Category Archives: PLACES OF INTEREST

Parliament Garden Reserve (Melbourne, Australia)

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Parliament Garden Reserve

This small triangular park, beside Parliament House and Spring and Albert Streets, is a pleasant respite at the Spring Street end of town, with views of the Royal Parliamentary House, the Old Synagogue, Eastern Hill and St Patrick’s Cathedral. This grassed reserve, originally part of the Parliament House grounds, is enclosed by a wrought iron fence and surrounded by majestic palm trees and lush foliage.  Here, it’s very easy to forget that you’re literally in the city center.

Check out “Royal Parliamentary House“

Garden entrance

One of the garden’s main features is a life-size memorial in bronze, created by Louis Laumen, to Pastor Sir Douglas Nicholls (the pastor of Australia’s first Aboriginal Church of Christ, he is the first aboriginal person to be knighted in 1972) and Lady Gladys Nicholls (Australia Aboriginal activist). Two of Australia’s most prominent indigenous leaders and traditional owners, it reminds visitors of their contribution to aboriginal welfare.

Pastor Sir Douglas and Lady Gladys Nicholls Memorial

Memorial plaque

The unusual Coles Fountain, a gift from the G.J. Coles Co., Ltd., a retailing company, was opened on November 27, 1981 by premier of Victoria L.H.S. Thomson.  A pleasant experience on a hot Melbourne day, you can walk inside the curtains of cascading water, cool off in the spray and not get soaked (not unless you want to anyway).

Bryan, Cheska and Kyle at The Coles Fountain

Made of stainless steel on bluestone paving, this series of cascading fountains resemble water balloons in full blast. In 2011, it was refurbished to use recycled water (in the past, it drew water from the city’s mains), an initiative of Melbourne’s Lord Mayor, Robert Doyle.

Parliament Garden Reserve: 489-531 Albert Street, East Melbourne Victoria 3002.

World Heritage Environs Area Precinct (Melbourne, Australia)

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Rows of terrace houses along Nicholson Street

Nicholson Street is home to several Melbourne landmarks including Parliament House and the Princess Theatre, at its southern terminus, and the Royal Exhibition Building (REB) and the Melbourne Museum, both in Carlton Gardens, just to the north.  Adjacent to the REB and Carlton Gardens is the World Heritage Environs Area Precinct (WHEA), a precinct is of architectural and aesthetic significance as it retains substantially intact nineteenth century streetscapes, particularly on Nicholson Street (north of Gertrude Street), the south side of Gertrude Street, Carlton Street, and Rathdowne Street north of Pelham Street.

Check out “Royal Exhibition Building,” “Melbourne Museum” and “Carlton Gardens”

It incorporates important and intact areas of residential, commercial and institutional development within the early Melbourne suburbs of Carlton and Fitzroy, and institutional development in the northern area of Melbourne’s Central Business District.

The precinct is home to a number of terrace rows dating from the later nineteenth century. Melbourne’s flat terrain has produced regular terraced house patterns and the generic Melbourne style of terrace is distinguishable from other regional variations.

Many Melbourne terraces, featuring a unique style of polychrome brickwork heavily influenced by the early work of local architect Joseph Reed, are often highly detailed (though in many terraces this distinctive feature has been later painted or rendered over, although some have since been sandblasted or stripped back), incorporating decorative cast iron (Melbourne has more decorative cast iron than any other city in the world) balconies (of the filigree style).

Rather than built to the property line, Melbourne-style terrace houses are often set back from the street, providing a small front yard with decorative cast-iron fencing, regularly dispersed with rendered brick piers.  The party wall of the end terraces would, sometimes, but not always, extend to the property line to join the fence.

Due to their proximity to the CBD, terraced houses in Melbourne are highly sought after and are often expensive, much like terraces in New York City.

The Royal Terrace (50–68 Nicholson Street Fitzroy, VHR H0172), the oldest surviving complete row and one of the largest and best known early terrace building surviving in Melbourne, was started in 1853 and completed in 1857, three years after the Glass Terrace (72–74 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, 1853–54), the earliest surviving terraced house in the city.

