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

Life Down Under (Part 13): Brunswick, the Melbourne Royal Show, and A Week of Meetups in Melbourne

- September 20-24, 2022, Tuesday to Saturday.

- Coming back to Melbourne from Canberra, I knew I needed a bit of excitement since things were a bit quiet in the Australian capital. Fortunately, the days that followed were full of meet-ups and some new experiences.

- On Tuesday I had a short visit to Brunswick (Tram 19 to Brunswick Road / Sydney Road stop) to check out what's there. Sydney Road was a major hub for Gold Rush immigrants in the 1800s, so many stores and houses were built along the street. This explains the many historical buildings along the street. Eventually, the buildings were occupied by Asian and African migrants who have set up their stores. Sydney Road is also known for plenty of thrift stores (known as "op shops" in Australia). It actually reminded me a little bit of Smith Street (see here)!

Sydney Road.

Sydney Road has a lot of churches.

Town Hall.

Another church.

My best haul from Sydney Road!

- Thursday the 22nd was a holiday to observe the death of Queen Elizabeth II. However, for many people, the 22nd was the start of a long weekend as Friday was also declared a holiday because of the football finals (yes, football is that big of a deal in Australia.) On Thursday I met up with my kindergarten - and eventually, grade school Chinese computer teacher - Teacher Margaret and her husband, Teacher Caslon. They were kind enough to invite me to visit the National Gallery of Victoria to see a special exhibit on Picasso and his peers.

So many people!!

With Picasso's "Portrait of a Woman"

With Picasso's "The Weeping Woman."

He apparently had a painting about the Korean War!

Picasso really explored different forms of art!

- After lunch, we rode the train to the Melbourne Showgrounds to attend the Melbourne Royal Show. It is an agricultural show that happens every year, during spring. The event was the first of its kind that I attended in person, and would normally just see it on TV. I also often see them on American television. The Melbourne Royal Show has been around since 1848, and has a number of events, mostly competitions. These include animal competitions (dog, cattle, alpaca, horse, etc.), art, craft and cooking competitions (baking, pickling, weaving, drawing, etc.), and sports competitions (a variety of woodchopping competitions). On top of these competitions, there are animal-petting pavilions, shopping pavilions, and countless rides and games. 

Melbourne Royal Show.

A tractor, because why not.

Woodchopping competition.

Another kind of woodchopping competition.

Animal petting pavilion.

Alpacas!

Baby sheep omg they're so cute!!

Baby ducks.

A goat with questionable parents.

DID YOU KNOW....that MasterChef Australia is filmed in the Melbourne Showgrounds - where the Melbourne Royal Show is!

The cow's "sweater" matches my colors.

Hey look they have The Mystery Machine here!! (Please tell me you know which show this is from.)

OMG I LOVE THIS LITTLE TRAIN.

Having dessert after dinner to cap off the day!

- I enjoyed the Melbourne Royal Show so much but it was quite overwhelming, so I spent the next two days taking it slow, and showing another new-comer colleague around Melbourne. I also had the good fortune of meeting a friend I haven't seen in more than 10 years - Chia Chen!

OMG HELLO AFTER MORE THAN A DECADE.

Bingsu after samgyupsal because why not.

- It still surprises me to know that I know so so many people in Melbourne alone (what more the rest of Australia!) I still feel happy that I get to experience many new things with them as well! However, a lot remains for me to explore here in Australia, and trust me when I say that there is more (a lot lot more) to come!