing in the Victorian Heritage Register, the elm avenues of field elms (Ulmus procera) and Dutch elms (Ulmus × hollandica) are significant as there are few examples remaining, worldwide, due to Dutch elm disease.

The iconic Hochgurtel Exhibition Fountain, designed by sculptor Joseph Hochgurtel for the 1880 Exhibition, is located in front of the Melbourne Exhibition Center. As described in the plaque, the fountain symbolizes “Arts, Sciences, Commerce, and Trade, and Industry.”

The garden also contains a rare specimen of Acmena ingens (a rainforest tree of eastern Australia, only five other specimens are known), an uncommon Harpephyllum caffrum and the largest recorded in Victoria, Taxodium distichum and, south west of the Royal Exhibition Building, outstanding specimens of Chamaecyparis funebris and Ficus macrophylla.

The pink granite Westgarth Drinking Fountain, manufactured by Alexander McDonald & Co., was presented to the people of Victoria by 1840s pioneer William Westgarth, when he returned to Melbourne to visit the Centennial Exhibition in 1888. This tiered drinking fountain has two cast-bronze drinking spouts, each taking the form of an emu. It has two embracing kangaroos surmounting the drinking troughs, which in turn are surmounted by a finial-like bronze and glass light.

A network of tree-lined paths, providing formal avenues for highlighting the fountains and architecture of the Exhibition building, includes the grand allee of plane trees that lead to the exhibition building.

A duck and its young swimming on the lake

Wildlife found here includes brushtailed possums, ducks and ducklings in spring, tawny frogmouths, kookaburras, Indian mynas and silver gulls while, at night, Gould’s wattled bat and white-striped freetail bats hunt for insects.  When native trees are flowering or fruiting, grey-headed flying foxes also visit the gardens.

The gardens also contains three important fountains – the Exhibition Fountain; the French Fountain; and the Westgarth Drinking Fountain. The gardens, including the Exhibition Building and the fountains, are now a popular spot for wedding photography.

Carlton Gardens: Carlton, Melbourne, Australia

Phillips Island – Penguin Parade (Melbourne, Australia)

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Penguin Parade (photo: www.visitphillipsisland.com)

The highlight of our Phillip Island tour was the iconic Penguin Parade, one of Australia’s most popular tourist attractions. Frolicking, friendly fairy penguins from Australia’s largest colony of Little Penguins (smallest species of penguins in the world) arrive at sunset every evening and the access doors of the new Penguin Parade Viewing Center to the viewing areas open approximately 1 hour prior to estimated penguin arrival time.

Check out “Penguin Parade Viewing Center”

 

Little Penguin (photo: www.visitphillipisland.com)

More than six hectares of prime penguin habitat from the important Summerland Peninsula (which the penguins land on to find their burrows each evening) were restored on the site of the old visitor center building and coach parking areas, creating homes for an additional 1,400 breeding penguins.

Leaving the Penguin Parade Visitor’s Center for the parade grounds

These penguins breed in burrows, held together with native grasses and Bower spinach, usually made in the sand dunes during the winter months. Around The Nobbies and the rehabilitated areas of the Penguin Parade Visitor Centre, the penguins nest in wooden nesting boxes provided by Phillip Island Nature Parks. Egg laying (two whitish eggs are usually laid) starts in winter and can continue until December.

The wooden boardwalk

As soon as the access doors opened, we made our way, together with the others guests, along the viewing boardwalks, to the beach.  Along the way, we passed by a number of the aforementioned wooden nesting boxes. At the end of the boardwalk, we were all made to sit down at wooden bleachers along the beach.  As the bleachers were already full, we just sat down on the sand.

Wooden nesting boxes

Photography was strictly forbidden from the stands, where we sat or anywhere else as penguins have sensitive eyes and a bright, sudden flash or unusual light can frighten or disorientate a penguin. To ensure penguins keep coming back to this special area we were asked to not use cameras, camcorders or camera phones at the Penguin Parade.