Royal Terrace

This row of ten completely intact terrace houses, erected by the Bryant family (who also maintained a residence at No. 68) to a unique design attributed to colonial artist John Gill, epitomizes early terrace house design in Melbourne with its austere classical decoration, simple composition, and extensive use of bluestone. It has housed notable figures such as politician and three-times Premier John O ‘Shanassy, and artist Nicholas Chevalier.

At the national level, it is significant for architectural and historical reasons as the most important terrace in Melbourne. An outstanding feature of the Nicholson Street precinct, it complements the nationally significant Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens located opposite.  Although modified over time, the flagstone paving, at the footpath in front of the terraces, is important as one of the few remaining examples of this once common 19th century paving in inner Melbourne. Laid when the terraces were built, it is perhaps the oldest such example.

Grantown House (82 Nicholson Street, c. mid-1850s) and Osborne House (40 Nicholson Street, c. 1850, VHR H1607) are significant examples of mid-nineteenth century residential development, and are also prominent buildings within the streetscape.

Grantown House

The two-storey Grantown House, an outstanding example of Victorian terrace house architecture and of considerable importance in the Nicholson Street streetscape, is of considerable interest for its unusual veranda joinery, very fine cast iron decoration, very elaborate door joinery, grand and richly detailed cast iron fence and the way in which the different eras of construction (the 1850s and the 1870s) are visible in the ornate façade.

Exhibiting notable creative and technical achievement, elaborate decoration are seen at the four urns on the piered and balustraded parapet, urns to the veranda walls, a row of bearded masks under the pediment, four delicate iron lace balconies under the top-floor windows and arched iron decoration to the two-storey verandas (a mixture of timber and iron). The columns and the spirals that edge them are timber. Although decaying, it still has elegance and presence amid the cracks, peeling paint and soot. It is currently a boarding house.

Osborne House

Osborne House, the oldest documented dwelling in this municipality and one of the oldest surviving in Melbourne, is a rare example of the Regency town house in Victoria. Its central section erected in 1850 by builder William Pelling for wealthy squatter John MacPherson, was acquired in 1887 by Melbourne merchant and speculator George Nipper who converted this private residence to a boarding house (operated for 93 years) via the construction of two flanking three storey wings with encircling iron verandas. The additions of this establishment (named Osborne House in the Jubilee Year of Victoria’s reign) are in the conservative Classical mode.

This notable brick structure, part of an important early Melbourne precinct which includes nearby ‘Royal Terrace and the Carlton Gardens, is essentially intact although minor alterations have been made to partition rooms or enclose external verandas. It had a variety of distinguished tenants including John A. MacPherson, Premier of Victoria in 1869 – 70.  Although the work is not positively attributed to important Melbourne architect Charles Webb, the transformation of 1887 is a characteristic work of his.

Other notable terrace houses within the precinct include Dalmeny House (21 Queensberry Street, c. 1888, VHR H0525), Cramond House (23 Queensberry Street, c. 1888, VHR H0482), the two-storey Elsmere Terrace (70 Drummond Street, 1882),  Elim House (18-20 Carlton Street), Annie Villa (22-24 Carlton Street) and Canning Terrace (46-50 Carlton Street).

Academy of Mary Immaculate

World Heritage Environs Area Precinct includes a number of key heritage buildings from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some of which are landmarks in their own right.  They include the Cable Tram Engine House, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Royal Society of Victoria Building, the Convent of Mercy, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Academy of Mary Immaculate Chapel.

Memorial chapel

The Academy of Mary Immaculate (88 Nicholson Street), the oldest Catholic school in  Victoria, was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1857. It has a collection of largely intact, elegant 19th century religious buildings, including two almost identical regency houses (erected in 1850 to designs by architects Newson and Blackburn for John Watson and Edward Wight, merchants in partnership), some of the earliest stone houses in Melbourne. Its sandstone memorial chapel, on the corner of Palmer and Nicholson Streets, was built in memory of Mother Ursula Frayne and dedicated on March 26, 1889.  It was designed by Reed Smart and Tappin (also responsible for the Convent of the Good Shepherd in Abbotsford).

