Day 2 - The Melbourne Identity (part 1)

After coffee and brekkie we head down to Federation Square to get our bearings.

After consulting the 'lonely planet' we decide to head to the Botanic Gardens just south of the Yarra river. It's a perfect day for walking and these are supposed to be some of the best in the world.

We stop at the War Memorial, called the 'Shrine', a neat mix of respectful neo-classical and playfully modern architecture.

It also serves as an excellent place to view the city centre from. And laugh at the hordes of lunchtime joggers, whilst trying not to get run over by them.

From here we head in to the gardens themselves and spend a good amount of time just wandering about. The difference between botanic gardens here and at home is the lack of huge 'hot houses', of course they're not quite as necessary here. And the gardens are very nice. Lots of meandering paths, and tucked away little ponds and lakes to sit beside and contemplate the skyscrapers in the background.

Fern Gully is a particularly nice little 'prehistoric' meander.

We take a circuitous route back from the gardens and end up on the 'South Bank' of the Yarra river. It's lined with a variety of restaurants and coffee houses, so we grab a well-deserved coffee and some cheesecake. Mandy feeds the sparrows and discourages the seagulls.
From here it's back up to the city centre for more meandering.