14th to 16th Melbourne

I have a late start the next day, tired from the hectic schedule of the previous few days. A bit of a wander around St Kilda, where I'm staying in a pretty nice hostel. St Kilda is shabby gentile and reminds me of run-down English sea side resorts. However the sun's shining and it's pretty warm so it probably wins there! There's a small theme park next to the beach which isn't particularly special- the main draw seems to be the incredible cake shops of Acland street. I spend a couple of hours on the beach and swim.
Next day is even hotter reaching 33 degrees. I hit Federation Square by tram- the centre of the city and CBD. Federation Square was created not so long ago as a central point to the city and the jostling architecture of Arts centres, cathedrals and high rises is spectacular. I take a swim at the rather fancy city baths then wander through part of the botanical gardens past the Shrine of Remembrance and all the way back to St Kilda which takes an hour and for which it's much too hot really!

 

It's a scorcher to start again and I'm up a little earlier to try and avoid frying. A tram in and I join the tour of the Shrine of Remembrance, a War memorial, the central point is designed to bit hit by a shaft of sunlight at 11am, Nov 11th which passes across a slightly sunken marble inscription.
Picnic lunch by a lake in the Botanical Gardens which really are a lovely place so close to the city centre. Then to the Immigration museum which is quite interesting- there are loads of individual stories- but very sad when it tells about child immigration to Australia.
Leaving the museum the temperature's dropped by 10 degrees and a thunderstorm is in progress! I think Melbourne's weather is quite famously unpredictable.