Cable Tram Engine House

The former Cable Tram Engine House (1021-1029 Rathdowne Street and 440 Park Street Carlton North, Yarra City), built in 1889, consists of the brick engine house (designed by MTT architect Robert Gordon) built for the Melbourne Tramways Trust (MTT), located on the corner of Rathdowne and Park Streets, and the neighboring unadorned, utilitarian brick  car shed (designed by architect Frederick Williams) built for the Melbourne Tramway & Omnibus Company (MT&OC)

Royal Australasian College of Surgeons

The monumental Greek Revival-style Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Building (250-290 Spring Street and 2-40 Victoria Parade, VHR No. H0870), designed by architects Leighton Irwin and Roy Stevenson and built by J.C. Taylor, was opened in 1935. The east and west wings to the rear were added in 1963.

Royal Exhibition Building (Melbourne, Australia)

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Royal Exhibition Building

We took a break from our tour of the Melbourne Museum and proceeded to the foyer, with other tourists, to meet up with our guide for the 2 PM  tour of the adjacent Royal Exhibition Building (“the REB”), the largest item in Museum Victoria’s collection. It was drizzling when we crossed over to the other side.The building, sitting on 64 acres at the north-eastern edge of the central business district, is 150 m. long and is flanked by Victoria, Carlton and Rathdowne Streets.  When we arrived, the Great Hall was being set up for a scheduled exam, with desks being arranged.

Check out “Melbourne Museum” and “Carlton Gardens”

Here are some interesting trivia regarding this building:

  • It is the first building in Australia to be awarded UNESCO World Heritage status, being one of the last remaining major 19th-century exhibition buildings in the world.
  • The building is the largest design of Reed and Barnes Architecture.
  • When electric lighting was installed in 1888 for the Centennial International Exhibition, it became one of the first in the world that was accessible during night time.
  • It is the world’s most complete surviving site from the International Exhibition movement 1851–1914
  • The building is one of the world’s oldest remaining exhibition pavilions
  • When it was built, the Great Hall was the largest building in Australia, and the highest building in Melbourne.

Plaque Commemorating the Laying of the Foundation Stone

This building, built in 1879-80 as part of the international exhibition movement (between 1851 and 1915, it presented over 50 exhibitions around the globe), is representative of the money and pride Victoria had in the 1870s.

Plaque Commemorating the Centenary of the Melbourne Museum

Designed by architect Joseph Reed of Reed and Barnes Architecture (they also designed the Melbourne Town Hall, the State Library of Victoria and the Baroque style gardens), the Royal Exhibition Building is composed of brick, timber, steel and slate.

The building’s soaring dome

Its soaring dome was modeled on Brunelleschi’s dome at the 15th century Florence Cathedral while the main pavilions were influenced by the style of Rundbogenstil  (a round-arched architectural style combining elements from Byzantine, Romanesque, Lombardic and Italian Renaissance buildings) and several buildings from Normandy, Caen and Paris.

The building, with the scale of the French Beaux Arts, has a Latin cross-shaped cruciform plan.  The long, nave-like wings are symmetrically placed east-west about the central dome with a shorter wing to the north.

Grace and Jandy in front of the building

The building consists of a Great Hall, of over 12,000 sq. m., flanked by lower annexes to the north on the east and west sides, and many temporary galleries between.  The Great Hall, still in beautiful condition, is crowned by an octagonal drum and dome.

The Great Hall

The dome, rising 68 m. and 18.3 m. across, has a double shell and was formed using a cast iron and timber frame. There was a viewing platform around the dome that allowed visitors to survey the progress of the booming city.  Windows in the drum of the dome, at the crossing, bring in sunlight for a bright open space.

