Melbourne

Melbourne at night
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Melbourne was absolutely a fantastic city. It had so much to offer. Melbourne is also the second largest city in Australia following behind Sydney. It has its main city center and then surrounding suburbs. Similar to Phoenix, but not so spread out.

The buildings there were so neat looking. They all had that Victorian-era style to them which was neat for me to see coming from Arizona. It was so weird for me to see all these huge tall buildings so close together. Even though the buildings were really close, they still had little, and I mean little streets/alleyways between them with these cute little shops and cafes. It was so neat, and gave the place so much character!

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There were three main streets, Colin’s St., Bourke St., and Swanston St. All of these were cluttered with shops and cafes of all sorts. When you walked in one particular shopping building the inside would then be filled with stories more of shops! It was crazy! I have never in my life seen so many hidden little shopping centers. I could have been there for weeks exploring all the shops that were there. That is if I didn’t burn a hole in my wallet first!

While I was there I was able to visit the Melbourne Observation deck. It was in the Rialto Towers on the 55^th floor. It is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere at 253 meters above the city. At the top we had a 360 degree view. It was a bit scary actually because you could walk outside into these caged platforms and the wind would be whistling all around you, but it was a great way to see all of Melbourne and I got some great pictures!

View from the Observation Deck 55 stories above!
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Our second day there we decided to be adventuress and rent a car to drive the famous Great Ocean Road. I was the driver since I was 21 and old enough to rent a car, but I didn’t mind because I had such an experience driving on the opposite side of the road!!! Not only on the opposite side of the road, but the steering wheel in the car is also on the opposite side!! I actually caught on quite fast and was super proud of myself. I did keep hitting the windshield wipers instead of the blinker though, because as is everything here in Australia, it was also on the opposite side.

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The Great Ocean road was beautiful and had plenty of places to stop and check out all the surfers along the way. The water was such a true blue and looked like a movie as it crashed into the shore and rocks. It was definitely a drive I will never forget.

Melbourne overall was a great place to visit and if I ever get the chance I would come back for sure!!