The Penguin Parade viewing area

At the appointed time, the Little Penguins came out of the water and made their way, across the beach, to the sand dune burrows and the wooden nesting boxes they now call home. Since the beach was very dimly lit, we had a hard time seeing the penguins as they came out in small groups of four or five at a time. It was only when we walked back to the Visitor Center entrance that we saw the penguins clearly at the sides of the boardwalk.

Back at the center, we had dinner at the Little Penguin Café before returning to our coach for the 144.8 km., nearly 2 hour drive back to Melbourne and our hotel.

Penguin Parade (photo: www.visitphillipisland.com)

Penguin Parade: 1019 Ventnor Rd., Summerlands, Victoria 3922. Tel: +61 3 5951 2830. E-mail: info@penguins.org.au.  Open daily, 10 AM (2PM on Christmas Day). Admission: $26.60 (adults), $13.20 (children, 4-15 years of age), $66.40 (family) and $18.55 (Concession).

Phillip Island – Cowes (Melbourne Australia)

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Cowes

From the Nobbies Ocean Discovery Center, we again boarded our coach for the 15-km. drive, via the Ventnor Rd./C473, to Cowes, the main township and largest town on Phillip Island, for some sightseeing.  Phillip Island Road, the main road of the island, led us into Cowes, becoming Thompson Avenue, the town’s main road.

Facing towards French Island and the Mornington Peninsula, Cowes has a small 2016 population of 4,839.

Check out “Phillip Island – Nobbies Ocean Discovery Center“

Originally known as Mussel Rocks, it was renamed, in 1865, by government surveyor Henry Cox after the seaport town of Cowes on the Isle of Wight, England.

In fact, many of the town’s roads are named after other towns and villages on the Isle of Wight, the island that inspired Cowe’s as well as the town of Ventnor‘s names. A Post Office was opened here on August 1, 1869.

In recent years, Cowes, in the Gippsland region on the northern side of the island, has rapidly expanded in its size with many estates and apartments being built, on what was previously rural farmland, in and around the town. An estimated 70% of the houses here are owned by absentee owners, most of whom live in and around Melbourne.

An ideal base to explore Phillip Island’s many attractions, Cowes is 12 kms. from the famous Phillip Island Penguin Parade at Summerlands, 14 kms. from the scenic Nobbies rock formations and visitor center, 6 kms. from the Phillip island Grand Prix Circuit, 7 kms. from the Koala Conservation Centre and 9 kms. from the peaceful fishing village of Rhyll.

Cowes Beach

We were all dropped off at Thompson Avenue whose distinctive features are Golden Cypress trees (recognized by the National Trust of Australia), planted in the early 20th century, which lines the road for 1 km.

Walking further into commercial center of Cowes, the road began a gradual descent, terminating with a T-intersection at the waterfront. As we approached the waterfront, the density of restaurants, cafes, gift shops, hotels, supermarkets and general retail outlets, all catering to the busy holiday crowds, increased.

At the end of Thompson Avenue was the waterfront boulevard of The Esplanade and the attractive, not too crowded and well maintained Cowes foreshore which stretches between Mussel Rocks and Erehwon Point.

Cheska, Bryan and Kyle among the rock formations of Cowes Beach

The foreshore, consisting of wide expanses of lawn shaded by a mixture of native and cypress trees, complete with barbecue areas, picnic shelters and pathways, slopes down to the clean, sheltered, golden sand Cowes Beach whose inviting waters are popular with swimmers and families. Showers, changing rooms and toilets are all located close to the beach.

Nearby is the Cowes War Memorial, a granite memorial obelisk erected in 1920 in memory of the 13 men of Phillip Island who made the supreme sacrifice in World War One. Names of the fallen from World War Two were added at a later date.

War Memorial

On the beach, opposite the Isle of Wight Hotel (which was built in 1870), is the Cowes Jetty.

Cowes Jetty

Built in 1870, it remains a focal point of the town. At its entrance is an outdoor café.

Its T-shaped jetty structure, the departure point for several ferries and tourist boat cruises, is also suitable for fishing.

Outdoor Cafe

Cowes: Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia.

How to Get There: Cowes is about a 2 hours’ drive, by road to the mainland via a bridge at San Remo, from Melbourne and can also be reached by coach, or passenger ferry from Stony Point on the Mornington Peninsula.