Our tour guide

The sober interior, painted in the color scheme of 1901, has murals.  The great dome, painted to represent the sky, has the words (surviving from 1888) “Victoria Welcomes All Nations” underneath plus four mottos suitable for a new nation: Dei gracia (“By the Grace of God”), Carpe diem (“Seize the Day”), Aude sapere (“Dare to be Wise”) and Benigno numine (“With Benign Power”). A frieze shows the products of agriculture and hints at the wealth of the new nation.

Pendentive: Hercules

Pendentive: Venus

At the pendentives are the mythological figures of Hercules, Venus, Mars and Mercury while on the arches are lunettes (half-moon shaped spaces where the arches meet cornices) rich with allegorical symbolism representing The Arts Applied to Peace in the north, The Arts Applied to War in the south, Federation (showing Britannia welcoming the six federated states as young women) at the west and Government (showings Knowledge enthroned, surrounded by figures representing the arts, education and defense) in the east.

Lunette: Arts Applied to Peace (North)

Lunette: Government (East)

Eight women, in draped costumes, symbolize the Four Seasons, Night and Morning, and Justice and Truth. Under the dome are plaster heads (including an Indigenous Australian, a Chinese man, and an Indian) from the first decorative scheme of 1880.

Lunette: Arts Applied to War (South)

Lunette: Federation (West)

Throughout the 20th century, smaller sections and wings of the building were subject to demolition and fire.  However, the main building, known as the Great Hall, survived.

Justice

Throughout the 1990s and in 2004, it received restoration. Renovations include the timber flooring, building services, externals, and stonework. For safety, most timber staircases have been replaced by concrete. Through all renovations though, the site has continued to be very authentic.

Truth

Here is the historical timeline of the building:

  • On December 1877, a completion was announced for the design of a suitable building for Melbourne’s proposed international exhibition. Eighteen entries were received and the winner was Joseph Reed
  • On February 19, 1879, the foundation stone was laid by Victorian governor George Bowen.
  • Built by David Mitchell (who also built Scots’ Churchand St Patrick’s Cathedral), it was completed in just 18 months.
  • On October 1, 1880, it was opened by the Marquess of Normanby, the governor, the Melbourne International Exhibition. The walls then were left bare and windows and door joinery colored green.
  • In 1885, an aquarium, museum and picture gallery was opened at eastern annex of the Exhibition Building.
  • On August 1, 1888, the building hosted the Centennial International Exhibition celebrating a century of European settlement in Australia. Its decoration was by interior designer John Ross Anderson (also known for the interior design of the ANZ ‘Gothic’ Bank) and the walls were painted for the first time.  The exhibition closed on January 31, 1889.
  • On May 9, 1901, following the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia on January 1, the formal opening of the first Parliament of Australia, witnessed by the Duke of Cornwall and York (later King George V) and 12,000 guests, was held there. After the official opening, the Federal Parliament moved to the Victorian State Parliament House. For the next 26 years, Victorian Parliament moved to the Exhibition Building.
  • In 1902, the building hosted the Australian Federal International Exhibition.
  • On February 4, 1919, the Exhibition Building was turned into a hospital to treat Melburnians struck down by the Spanish flu.
  • In 1948, via a vote by members of the Melbourne City Council, it was narrowly decided not to demolish the building.
  • In 1953, the wing of the building which once housed Melbourne Aquariumburnt down.
  • In 1956, it was a venue for the 1956 Summer Olympics, hosting the basketball, weightlifting, wrestling, and the fencing part of the modern pentathlon
  • In the 1970s, the western annex was demolished.
  • In 1979, the grand ballroom, the last remaining original annex, was demolished amid controversy.
  • On October 1, 1980 during a visit to Victoria, Princess Alexandraof Kent unveiled a plaque which commemorated both the opening of the new mirror-glass “Centennial Hall” (which replaced the grand ballroom) and the centenary of the building. She also unveiled a second plaque commemorating the bestowal of the title “Royal” on the building by Her Majesty the Queen.
  • In 1987, the first conservation assessment of the building was undertaken by Alan Willingham.
  • On July 1, 2004, the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens was granted listing as a World Heritage Site. The heritage listing states that “The Royal Exhibition Building is the only major extant nineteenth-century exhibition building in Australia. It is one of the few major nineteenth-century exhibition buildings to survive worldwide.”
  • In October 2009, Museum Victoria embarked upon a major project to restore the former German Garden (covered by asphalt in the 1950s for car parking) of the Western Forecourt.

