Embroidery, dead spiders and bad beer

September 14, 2023, Day 9

I should mention my adventure last night. Walking across the street, not at the crossing I should add, I walked onto an active construction zone. Towing my rolling case uphill about 20 yards I stopped to talk to a construction worker who motioned that I should follow them back onto the pedestrian path. On the way however, a worker in a little digger was bearing down on me and shouted “get out the way, mate!” – one of the funniest Australian things I heard this trip.

Just around the corner from the hotel is the lovely St Paul’s Cathedral (https://cathedral.org.au) with lots of interesting things to see. The organ was pretty fantastic and whilst small by larger European city cathedrals, St Paul’s has a lot of history crammed into it.

Since Claudia is into embroidery, I did stop to take some photos of local items on display here.

Next up, a walk around the Old Treasury Building (https://www.oldtreasurybuilding.org.au) which also had lots of interesting exhibitions and a great underground vault area.

Finally, on to the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1131). Constructed for the 1880/1888 great international exhibitions, it’s quite the impressive sight. Stopped off briefly at the Melbourne Museum (I didn’t go in, but did find a nice spider for Bruce) before walking over past the statue of Diana and the Hounds on the way to Cook’s Cottage (https://whatson.melbourne.vic.gov.au/things-to-do/cooks-cottage). Interesting to note that this building was brought from England in 1934 and Cook himself never lived there… but interesting all the same.