The Melbourne Reprise and Surprise (Part 5): I Was A Titanic Passenger

- May 19, 2025, Monday.

- After spending two days out of the city, it was nice to have a buffer day spent in the CBD. This meant not needing to go too far and just exploring things around my hotel, to some degree.

- That morning I spent some time taking photos of Flinders Street Station, then took the 19 Tram to Brunswick (several stops along Sydney Road) to look for more good deals in OpShops (or thrift stores for non-Australians). 

Flinders Street Station.

View of the Yarra Rivers' two banks from Princes Bridge. (Yes, it's Princes, not Princess.)

Rode the tram up north to Brunswick for some OpShop finds.

Sydney Road looks like a sleepy street mainly because I was there early.

- In the late morning, I rode the tram back to the city and went to Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, which is one of the main meeting points of Melbourne CBD. Not only is it a good place to shop and eat, but it also houses Coop's Shot Tower from 1888. Later on, I had lunch with my PhD supervisor in Chilli's India.

The marionette watch.

Coop's Shot Tower, encased in a glass cone.

I just realized how cute the back of the marionette watch was. This watch was donated by Seiko by the way.

Every hour, the clock plays music!

Inside the small shot tower museum.

Equipment used for making shot balls back in the day.

Lunch with the supervisor.

I got this. :( :( :( :(

- That afternoon I rested a bit at the hotel before heading to 206 Bourke for a virtual reality experience of the Titanic (this temporary attraction runs until July 3, 2025). Normally people pre-book tickets, but because I just realized I had some time on my hands, I went there as a walk-in customer. Fortunately there were still slots and I was able to do the whole VR experience. I don't have much photos from it since most of the experience is inside the VR goggles. However, what I can say is that it was a surreal experience seeing the 3D shipwreck of Titanic, and "time traveling" to 1912 and virtually experiencing being guests on the Titanic. Yes, this includes the moment the ship hit the iceberg, and being on the lifeboats. I'm so glad I did it.

This is the most I can show you, I guess.

Well here's the waiting area, made to look a bit like 1912. But this isn't the VR experience of course, that I really couldn't take photos or videos.

Done. Survived my first virtual iceberg crash.

- In the evening, I had dinner with my university research coordinator Dr. Anthony Moran and his wife Claudia at Lillian Brasserie. We had a nice cozy dinner!

Dinner!

- This little buffer day with many random finds and experiences was all I needed to recharge for my next adventures in Melbourne. There was still so much to see and do, and I wanted to fit in as many things as I could in my short trip!   

** Check out my other adventures in Melbourne/Victoria here!

Part 1: Revisiting Melbourne's Central Business District (CBD) - here

Part 2: La Trobe University Graduation - here

Part 3: Werribee - here

Part 4: Geelong - here 

Part 6: Bendigo - here

Part 7:  The Lume and Dax Centre - here

Part 8: Hot Air Balloon, NGV, UniMelb, State Library, and Hello Kitty Cafe - here