Winter

Still in use today as a commercial exhibition venue, the Royal Exhibition Building hosts various exhibitions and other events on a regular basis such as the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. It is closely tied with events at the The Melbourne Museum which offers regular tours here.

The dome

The Royal Exhibition Building is also used as an exam hall for the University of Melbourne, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne High School, Nossal High School, Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School and Suzanne Cory High School.

However, the building is no longer Melbourne’s largest commercial exhibition centre. The Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, located in Southbank to the south of the Melbourne central business district, is the modern alternative.

Royal Exhibition Building: 9 Nicholson St. cor. Victoria Parade, Carlton Gardens, Melbourne 3053, Australia. Admission (purchased at Melbourne Museum): $10 (adults), $8 (concession) and $7 (child/member).  Tours may not run when the building is in use for certain events and exhibitions. Tel: 13 11 02.

Melbourne Museum (Australia)

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Jandy at Melbourne Museum

The Melbourne Museum, a natural and cultural history museum axially aligned with the adjacent Italianate Royal Exhibition Building (and referencing it, along with the skyscrapers of Melbourne’s central business district, with its monumental scale and protruding vertical facets), provides a place for education, history, culture and society to engage with each other in a contemporary setting.

Check out “Royal Exhibition Building“

The museum complex

A project of the Government of Victoria (on behalf of Museums Victoria who administrates the venue), it is a rich response to Melbourne’s urban condition and is now an important part of Melbourne’s soft infrastructure.

The is located on the site of the former Melbourne Exhibition Speedway (which operated from November 5, 1928 until March 7, 1936).

Here are some interesting trivia regarding the museum:

  • It is the largest museum in the Southern Hemisphere
  • The museum is also one of Victoria’s top 10 destinations for travelers
  • The museum is consistently ranked as one of the most popular museums and tourist attractions in Australia, winning ‘Best Tourist Attraction’ at the Australian Tourism Awards in 2011
  • Since 2016, it housed the world’s largest IMAXTheatre screen.
  • Melbourne Museum was one of the venues of Festival Melbourne 2006, a citywide art festival held in conjunction of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, which was held in Melbourne.
  • During the years 2010–2011, it received 1,428,238 visitors and, for that, received the RACV Award for major tourist attraction.
  • During 2010–2011, Melbourne Museum’s Science and Life gallery was honored with the Large Permanent Exhibition Award due to its outstanding design and flow.

Jandy and Kyle

The Melbourne Museum, a Post-Modernist building, was designed by Denton Corker Marshall Architects, who specializes in city planning and urban design, mainly concerns their practice with responding to social desires. One of Denton Corker Marshall’s award-winning projects, the sticks and blades that make up the Melbourne Museum are hallmarks of Denton Corker Marshall’s architecture.

Its construction was managed by Baulderstone Hornibrook.   Officially opened on October 21, 2000 by the Hon. Steve Bracks, the Premier of Victoria at the time, it was completed in 2001.

The museum building, arranged in an individual layout (referencing Melbourne’s iconic Hoddle Grid, which allows the importance of each component of the buildings historical, cultural and social significance to be read in loosely equal hierarchy and individuality), features a grid-like order that embraces eccentric metal clad forms extruding out and creating an irregular sculptural composition with moments of abstract color throughout the building.

The building, dissected into different spaces (so an individual can navigate through and around the building in an orthogonal manner), was designed as both a single building and a network of individual buildings integrated into the landscape of the Carlton Gardens, a large public park.

Check out “Carlton Gardens“

The two very long and very high, sloping canopies (or blades), each acting to guide visitors from the street into the museum, are the most prominent element of the building, rising up from the centrally placed entrance opposite the north door of the Royal Exhibition Building. Another larger blade-like roof, on the northern side of the building, rises up from the center to the north, a landmark of similar scale to the central Florentine dome of the Royal Exhibition building.

