Melbourne - Conservatory, Gardens, a Living Wall, Architecture and a Very Old Ship

Flat Susan is still enjoying her holiday in Australia with Eliza, Myrene and Yoda of course (that is the celebrated cat Yoda!) - so another trip saw her visiting:

The Conservatory at the gardens in Melbourne is such a beautiful place and dates back to March 1930 when it originally opened and has provided over 80 years of spectacular floral displays.  Flat Susan was so happy to be around all the beautiful flowers, trickling water falls and elegant statues.

The gardens offer 5 separate displays every year and never ceases to captivate the visitors who visit.  There are flowers everywhere you turn, numerous birdcages hanging on display.

 The entrance has this magnificent Statue at the front to welcome all.  Flat Susan was awed by the size of the statue as you can see the size comparison...








After visiting the Conservatory we went for a drive to the local churches, which happen to be the oldest in Melbourne, they stand in all their glory surrounded by city buildings and parks.  The architecture in these buildings were incredible.


 Here you can see Flat Susan having a rest after reading the information about this Lutheran Church.

Then we went for a drive down Flinders Street past the infamous Flinders Street Station that has hundreds of thousands of people using it every day for transportation to and from their train stations.

 

We then continued on to the docklands area of Melbourne right by the water and checked out the boats and buildings.   Before getting to the waters edge we saw these buildings that had green living walls, yep plants growing on the walls throughout the city, it truly was spectacular to see  and as you can tell they are quite tall there are people on the footpath walking to give you a gauge of the size.

Then onto the waters edge to have a look at the big Star Wheel that graces the waterfront of the city, people go for a ride on this and it takes over 1 hour to complete the ride.  Flat Susan didn't want to go on it, as it was a bit scary and like going into outer space for her.  She did like the fact that she could see the calm water and the city edge a buzz all around. Normally people don't get access to this area but Eliza tends to break the rules a little and knows people to get her into places.   Here you can see Flat Susan on the lifebuoy. 

In the next photo you can see the building in the background that is called Etihad Stadium, it's roof opens and closes when it's needed for sporting events.  So if it is raining they close the roof so the spectators and players don't get wet.  Eliza works here sometimes, the stadium has walls of green plants too. 
But some of the best was yet to come a close up look at a very old ship.
















 Here she is docked along the wharf area and we got to have an up close look but Eliza wouldn't let Flat Susan on the ship for fear of her falling in the water.

 All Eliza would let Flat Susan do was sit on the railing at the waters edge, by golly it was big.  It had lots of ropes and pulley's and all sorts of things we really didn't understand. 













Here you can see Flat Susan sitting on the timber near the edge of the ship
















There is so much to do in Melbourne and there will be more posts to follow, see you all soon.  I hope you have enjoyed the little tour.