Hi All,
We had a somewhat leisurely morning….at least for us on this road trip and left around 11 am. It only took an hour or so to get to our hotel about midtown Melbourne. John asks: so is the hotel full…oh yes, have been booked for a while….yes, when we booked all the hotels downtown were either full or outrageously expensive….oh, yes, are you here for the tattoo….hmmmm, nooooo….but what do you mean tattoo….oh, the military tattoo….nooooo, and what pray tell is that….ok, some of you at this moment are rolling your eyes, especially our Scottish, English and other worldly friends, but hey, I’m just a Kansas boy….sort of reminds us when we got to Wellington last year and the hotel person asks if we are there for the Seven’s….now one of my favorite rugby games….well, my friends, the Military Tattoo is:
The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is an annual series of Military tattoos performed by British Armed Forces, Commonwealth and International military bands, and display teams on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh. The event takes place annually throughout August as part of the wider Edinburgh Festival (a collective name for many independent festivals and events held in Edinburgh during August).
The British adopted the practice and it became a signal to tavern owners each night, played by a regiment’s Corps of Drums or Pipes and Drums, to turn off the taps of their ale kegs so that the soldiers would retire to their billeted lodgings at a reasonable hour. With the establishment of modern barracks and full Military bands later in the 18th century, the term Tattoo was used to describe the last duty call of the day, as well as a ceremonial form of evening entertainment performed by Military musicians.
Over 1,200 performers will make their way to Melbourne in February 2016 for a breathtaking performance that defines spectacular. With its unique blend of military ceremony, music and entertainment, The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is one of the most famous events in the world, playing to around 220,000 people each year in Edinburgh and attracting an annual television audience of 100 million.
So now we know why we are about 30 minutes from downtown which was the closest we could get at a reasonable price…still about USD175/night!! We did look at getting tickets but alas it was all sold out…so now, another bucket list item!!
So we learned how to take the tram….like Sydney, Melbourne has all sorts of mass transit. But, it is also very complicated….like over 100 different routes….I had learned in Sydney that life was so much easier with the right App (thanks Stacey), so onto Apple App store and downloaded the App…well, it took 2 more Apps to actually get one that worked/accurate, but armed with 3 Apps and Gigi off we went. And….we did just fine….no wrong turns or errors…..just a drained iphone battery trying to ensure we were on the right tram:))))
We met our friends Karen and Craig in the City for a delightful evening walking the river promenade, the Crown casino (huge, like 3-4 city blocks) and then dinner along the river. Karen managed the Marsden Marina in New Zealand and looked after Mystic while we were gone on several occasions. We first met Karen when she greeted all the Puddlejumpers in Tahiti in June 2013 and gave us all sorts of information about New Zealand. She is now in Melbourne managing a brand new marina opening in about 2 weeks.
Today we were out all day…Aboriginal Heritage Walk in the Botanical Gardens, lunch in Chinatown, and then the Melbourne Museum. The Walk was nice but not what we expected. It was short on actual heritage culture and long on the emotions of a suppressed people/culture. We were both quite depressed when we left the Walk….we have seen/heard this story too many times now….first in our own country, and then again in Mexico and Central America, Caribbean and the South Seas…well, quite frankly, it is about the post Columbia colonial wars and destruction of so many native cultures and history….not one of mankind’s better moments IMHO.
The lunch was outstanding….we woke up this morning with an email from our friend Freddy, who we met in the Cayman’s, suggesting we have lunch at Hutong Dumpling restaurant in Chinatown which we did!! We had the Shao Bao dumpling soup:
“Shanghai Soup Dumplings, perhaps the most perfect single bite of food ever conceived by man—does not require much introduction. This tantalizing, dreamy snack is probably the most famous dish to come out of Shanghai: paper-thin skin enveloping perfectly seasoned pork filling and rivers of hot, flavorful soup”
Wow oh wow…that description is about right….just superb!!!
We then went to the Melbourne Museum as we had read they had an excellent First People display. Well, once again not what we expected. It was about 1/3 on the history and culture of the Aboriginals and 2/3 about the English settling the region starting in 1835. While that was very interesting we both left unfulfilled in our quest to be educated more about Australia’s aboriginal heritage. The Maori exhibition at the Wellington Museum in New Zealand which we spent 6+ hours in was so much more informative!!
So onward we go….next is the Great Ocean Road between Melbourne and Adelaide. We will spend 4 nights along the coast before going to our 3rd wine region, Coonawara for 2 nights!!
Stats:
Traveled: 60 miles to Melbourne; 1450 miles total
Wrong turns: 0 today; 2 total
Kangaroo/”Roos”/Skippy count: 0 this leg; ~201 total!!!
Skippy roadside warning signs: 3 this leg, 84 total
One Way bridges: 0 today; 14 total
Speeding Tickets: arghhhhhh; Kathy’s mom informed me today I got a speeding ticket….and, it was before we left on the roadtrip….ugh, 70 kph in a 60 kph zone; USD112:((((
Hotels: Premier Best Western: very nice just aways from downtown
Food: HuTong Dumpling Bar: Shao Bao Dumpling soup – hard to describe but a dumpling filled with pork and soup….delicious!!!
LIG!!!! Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
Downtown Melbourne along the Yarra river
Kathy and Karen
Our guide Dan and Lou playing the didgeridoo during the smoke ceremony
Dan our guide on the Heritage Walk, the tree was huge, a Montezuma bald cypress
Chinatown, still celebrating Chinese New Year
Hutong Dumpling Restaurant
Kathy enjoying the Shao Bao dumpling soup
Pork and bokjoy
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