Beside the main entrance is a prototype, constructed in 1947, of a CAC (Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation) delivery van.

A florist delivery van called the CAC Deliverette

A 3.86 m. high statue of Mercury, modeled by sculptor and painter C. Douglas Richardson, was inspired by Giambologna‘s bronze statue, made in Florence in 1580. Made of 20 pieces of beaten copper which were riveted together and cast by W.H. Rooke of Melbourne, circa 1899, it was donated to the museum by David Syme & Co. Ltd. On April 14, 1997.

Bronze statue of Mercury

Suspended over the entrance foyer is the full scale replica of John Duigan‘s 1910 biplane (the first Australia-built airplane to fly), built by Ronald Lloyd Lewis between 1984 and 1995, and donated to the museum in 1999.

Duigan Biplane Replica

Outside the main galleries are various displays relating to Victoria’s and Australia’s history, including CSIRAC (an early computer built in Australia) and a large, articulated skeleton of a pygmy blue whale at the Main Foyer.

Skeleton of Pygmy Blue Whale

At the Upper Level Balcony are some wind turbine models. A wind turbine model, commissioned by Pacific Hydro Limited, Melbourne, circa 2001, and was made in Denmark.

Wind Tubine Model

This model, based on contemporary wind turbines that were installed in Victoria during the early 2000s, is 5.5 m. high, has a rotor diameter of 4 m. and  is powered by a small electric motor.  Its white pole supports 3 white slimline blades.

Another windmill model, modeled on the Baker Run-in-Oil type (“Oilbath” is painted on the vane) steel windmill (first made in 1923), was made by William McCook, 1970-1990, and was constructed from metal with a rotating wheel and vane.

Federation Tapestry. L-R: “Making Do”(2001) and “Now Exploration & Settlement Underway” (2001)

The almost 41 m. long Federation Tapestry, created by 22 artist-weavers who spent an estimated 20,000 hours at their looms) from the internationally acclaimed Victorian Tapestry Workshop (renamed the Australian Tapestry Workshop in 2010), South Melbourne, was commissioned to mark the centenary of Australia’s Federation.

L-R: “Alone in the Bush”” (Reg Mombassa, 2001) and “Ngak Ngak in Limmen Bight Country” (2001)

The images, in 10 panels, range from Aboriginal dream time legends to a solitary shepherd in the bush with his sheep and dog, from the clamor and rejoicing that marked Federation in 1901 to the enigmatic ‘Sorry’ etched across the sky above the sails of the Sydney Opera House in the year 2000.

Federation Handbells

The beautifully crafted Federation Handbells, originally commissioned by Arts Victoria for the 2001 Centenary of Federation, are the world’s first true harmonic bells. Cast in silicon bronze, each set of bells have a unique design and pitch, covering two chromatic piano octaves (from E to E). Played by striking them with a mallet, the bells can be played in the style of a xylophone by a single musician controlling a set of bells, or each musician can play one bell. Ranging in size from 120 to 180 mm. high, they have an average weight of 1kg. each.

Dinosaur Walk

The 384 sq. m. Science and Life Gallery, at the west end, showcases six exhibitions – Bugs Alive, Marine Life, Dinosaur Walk, Wild: Amazing Animals in a Changing World, 600 Million Years and Dynamic Earth

Tarbosaurus bataar

The Dinosaur Walk, one of the highlights, houses a skeleton of a Diprotodon (a giant wombat-like creature) and skeletons of  10 dinosaurs such as the Tarbosaurus (Giant meat eater, Tyrannosauridae), Mamenchisaurus (Giant sauropod), Tsintaosaurus, Hadrosaurid, Pteranodon, Gallimimus and Hypsilophodon, 3 pterosaurs, one mammal-like reptile and Australian megafauna.

