A day in Melbourne

I still have a few blogs to write about New Zealand but before I forget I need to write one on Melbourne.  Otherwise this brief interlude will be forgotten or seem so unreal I will think that I just dreamed about being in Melbourne.

The temperature reached 34 degrees today, and certainly hotter than the warmest days in New Zealand.  We appreciated being in the airconditioned buildings.

We started the day, with a small breakfast at our airport motel, then set off.  We first caught a bus outside the motel, which took us on a free but fast and whizzy ride to Broadmeadows, where we caught our train to Melbourne.  First we had to buy a Myki card, with some money on it, in order to use the train and buses. 

Walter standing on the platform, looking cool and ready for the day.

We arrived at Melbourne Central Station, and decided to take a free tram down Swanston Street.  Unfortunately we were a little brain addled and went the opposite way, outside the free zone, which meant we had to use our Myki cards.  This meant we did not have enough credit on our cards to get the bus back to the motel.

The stunning ceiling at Melbourne Central Station.

Our destination was a cafe, anywhere which sold good coffee. And we found one in City Square, which also sold excellent Italian cakes.

The outdoor cafe came with pigeons and sparrows who fought over every little crumb that was dropped.  Probably not very hygenic.  But interesting all the same.

A busy Swanston Street.  Not like the streets of Invercargill, New Zealand.

Melbourne is such a cosmopolitan city, with excellent venues.  A very prosperous city.  We were especially impressed with the number of interesting restaurants and food outlets.  A real foodie city.

A street of tables and small restaurants.

Our first destination was the Immigration Museum on Flinders Street, in order to see if we could find Walter's name.  And amazingly we did too, although it took a bit of searching through the lists of people who came out on the Fairsea in March 1953.

 The people who wrote the lists were not always familiar with writing foreign names.   And when the family went through immigration in Australia they were put under the name of van Dam to make it easier, and then they were sent by train to a dreadful migrant camp in Bonagilla.  What a shock it must have been for Walter's mother and stepfather.

Walter standing on the steps of the Immigration museum.  The building was once the Customs House.

I tried to photocopy the printout but it was too fuzzy, but the list is as follows:  Van Dam, Cornelis H, den Boer (Walter's mother's maiden name), Jeremina P, Van Halderen, Rudolf, foster child (of Cornelis), Van Halderen, Walter, foster child (of Cornelis), Van Dam, Adrianus W.

The room where we used the computer to search the shipping lists.

The building was beautiful.  One of the long corridors.

A replica of bunk accommodation underneath the deck of a sailing ship that bought people to Australia.  There was one bunk per family, no matter how large the family.  It was dark, damp and very smelly.  Before 1850 they were called Coffin Ships due to the high number of deaths among the passengers.

The bunk accommodation on ships during the 20th century was much improved although Walter thought the display looked to be luxury accommodation compared to what he remembered on the Fairsea.  Men and women were put into separate accommodation.  He spent the voyage in a large male dormitory with Rudolf and his stepfather.  His mother's female dormitory was even larger.

After the museum we walked along Flinders Street, up Spencer Street, and onto Collins Street, where we found an upmarket food court.  Walter ordered pizza and I ordered beef stew with roast vegetables.  Excellent food.  We then found a little boutique cafe where we happily drank our strong espressos.  A contented couple of people.

A narrow building on the north of Flinders Street.

We backtracked to Spencer Street so that we could cross over to the North Bank, where there had been a massive building programme.  A very new project.

Looking south across the Yarra River.  A very different skyline to what Walter remembers when he worked in Melbourne in the 1960s.

The old railway bridge, now a walkway over the river.

We caught the free tram, number 35, which does a circular trip around the city.  The old trams are used for this purpose, and there is a recorded commentary which highlights the points of interest.  The trams are not airconditioned so it was a very warm trip.  However it was a fascinating journey, and certainly much easier than walking.  We were pleased that we had not walked around the renovated Docklands area, as it was huge.

When in Europe we are always fascinated by the couples who travel to all the main landmarks in a country so that they can get their photographs taken in their wedding finery.  And it would appear that Australia and New Zealand are also popular destinations for the wedding photos.  The best one we saw on this trip was the couple in New Zealand, standing on hay bales, with a back drop of mountains.

A couple standing on the steps of parliament in Melbourne.

Finally back to Flinders Railway Station in order to catch the train back to Broadmeadows.

Luckily there was enough credit on our Myki cards to catch the train but we ignored the 'top up your card' message when we used it on the bus home.  Luckily there were no bus inspectors about.

Although a very unreal day, it was still a fascinating experience.