Royal Botanical Gardens, Mornington Peninsula, Melbourne Victory

So, by the end of last week we were pretty well adjusted to living here in Melbourne - we had visited our share of local restaurants and pubs, and decided it was time to experience some of the local Melbourne destinations so we could really feel at home. :)

Last Wednesday, we decided that 110 degree weather would be the perfect day to take a walk through the city. Air conditioned trams? Why bother when it's just another five blocks away...or 10...or 20....alas, I digress. We meandered around South Yarra (yes, that is the area of Melbourne south of the Yarra River), had some lunch out Southbank, and decided we would try to find the Royal Botanical Gardens.

It's hard to imagine what this place would look like in the full bloom of spring time - as the stunning views were breathtaking in what was surely some difficult heat for this plant life to survive. Here is full set of the pictures!!


Thursday, we went to class in the morning - yes, we are actually going to school while we are here, and we then drove on to Mornington Peninsula.

Just as a bit of background Melbourne is set upon Port Phillip, which is a 745 square mile bay that opens into the Bass Strait (the waterway that separates Tasmania and mainland Australia.). Basically, if the land mass of Tasmania had never separated from mainland Australia, there would be no Bass Strait. At the SouthWest portion of the bay is the opening into the strait - better known as the rip - and the location of some of the best beaches on the Mornington Peninsula.

That is where we traveled to on Thursday - we chose Sorrento Back Beach to relax at, had some ale at the Portsea Pub (thanks to our new friend Steven's suggestion), and took in the breathtaking views:) Take a look!

We capped our week off with a trip to watch the Melbourne Victory play. As some of you have noticed in our pictures - the Telstra Dome located within a five minute walk of our apartment complex. We got very excited to see that there was a game being played there January 12, immediately bought tickets, and all spent lots of time time trying to figure out just how Aussie Rules football worked (it looks a heck of a lot like a mix between football, rugby, and soccer - definitely as rough as football, definitely no padding on the players).

If any of you have clicked on the link I conveniently provided above, you will see that, in fact, Melbourne Victory is the local soccer team! The Telstra Dome does also house Aussie Rules Football, but not until a little while from now. While disappointed that we weren't going to get to see the Aussie Rules game - we were still very excited to go to a live match - we listened to all kinds of chants that we couldn't understand, and watched our local Melbourne team sadly lose to Queensland...but we still had fun in the process - here are the pics!