Nobbies Ocean Discovery Center – The Antarctic Journey (Melbourne, Australia)

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The Antarctic Journey

An immersive, dramatic and pedagogic exhibition, The Antarctic Journey, a joint venture between Phillip Island Nature Parks and WWF (one of the world’s largest and most experienced independent conservation organizations) Australia, is claimed to be the world’s first interactive virtual reality Antarctic experience.

Featuring over 159 sq. m. (1,700 sq. ft.) of digital high-definition screens showing footage of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica, this $5 million project was opened in December 2015.

Structured around an artificial interior landscape, it draws its inspiration from the geology of this spectacular site and the incredible forces of wind and water that define this place.  The exhibition provokes questions about our natural world and the life of the southern oceans.

Here, I immersed myself in a spectacular multimedia wildlife experience as I embarked on a virtual journey to Antarctica, the world’s most extreme continent.

I enjoyed its fun, hands-on activities designed to entertain and educate.  Consisting of three distinct levels, the first level features Phillip Island as the gateway to Antarctica, although the island is almost 4,000 kms. (2,500 mi.) away from Antarctica.

At the second level, known as The Lab, I was able to “feel the freeze” as I entered the Antarctic Chill Zone, experiencing the same sort of conditions as an Antarctic researcher.

The Antarctic Chill Zone

Questions such as “What is more likely to sink – a bowling ball or a marble?,” “What is the Cocktail Party Effect?,” “How does my thermal image compare to an Emperor penguin?” and more are  answered by an array of hands on activities, ensuring that the unique wildlife, the ongoing research activities and the critically important conservation values of remote Antarctica come alive to guests.

At the Sound Lab and Research Station, I was offered an insight into the sights and sounds of Antarctic wildlife through animal calls, microscopes and fascinating specimens.

Sound Lab and Research Station

The unique wildlife, ongoing research activities, and the critically important conservation values of this remote continent, with the remarkable Antarctic landscape as the backdrop, came alive before my eyes.

The author at The Chamber

At The Chamber, the final, state of the art multimedia experience, I found myself blown away by the screen as I was enthralled by a breathtaking audio-visual spectacle which placed me right in the heart of the action level via cutting-edge “augmented reality” technology.

Whale Migration Game

I found myself able to stand on an ice floe and feel like I can reach out to pat a penguin, stroke a seal or marvel at a whale or shark, all of which appear on the screen with me, this up close and personal experience making me feel part of it all.

I felt that the animals were real and I can’t even imagine how they made the “augmented reality” screen. This complete immersion can only be described by me as stunning and breathtaking.

Nobbies Ocean Discovery Centre: Ventnor Road, Summerlands 3922, Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. Open 10 AM daily and closes approximately one hour before sunset each day to protect the native wildlife – approx. 4 PM (Winter), approx.5 PM (Autumn), approx. 6 PM (Spring) and approx. 7.30 PM (Summer). Admission (include daily guided tours, 11 AM, 1 PM and 3 PM): $18.00 (adult, 16 years+), $9.00 (child, 4-15 years), $45.00 (family – 2 adults and 2 children) and $12.60 (Australian Pensioner, ID required). A proportion from each Antarctic Journey ticket sale will go towards WWF-Australia’s conservation work including Antarctic whale research. The 20 min. guided tours commence by the Ticketing Desk.

Phillip Island – The Nobbies Ocean Discovery Centre (Melbourne, Australia)

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Nobbies Ocean Discovery Center

After our visit to The Colonnades, we again boarded our coach for the short drive to  The Nobbies Ocean Discovery Centre for some snacks and toilet break. An ecotourism destination located at Point Grant, on the western tip of Phillip Island, the center is managed by the Phillip Island Nature Park.

Grace, Kyle and Jandy

Opened in April 1998 as the privately operated “Seal Rocks Sea Life Centre,” Stage one of the development, including the Nobbies Centre seen today, was completed at a cost of $13 million. Stage two, costing $50 million, included a 1.9 km. long undersea tunnel leading to an observation tower at Seal Rocks.

