One of the consequences of my Mount Barney walk was that I picked up a couple of unwanted hitch hikers in the form of ticks. I picked them off as soon as I noticed them but they may have been feeding on me for a day or so. I figured that the best course of action would be to go to the doctor when I got home and get a course of antibiotics, as there is a slight chance that I could get lyme disease. So being a practical kind of bloke I figured that I'd better do my annual check up at the same time seeing that I hadn't had an annual check up for two years. That meant a repeat visit to the doctor in a few days for my results, so anyway there I am listening to the doc go through all the results, blood pressure-sweet, blood sugar-perfect, cholesterol-no worries, pulse rate-all good, weight-need to lose 45 kg..... Yeah that's right, I didn't miss a decimal point the doctor says that according to the BMI index I should lose over one third my body weight, f#*k! So, while the doctor lubed up ready to insert his arm up my arse, I did bit of haggling and I negotiated a figure of 15kg, which the doctor says would get me out of the morbidly obese category into the merely obese category, so all good then! Oh yeah, the arse thing was all good too although I walked funny for a while.
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| The view from our room at the Grand Hyatt, if we stood at the window. |
Hang on this is a travel blog isn't it. We'll faced with having to lose 15 kg what would I do on the weekend? Go on a long walk, a long ride, crank up my swimming regime? Nah, I figured I'd surprise Sam and take her into Melbourne for a night at the Grand Hyatt, that'll help the weight problem! I was able to justify this in my own mind by planning a city walk before we came home on Saturday. We have stayed at the Grand Hyatt before and really liked it, we had a view of the MCG from our room, this time unfortunately we had a view of the suits in the high rise next door, we could see the Yarra and the sports precinct but only if standing at the window, oh well....
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| The view from the bed wasn't so great. |
Next morning we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast at the hotel before we headed out the door onto Collins Street to start our walk. Seeing the walk weaved in and out of side streets, laneways, and arcades I figured it would be better for Sam to navigate on this one as she was in her natural habitat and I was out of my depth in this type of extreme environment. Straight out the door and I was able to get a photo of a Melbourne tram trundling past St Michael's Church, may as well head home now. But no, off we went up to Spring Street and I got the tourist shot of Parliament House.
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St Michael's Church and a tram, we can go home now.
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| Parliament House, looks like the member for Frankston must be around judging by the number of barricades to keep the punters safe! |
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Once leaving Spring Street we weaved our way down through China Town, I was on a steep learning curve trying to work out what made a half decent photo in an urban environment. Eventually we turned up Tattersall Lane, past the Shipping Container Bar natural habitat for the hipster, probably the only time they'll get near a shipping pallet in their life. From there we went over to QV Square, the square was notable for all the sharp edged architecture towering above, its probably got a name (post modern?) but I'm a worker not a scholar so you'll have to work it out yourself.
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China Town window.
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| Little Bourke Street, China Town. |
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Shipping Container Bar, Tattersall's Lane.
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| QV Square. |
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From QV Square we wondered past the State Library, unfortunately it was covered in scaffolding and hessian so no shots of the library. Sam was really in her element now as we went into the Melbourne Central shopping centre to check out the old shot tower. Leaving Melbourne Central we made our way down to more familiar territory for me, the outdoor shops and cafes around Hardware Lane which have provided hours of entertainment for me over the years. Resisting the urge to splurge on the latest outdoor gear we continued on to Bourke Street Mall, we now followed a series of arcades and lanes all the way down to Flinders Street, passing the Hopetoun Tea rooms on the way, their beautiful cakes in the window seeming to mock me as we went past (just one bite fat boy!).
Breaking out into the sun at Flinders Street it was becoming obvious that this was the longest four kilometre walk I'd ever done. We'd been walking for nearly two hours and still had a long way to go, we had to be back at the hotel by 1 pm to grab our bags and check out, so we set off with a little more urgency, across the rail viaduct and the Yarra River the towers of Southbank glistened in the sun. Passing the Immigration Museum we again headed north up to Little Collins which we followed before turning into the historic Bank Place, or so the street sign told us. Coming out on Collins Street we decided that we better cut the walk a little short and head straight back to the hotel, what we didn't count on was getting caught in a zombie apocalypse, oh well shit happens.
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The buildings at Southbank across the Yarra River.
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The Historical Bank Place, or so the sign says.
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Oh no a zombie apocalypse...
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We did manage to negotiate our way through the zombie's and managed to check out with five minutes to spare. After getting a dodgy selfie out the front of the hotel we headed down to Flinders Street checking out some street art on the way. Managing to pass through more crowds of zombie's we were soon on our train and heading home to our life in the burbs. An hour later and we were walking the last few kilometres home along the river, just before walking in the door we looked up the wetlands and there were the high rises of the city glinting in the distance (Eureka Tower, Bel!) its certainly a different world in the city.
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A slightly dodgy selfie outside the hotel, the big birds in the background mark the entrance.
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Some street art on the way to the station.
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A couple of street artists.
Federation Square with Flinders Street Station in the distance. |
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The Dirt.
We stayed at the
Grand Hyatt in Melbourne. They have one of the best breakfast's going around and very comfy beds, unfortunately the view from our bed was of the office block next door. Like all hotels in Australia they are pretty pricey, $300+ including brekky and a late check out, but I like the place and will no doubt get back there one day.
We used the notes out of
Melbourne's Best Bush, Bay & City Walks by Julie Mundy, it is walk number 6 in the book. I've never used her notes before but it was interesting to see my own city through another's eyes. We walked around 4 kilometres on the tour but easily did another 4 walking to the station and then home from the station. I Don't really think eight kilometres is going to drop fifteen kilograms though.
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| Walking home from the station. |
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| I've done worse walks. |
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| Back in the burbs two minutes from home, if you squint you can see the city. |
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