Melbourne

Australia is a vast country, about the size of the continental U.S. In fact, it is the only country that occupies an entire continent. But most of the population is concentrated along it's east coast, to the east of the Great Dividing Range. On the other side of that mountain range, the population of the Outback is very sparse.

One thing that Australians are known for is their sense of fairness, making sure that everyone has a "fair go". Another thing that Australians are known for is their friendly sense of humor. If Australians make a joke about you, unlike with many other people, it means that they like you.

Melbourne is the second-largest city in Australia, after Sydney. It is in the far south of Australia and was long the most important city in the country. It hosted the 1956 Olympics, and is today growing faster than Sydney. Melbourne is the real "cultural capital" of Australia, representative of what Australia is all about. Unlike Sydney, Melbourne was founded by free settlers and did not start as a penal colony.

Victoria State is centered on Melbourne, while Sydney is the major city of the state of New South Wales. Like Sydney, Melbourne grew as a result of a Nineteenth-Century gold rush. One disadvantage of being in Melbourne is that it is just so far away from everything, European migrants have a journey to visit back home that is about three times as long as if they were in eastern North America, but yet so many people want to live here.

A good place to begin our visit to Melbourne would be around the the Flinders Street Railway Station. The river is the Yarra River. Notice the bridge with one arch above it, it is of the same design as the one we saw on our visit to "Glasgow", the Clyde Arc Bridge.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >. After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.8182629,144.9677545,3a,75y,0.21h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipN-VCunvyj6RnRTk1m8LgLcrrRLkfthPJ70SQdA!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipN-VCunvyj6RnRTk1m8LgLcrrRLkfthPJ70SQdA%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi0-ya277.25894-ro-0-fo100!7i5472!8i2736

Here are some more scenes of the central area of Melbourne, beginning on Collins Street. The first three scenes of central Melbourne are from Google Earth. 

https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.8185457,144.9557948,3a,75y,90h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sG9vzdvTBo7yCN3HGbi4FBA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DG9vzdvTBo7yCN3HGbi4FBA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D157.2724%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

The following scenes of Melbourne begin with the Princess Theater on one side and Parliament House on the other side. Parliament House was once the parliament of all of Australia when it served as the temporary capital of the country before the new capital city, Canberra, was built. The first two scenes of Parliament House are from Google Earth and Street View. 

This image of the Princess Theater is from Google Street View. 

https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.8106391,144.9726716,3a,75y,66.68h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sTB4ip3Q_SLJYGjNac12P0A!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DTB4ip3Q_SLJYGjNac12P0A%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D61.377758%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

The following scenes begin inside the old Royal Exhibition Building, where many shows and exhibitions have been held over the years. The first three images of the Royal Exhibition Building are from Google Earth and Street View. I have a feeling that this building was influenced by the former Crystal Palace. 

https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.8047774,144.9717115,2a,75y,174.23h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sZReAOif26m5gUdMXM9ulkA!2e0!3e2!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DZReAOif26m5gUdMXM9ulkA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D175.43576%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

The usual image of an Australian is of being laid-back and carefree, whose main concern is with getting a tan and surfing. There is no surfing at Melbourne because it's waterfront is on Port Phillip Bay, which is mostly shielded from the ocean and it's surfable waves. But Melbourne is shown in these scenes making up for the lack of surfing with motorbike jumping and auto racing, and being promoted by the Melbourne cheerleaders.

https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.8514245,144.9690007,3a,75y,97.49h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipN5qd5kynmD9nxzMLBsqcBmAjEXoBUqFMztP7sW!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipN5qd5kynmD9nxzMLBsqcBmAjEXoBUqFMztP7sW%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya91.54-ro-0-fo100!7i4500!8i2250

Here is the residential area of Cheltenham. We saw the English city of the same name in the visit, "Gloucestershire And Herefordshire".

https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.9661877,145.0664446,3a,75y,98h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s0dY2AFaGqJvoUyMeizZIGg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D0dY2AFaGqJvoUyMeizZIGg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D98.67331%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656