The center features educational displays, a cafe, a children’s play area, and a gift shop.

Nobbies Cafe

Overlooking Seal Rocks (1 km. offshore), Australia’s largest colony of fur seals (an estimated 16,000 seals inhabit the area), it currently attracts over 310,000 visitors per year (53% being international visitors). In 2014/15, the Nobbies and Phillip Island Nature Parks received a record 1.2 million visitors (with 58 percent being from overseas).

Gift shop

Inside Nobbies Café, we enjoyed a meal of fish and chips while enjoying the great view, from floor to ceiling windows, looking out to Bass Strait and Round Island.   The Nobbies Centre is also home to the exciting, interactive Antarctic Journey.

Bass Strait

Check out “Nobbies Center – The Antarctic Journey”

Outside the center, a network of boardwalks allows visitors to view The Nobbies, the seal colony, and The Blowhole.

The boardwalk

Round Island

Prior to our departure for The Penguin Parade, we observed and were enthralled by a hedgehog crawling at the center’s lawn area.

Hedgehog in the grass

Nobbies Ocean Discovery Centre: Ventnor Road, Summerlands 3922, Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. Open 10 AM daily and closes approximately one hour before sunset each day to protect the native wildlife – approx. 4 PM (Winter), approx.5 PM (Autumn), approx. 6 PM (Spring) and approx. 7.30 PM (Summer). The Nobbies Cafe closes approximately 30 minutes before the above closing times while the Gift Shop will remain open until the centre closes.

Phillip Island – The Colonnades (Melbourne, Australia)

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The Colonnades

After our Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park visit, we again boarded our coach for the 76.1 km (1-hour) drive, via S Gippsland Highway/M420 and M420, to the 900 m. long The Colonnades (also called Ocean Reach Beach), the western extension of Woolamai Surf Beach. Rock reefs in the surf form the boundary between the two beaches.

Check out “Phillip Island – Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park“

Facing southwest, it is bordered, in the west, by the red basalt cliffs of Forrest Caves. From the parking lot, it was a short walk down to the beach via a beach access boardwalk and stairs.  Visible along the beach are columnar basalt, unusual rock formation resembling organ pipes on the tall cliffs that gives The Colonnades its name.

Viewing deck overlooking the beach

Jandy, Bryan and Cheska at the beach access stairs

Each column, typical of the joints that form in a flow of basalt after it has solidified and as it cools, represents the depth of one lava flow. The column’s length is indicative of the thickness of the lava flow and the contraction of the solid rock produces cracks to form polygons.

Basalt columns along the tall cliffs

At the Colonnades, the basalt has been extensively altered (likely occurring soon after the basalt solidified and may have been caused by hydrothermal chemical processes), is crumbly and soft and has a soft and pale texture, showing onion skin weathering in places. Nevertheless, although the face of the cliff is regularly falling onto the beach and being washed away, it still retains the original columnar texture.

The author at the beach

The exposed, high energy beach, used by surfers and fishers, isn’t suitable for safe bathing. If bathing here, don’t expect a few gentle waves. Use extreme care, stay close inshore and on the bar, and clear of the rips, rocks and reefs.

A surfer taking to the waves

The reefs and high waves ensure potentially good left and right breaks along this section. Waves here average 1.5 m., with strong rips dominating the wide surf zone, with permanent rips against the reefs.  The permanent rip holes, against the rocks and reefs, can be fished from the beach.

A lone surfer challenging the waves

A hidden gem tucked away out of sight but very accessible, The Colonnades is good to visit any time (but best at low tide) and is truly nature at its best. The cliffs and the beach were amazing for photography.

My family exploring the beach

The Colonnades: 85 Veterans Dr, Newhaven, Phillip Island, Victoria 3925, Australia.

How to Get There: From Phillip Island Rd., at the township of Cape Woolamai, turn into Woolamai Beach Rd and then into Lantana Rd to the right (west) which heads south-west to The Colonnades. There is plenty of parking at the end of the road. The beach is accessible in the east by the road beside the airfield, and in the west via Forrest Caves.

