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| The Shrine of Remembrance. |
We had a long weekend in Melbourne this weekend but instead of heading for the hills (they are mostly still on fire anyway) Sam and I headed into the city for a couple of nights. The main reason we were in the city was for me to attend the Download Festival, but never wanting to waste an opportunity for a bit of exploring I decided to head to the Shrine and the Botanic Gardens for a short stroll. Over all my years I’ve never actually visited the Shrine of Remembrance and I’ve probably only been to the Royal Botanical Gardens a couple of times, so what may seem a pretty mundane walk held a bit of interest for me.
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| I had a fair walk just to get to the start of my described stroll this afternoon. |
We were staying at the Pan Pacific Hotel over at South Wharf on this city stay so I had a fair walk just to get to the start of the described walk this afternoon. Walking along Southbank was a very crowded affair today, as not only was it a long weekend in Melbourne but the Moomba Festival was also on. The river side promenade was crowded with families out enjoying the beautiful early Autumn weather. After a 15 minute walk south beside St Kilda Road I eventually picked up my walk at the Shrine of Remembrance and was on my way.
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Alright, I'm on my way.
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| I entered the Royal Botanic Gardens through the main entrance off Birdwood Avenue. |
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This is one of those pleasant strolls that is by no means hardcore walking but is more your 'nice place to take a stroll' type of walk. Leaving The Shrine almost as soon as I’d arrived at it, I crossed over Birdwood Avenue and headed into the Royal Botanic Gardens. I’m not overly knowledgable about Australian Flora and I’ve got even less knowledge about introduced plants, so I’m not going to even attempt to accurately label the hundreds of different trees in the gardens. Strolling my way west I followed the signs pointing me in the direction of the Fern Gully, passing the Children’s Garden and the National Herbarium on the way.
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The Royal Botanical Gardens.
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I'm not even going to try and name all the different plants.
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I was now heading towards the Fern Gully, passing by the Herbarium on the way.
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The Royal Botanical Gardens.
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| The Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne. |
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Reaching the Fern Gully my route dropped down towards the large Ornamental Lake, I was meant to track around the side of the lake now but there was a problem (there always is on my walks!). The track that I was meant to continue my walk on was fenced off, it seems the the Moonlight Cinema have this bit of the gardens fenced off over their summer season, so I now improvised a little as I skirted around the eastern perimeter of the cinema area. We not talking an off track epic here though, I was able to basically just skirt around the fenced off area and was soon back beside the Ornamental Lake and back on my notes and map.
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On reaching the Ornamental Lake I had to track around the Moonlight Cinema grounds.
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| Back beside the Ornamental Lake I was back on my notes again. |
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The Ornamental Lake Area in the botanic gardens is a very popular spot and is a nice spot for a picnic, or a bite to eat and a coffee in the café. With a wedding on in the café this afternoon I missed out on my caffeine fix though and continued on my late afternoon stroll. It can feel a little like you are walking through a Claude Monet painting here, the softer late afternoon light only enhancing that feeling. Still skirting around the lake I crossed over Long Island on a series of bridges and passed through an area of native bush that replicates a lower Yarra River Billabong, this no doubt is what a lot of this country around here looked like before European settlement.
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It felt a little like I was walking through a Monet painting this afternoon.
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The Ornamental Lake.
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The Ornamental Lake at the Royal Botanical Gardens.
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The Royal Botanical Gardens.
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| Lower Yarra River Billabong. |
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My walk now climbed a little which gave me some views down over the Yarra River and across to Melbourne’s Sporting Precinct. Passing through the ornamental Lynch Gate I left the botanic gardens and meandered my way up to House Drive and Government House. Unfortunately you can’t get too close to Government House but I was able to get a photo through the security gates and up the driveway, having a nice friendly chat with the security lady at the same time as she rushed out to see what the Feral looking bloke with the DSLR slung around his neck was up to.
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Heading towards Lynch Gate my route climbed a little giving me some views down over Melbourne's Sporting Precinct.
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The Royal Botanical Gardens near Lynch Gate.
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| Despite all the greenery I was never far from the CBD. |
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My short afternoon stroll was quickly coming to it’s conclusion now as I meandered my way through some more parkland, crossed back over Birdwood Avenue and got back to the Shrine of Remembrance. The Shrine of Remembrance is a monument to all our fallen soldiers lost in numerous different conflicts over the years. The Shrine looks back up to the CBD along St Kilda Road but it is far enough removed from the city that noise of the city is more or less non existent, so it is a very peaceful and solemn place, an appropriate place to finish off my walk.
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Service Women's Gardens.
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Government House
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Approaching Birdwood Avenue my walk was coming to it's end.
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| There is a lot to get your head around and check out on this stroll, you could probably do this walk numerous times and still not see everything I'm thinking. |
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Now seeing that this is a my self indulgent blog I’m going to post a couple of photos from my day out at Download before my memories turn to dust. The Download Festival has been running overseas for years but last year was the first year that the festival has come down to Australia. The festival is the obvious successor to the much loved Soundwave Festival. Where as Soundwave was an all ages type of set up, Download is a licensed event so basically that meant that I could grab a beer (or two) and watch the bands while having a drink, all good and as with Soundwave there was virtually no agro despite the fearsome looking crowd. I caught Airbourne, Anthrax, Frenzal Rhomb, half of Alice in Chains, Devilskin, Judas Priest and Slayer today on what was superb day out. I’m not going to try and say which was the best band or show as they are all great in their own way, I’ll definitely be getting myself some Devilskin tunes on my phone though.
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