Wild – Amazing Animals in a Changing World

Wild: Amazing Animals in a Changing World, a permanent exhibit, presents the fragile state of Australian biodiversity, environment, and climate through the display of more than 750 animal specimens, in a spectacular vertical array, from around the world from a natural history collection, arranged in a striking theatrical style, interactive and can be viewed from many angles. It also examines how they are affected by climate change and human activity, and what we can do to help them.

Amazing Animals of Eurasia and North America

Here, we saw the wildlife (birds, reptiles, mammals and amphibians) of Victoria’s unique environments displayed by biogeographic regions. On the panoramic navigators, we looked up each animal and saw which animals are thriving and which are merely surviving and learn what you can do to help them. We also learned about the migration of shorebirds over thousands of kilometers as they move between their feeding and nesting grounds

Sam the Koala

On permanent display in Wild are a Malleefowl nest, the Murray Cod (the Murray river’s biggest resident) and the taxidermied mount of Sam the Koala, a a female koala from the forests of Mirboo North and symbol of the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009.

Marine Life- Exploring Our Seas

The Marine Life: Exploring our Seas Exhibit shows the wonderful life of marine Victoria and covers how Victoria’s marine creatures use camouflage, speed, poisons and spines to evade predators. Here, we investigate underwater ecosystems, inspect animal adaptations, explore marine habitats such as stunning sponge gardens and vibrant seagrass beds, and examine sharks jaws and a giant 10 m. long squid.

10 meter long squid

The 600 Million Years: Victoria Evolves Exhibit, opened in 2010, depicts the origins of Life in Victoria through fossils, models, animatronics (such as an animatronic Qantassaurus, a small dinosaur that lived in Victoria some 120 million years ago) and animations (shows how these animals moved, ate and battled to survive). Things that can be touched include the teeth of a giant shark, the skeleton of Archaeopteryx, and a sea floor that ended up high in the Grampian Mountains.

600 Million Years – Victoria Evolves

Starting with the explosion of life in the sea, you’ll see multicellular life, extraordinary body forms that have no living ancestors today, and early forms of ancient groups like crinoids, bryozoans and cephalopods. Next, we follow the evolution of life as it moved from sea to land and then diversified into the mammals, reptiles, birds and plants we know today.  We also learn about the geological processes that moved landmasses, built mountains and transformed rocks.

Deserts and Ice

Rocks and fossils show how the climate of Victoria has changed, from glacial to tropical and everything between, and the effects of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65.5 million years ago.

Sandstone (Grampian Ranges – Silurian)

Fossils and specimens from the museum’s collections include irreplaceable skulls of giant megafauna, early whales and marsuipials long-gone from Australia’s mainland and some more prehistoric animals such as the Muttaburrasaurus, Tiktaalik and Anomalocaris.

Bugs Alive

The Bugs Alive! Exhibition, created in 2004, showcases the roles and life-cycles of the the invertebrates, a critically important animal group.  It features 50 living displays with an even greater number of species.

The Melbourne Gallery, at the east end, exhibits the mounted hide of Phar Lap, a beautiful chestnut gelding and race horse that won 37 races from 51 starts in 3 years, including the Melbourne Cup, during the depression era.

Phar Lap

The Melbourne Story explores the history of Melbourne and Victoria from the time of earliest contact between white settlers and local Indigenous people during early 19th century through to present day.

Little Lon, a predominantly working class area, was characterised by a series of laneways, with small properties packed together creating crowded and unsanitary conditions.

The museum is also custodian of artifacts excavated from ‘Little Lon’ is an inner-city block in Melbourne bordered by Lonsdale, Exhibition, Little Lonsdale and Spring Streets. The city’s “Red Light District,” Little Lon was also home to the city’s poorest residents and recently arrived immigrants from Ireland, Italy, China and Syria.

Model of the SS Orcades, an ocean liner serving primarily the UK – Australia – New Zealand route

The Mind and Body Gallery, a gallery regarding the human body, is the world’s first exhibition about the mind. The “Mind: Enter the Labyrinth,” a permanent exhibition, explores how the mind works and offers ways to understand such illnesses as bipolar disorder and depression.