Phillip Island – Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park (Melbourne, Australia)

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Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park

After our Brighton Bathing Boxes visit, we again boarded our coach for the 48.3 km. (45-min.) drive, via the M11, to the 10-hectare (25-acre) Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park, crossing over to Phillip Island via the 640 m. (2,100 ft.) long San Remo Bridge (opened in 1971).  We arrived at the park by 1:15 PM.

Check out “Brighton Bathing Boxes“

Jandy, Cheska, Kyle and Bryan at the park entrance

Show arena

The Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park is a biopark within the Pearcedale Conservation Park located on the Mornington Peninsula near Melbourne. It aims to display the fauna that was found in the Mornington Peninsula and Western Port Biosphere Reserve, prior to European settlement, as well as working towards the recovery of threatened Australian fauna.

As part of Pearcedale Conservation Park, the sanctuary is an institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA) and is ECO Certified, at the Ecotourism level, by Ecotourism Australia.

A dingo

In December 1998, development of the zoo started with construction of a visitor center, a 0.81 hectare (2-acre) wetland habitat with a lake, and more than 30 animal enclosures, as well as many Australian trees and other plants. The zoo was opened in September 2001.

Cape Barren Geese

Over 400 animals kept at the Sanctuary, representing over 60 different species, call the sanctuary home. They include spot-tailed quolls, southern bettongs, squirrel gliders, long-nosed potoroo, red-bellied pademelon, spinifex hopping mouse, fat-tailed dunnart, brush-tailed bettong, red-necked wallaby, feathertail glider, sugar glider, Tasmanian masked owl, tawny frogmouth, Cape Barren goose, bush thicknee, Victorian carpet python, blue-tongue lizard, and Gippsland water-dragon.

Bush-Stone Curlew

Moonlit has successfully bred a number of rare and endangered species including southern bettong (AKA eastern bettong) and the eastern quoll, both now extinct on the mainland and only found in the wild in Tasmania;  Julia Creek dunnart; fluffy glider (yellow-bellied glider) and squirrel glider.

Orange-Bellied Parrot Conservation Breeding Facility

In 2016 it opened a new breeding facility for the critically endangered orange-bellied parrots, designed to house up to 20 pairs. It operates education services for school children, and provides research facilities for graduate students.

Gang-Gang Cockatoo

Moonlit Sanctuary has won a number of awards such as:

  • Victorian Keep Australia Beautiful Award for Preservation of the Environment with an emphasis on local fauna and flora (2009)
  • Victorian Tourism Award for Ecotourism (2010)
  • Victorian Tourism Award for Ecotourism (2014)
  • Premier’s Sustainability Award for Environmental Protection (2017) – for their Orange-bellied Parrot Breeding for Recovery program.
  • Victorian Tourism Award for Ecotourism (2018)
  • Victorian Tourism Award for Tourism Attraction (2018)
  • Silver for Ecotourism (Australian Tourism Awards, 2018)

Major Mitchell Cockatoo

At the entrance, we bought seeds for feeding the birds, kangaroos and wallabies because that is the only place where they sell them. Walking through natural bushland and, at the Kangaroo and Wallaby Rest Area, Bryan, Kyle and I came into close contact with the abovementioned animals in their natural habitats as we fed them and observed their natural behavior.

Kyle feeding a bird

The author feeding a kangaroo

We had a great deal of fun hand feeding and petting the adorable, freely roaming kangaroos and wallabies, doing selfies with them, as well as seeing colorful birds in aviaries and other Australian animals such as wombats, koalas and dingoes up close. Too bad we weren’t able to pet and feed the koalas, Still.it was totally worth the trip

Bryan feeding a wallaby

The park wasn’t very big but it did have a nice range of native Australian animals. The friendly, very enthusiastic and knowledgeable caretakers, passionate about their charges, really enjoyed their work here and the animals were clearly loved and well cared for.

A cute koala

Moonlit Sanctuary was a different visitor experience from a normal zoo visit as we spent longer periods of time with a small number of animals, getting up close and personal with them.

Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo

Pacific Black Duck

Truly, an exceptional introduction to native Australian species in a tranquil sanctuary and a memorable part of our time in Melbourne.

