Melbourne and the YarraValley

Melbourne was an assault on the senses.As we approached the city via the M1, it was just like driving into London - 4 lanes of almost stationery traffic surrounded by high rise office blocks.For some reason, Ant and I had not expected the city to be so big and so busy!!

Melbourne is the capital of Victoria and the second largest city in Australia with a population of 3.9 million people.We found our hotel with relative ease and after checking in and dumping our luggage, we set off to explore the city.We decided to leave the car at the hotel and use the trams instead as Melbourne has a strange law about turning right from the left hand lane.The sheer volume of traffic we had encountered entering the city plus the cost of parking was also a deciding factor.The trams in Melbourne are plentiful, cheap and regular - unfortunately it was Friday rush hour of a public holiday weekend so they were packed!!We had also arrived in the city on probably one of the busiest weekends of the year.As well as being Labour Day weekend, the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and the Moomba Festival were also taking place which all added to the crowds and frenetic pace of the city.The Moomba Festival is a huge outdoor Melbourne festival which had its start in 1954 as a focus of city celebrations and activities. Traditionally it ends with a colorful street parade with floats, costumed participants, and crowned Moomba Monarchs.The word Moomba is said to have come from an Aboriginal word meaning Let's get together and have fun.

After the peace and tranquillity of KangarooIsland, the noise, the traffic and the crowds where completely overwhelming - I've decided I don't like big cities!!!!! We did, however, find 2 Starbucks which I will be visiting tomorrow!!After grabbing something to eat, we headed back to the relative peace of the hotel (the trams were a lot quieter by now!).

The following morning we grabbed 2 all day tram tickets from the hotel reception for just $7 each and set off for my first taste of Starbucks in 5 weeks!!After coffee and breakfast, we headed to the 100 year old Queen Victorian Market to marvel at the amazing colours and smells of the fresh produce.Back in town, we got off the tram at Federation Square and took a stroll along the YarraRiver through the fair, watching the artists perform for the Moomba Festival, the water skiers.

Melbourne is famous for 2 major sporting events - the Australian Tennis Open held in January each year (this is the first of the 4 Grand Slam tournaments - Australian, French, Wimbledon and American), and the Australian Grand Prix at the end of March.Our hotel overlooks Albert Park, home of the Grand Prix and with just 2 weeks to go the track was already fenced off and the grandstands, gravel traps, tyre walls and pits were pretty much built.After a brief rest at the hotel, we set off to walk round AlbertParkLake and take pictures of the work in progress.Ant realised at this point that we could actually drive the track which we set out to do on Sunday morning as we left Melbourne.

After our drive round the Grand Prix track, we should have been heading south for the next stage of our journey - the coast road from Melbourne to Sydney.However, thanks to one of the volunteers I met on Kangaroo Island (thanks Sarah!!!), we headed north to the YarraValley and the Domaine Chandon winery (as in Moet & Chandon!!!!).Chandon have just 4 wineries outside of France, this one, one in Argentina, one in Brazil and one in the Napa Valley in California which I have already visited (I now have to go to the other 2 in Argentina and Brazil!!!!!)

The views of the YarraRanges were absolutely spectacular as was the wine!! The Yarra is home to more than 120 award winning wineries but we visited just the one before heading back south and eventually entering the Gippsland region for our journey east (and north) to Sydney.