The Ames room is a neat illusion because it can be instantiated in real space, as has been done in numerous science museums

“Empathy booths” show videos of actors performing real-life stories prepared by SANE, a mental-health advocacy group. Among its 300 exhibits are artworks, on loan from the Cunningham Dax psychiatric art collection, which include paintings by a 16-year-old girl, completed just before she committed suicide.

Mind and Body Gallery

The Evolution Gallery, at the upper level, features the exhibition “Darwin to DNA” which shows the roles of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in developing the theory of evolution. Displayed in historical showcases are actual animal specimens, that they collected, which helped them interpret evolutionary processes and patterns. The photos and specimens also illustrate conditions necessary for evolution, making youl consider how evolution acts upon genetic mutations.

Cunningham Dax psychiatric art collection

DNA evidence, which challenges previous notions of the uniqueness of humans and the concept of race and helps us examine the relationships between species, is also highlighted by this exhibition.

Forest Gallery

The Forest Gallery, the centerpiece of the museum building, is a living temperate Victorian forest environment, complete with hundreds of living plants and live animals such as birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates and other fauna.

This massive living and breathing exhibition, offering a window into the tall forests of eastern Victoria, is home to the ongoing Forest Secrets exhibition which examines the agents of change within the forests.

Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre

The Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, planned in collaboration with many Aboriginal people, including the traditional owners of Melbourne (the Boonwurrung and the Woi wurrung), includes galleries with exhibitions by and about the Koorie people and other Aboriginal peoples of Victoria.

Bunjilaka Welcome Rug

At the foyer/reception area is the amazing Bunjilaka Welcome Rug designed by artist Vicki Couzens to provide a focus and gathering point for welcoming visitors to Bunjilaka. The design symbolizes the pathway that people take to gather for a ceremony, dance or song.

Wurreka (Judy Watson)

Spanning the north wall of Birrarung Gallery and surrounding the entry to First Peoples is Wurreka, a zinc wall of 74 etched panels, each reflecting imagery from Aboriginal cultural heritage and landscapes of Victoria, designed by Waanyi artist Judy Watson from Queensland.

Te Pasifika Gallery

From the First Peoples gallery is the light filled Te Pasifika Gallery, a bright soaring space. This exhibition, which highlights the history and finely carved water crafts of Pacific island nations including Fiji, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Solomon Islands and Aotearoa (New Zealand), was developed in collaboration with the Pacific Island Advisory Group and community members in 1997 and was opened in 2001.

Here, we gaze up at the life-size crab claw sails, containing motifs of Melanesia in the north east, Micronesia in the North and Polynesia in the South East, created by the Victorian Pacific Island Council and community, and walk underneath exquisite canoes from Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Niue and the Marquesas Islands.

Te Pasifika Gallery

The Pauline Gandel Children’s Gallery, housings exhibitions aimed at 3 to 8 year olds, combines hands-on exploration and discovery, open-ended play-based learning, extraordinary immersive environments and unique museum collection objects.

Te Pasifika Gallery

The Touring Hall, where international touring exhibitions are displayed, has, in the past, exhibited “A Day In Pompeii” (June 26 to October 25, 2009, Melbourne Museum’s most popular temporary exhibition), “Hatching the Past: Dinosaur Eggs and Babies’ (May 30, 2008 to August 24, 2008), “The Great Wall of China: Dynasties, Dragons and Warriors” (March 23, 2007 to July 22, 2007), “Spirit of the Games: The Opening Ceremony Revealed” (March 18 to July 23, 2006) and “Dinosaurs from China” (2005).

Museum Market Cafe

In addition to its galleries, the museum also features the free Discovery Centre, a cafe (Museum Market Cafe), a souvenir shop (Museum Shop) and an IMAX Theatre screen showing movies and documentary films in large-screen 3-D format.

Museum Shop

Melbourne Museum: 11 Nicholson St., Carlton Gardens, 3053 Melbourne, Australia. Open daily, 10 AM – 5 PM (closed Good Friday and Christmas Day).

 

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.