Gift Shop-Restaurant

Moonlit Sanctuary Conservation Park:  550 Tyabb-Tooradin Rd., Pearcedale, Victoria 3912, Australia. Website: www.moonlitsanctuary.com.au. Open daily (except on Christmas Day).

Brighton Bathing Boxes (Melbourne, Australia)

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Brighton Beach Boxes

On our third day in Melbourne, Cheska booked a Philip Island Day Tour for us.  After breakfast at our apartment, we were all picked up at 11 AM, at a pick up point near our apartment, by Sophia, our Go West tour guide cum coach driver.  After all the other participants were all picked up, we were on our way by 11:50 AM.

One house for the affluent at the Esplanade community

The first destination in our itinerary, a 13 km./20-min. drive away, was trendy Brighton Beach (actually called Dendy Street Beach) along Port Philip Bay where we were to visit the iconic Brighton Bathing Boxes, a row of 82 (it’s recorded that before the Great Depression, there were between 100 to 200 boxes on record) distinctive, multi-colored and uniformly proportioned wooden beach huts lining the foreshore of one of Melbourne’s most exclusive and affluent neighborhoods.

Brighton Beach

One of the most photographed spots in the city, these boxes do have a lot of history behind them and they still retain their charm and classic architectural features to this very day.  They were built more than 100 years ago when Australians were a little more modest in response to very Victorian ideas of morality and seaside bathing.  These boxes, made from timber frames, weatherboard sidings and corrugated iron roofing, were used by women for privacy when changing into their swimwear.

Some of the 82 colorful Bathing Boxes

In keeping with their classic 1800’s Victorian architectural features and style, even today, the boxes don’t have running water or electricity. Despite their lack of modern conveniences and the laws against camping in them, what the Brighton Bathing Boxes lack in amenities, they make up for in incredible views of Port Phillip Bay and towards the Melbourne city skyline. That view comes with a price tag. It is rare for the existing boxes to hit the market as they are tightly held and often passed down through generations.

According to Sophia, Brighton Bathing boxes can only be sold to locals living in the Bayside area.  There are also strict rules outlining what the boxes can (and cannot) be used for. Owners cannot sleep in them or use them for advertising purposes.

The much photographed Bathing Box painted with the Australian flag

They cannot also be rented out to others. Today, these colorful timber boxes are used for storing fishing gear, deck chairs and sheltering from the sun on a scorching day at the beach. In 2017, a Brighton Bathing Box did hit the market and it sold for a jaw-dropping $326,000 (AUD) to a local resident.

The author with Kyle and Grace beside a Beach Box

Each of the pastel painted Brighton Bathing Boxes had its own unique characteristic, all with vibrant colors that pop, and bearing the hallmarks of individual licensees’’ artistic and colorful embellishments. Box No. 2, which features the Australian Flag, seem to be the most popular as visitors, both local and international, queued up for photos outside of it during our short visit.

A pair of seagulls frolicking along the beach

Other designs include a boxing kangaroos (Australia’s unofficial sporting mascot), a space invader, a Katsushika Hokusai-inspired blue-and-white wave box and another with a Volkswagen van declaring that “Life’s a Beach.”  An eye-popping contrast to the turquoise waters of the ocean, you’ll have to walk the entire length of the beach to see each of them.

Jandy queuing for ice cream (AUD7) at an ice cream truck

Brighton Bathing Boxes: Esplanade, Middle Brighton (between Wellington Street and Dendy Street). 

How to Get There: the easiest way to get to get there is to take a train from the Flinders Street Station, on the Sandringham Line, to Middle Brighton. Though it doesn’t stop at the beach, it is closer to the Brighton Bathing Boxes than the Brighton Beach station (unless you fancy a longer, 1.3-km. walk along the beach). From the station, it’s about a 1.2-km./15-min. walk to the beach.  To guide your way, there are shops along the way as well as blue plaques with the beach boxes on them. If you’re travelling by car, you can park close to the beach. If you are getting there by bus, take the 216 or the 219 bus from Melbourne’s Central Business District.

 

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/.

 

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.