Itchy Toes Adventures

Thursday, May 29, 2025

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

The Melbourne Reprise and Surprise (Part 4): Gee, It's A Long Way To Geelong!

- May 18, 2025, Sunday.

- In a land far far away (from Melbourne CBD), lies a port city called Geelong ("jee-long"). Geelong is known for many things, such as the sea, wool, football, art, among other things. Geelong is roughly a one hour train ride from Melbourne's Southern Cross Station, via VLine's Geelong line.

The VLine train is known for its bright purple color.

- Geelong's downtown is compact and easy to walk from place to place. It doesn't take long for one to reach the waterfront from the train station. The waterfront is home to many iconic landmarks and art installations, many of which were part of the 1990s redevelopment of the waterfront. People often like visiting Cunningham Pier, the Carousel Pavilion (with a functional preserved carousel from 1892!), and the numerous painted bollards across various places in the waterfront.

"North" by Mark Stoner. This is a public art installation near the Cunningham Pier and the Carousel Pavilion. They are meant to resemble sails or fins.

Cunningham Pier, built in the 1850s as a convenient port located neer the train station. Eventually it became a fisherman's port with a restaurant.

These colorful bollards were made using wood from the old piers. Artist Jan Mitchell breathed new life into these bollards in the 1990s and are now all over Geelong to welcome visitors and say hello to passersby. These bollards are Victoria Baths Swimmers.

Geelong Baths Swimming Club.

Bolunteer Rifle Band performing the Geelong polka.

Buoys sculpture at Steampacket Gardens.

Morning sun with the view of a rather new pier.

You can ride this toy train across the waterfront.

Joy Ark Sandwich Board Man (who used to promote silent movies shown at the Joy Ark theater that used to stand by the waterfront), and the Giant Sky Wheel behind.

Bathing Beauties from the 1930s.

I rode the Giant Sky Wheel because why not. It's been years since I last been on a ferris wheel.

The ride was very stable and it went several rounds. I got to see a good aerial view of the Geelong waterfront!

Brunch.

Carousel Pavilion. And yes, this carousel has been going at it since 1892!

- After walking through the waterfront and having brunch, I visited the National Wool Museum. Although it was opened in 1988, the building that houses the wool museum was known as the Dennys, Lascelles, Ltd. Woolstore established in the 1850s. The museum shows the evolving technology of sheering and manufacturing wool products.

National Wool Museum.

This giant sheep head made of flowers once belonged to a whole floral sheep used as part of a parade!

Machines used to spin wool.

How sheep were kept back then.

Actual taxidermied sheep.

Wool.

Podium used for auctioning wool (as can be seen at the black and white photo at the back.)

- From the museum I had a long walk to the Geelong Gaol Museum (again, "gaol" is the British spelling of "jail"). The Geelong Gaol was opened in the 1850s until it closed in 1991. It was not a big jail (gaol?) but as any jail, it was a bit creepy being inside. It did help that the museum was well lit, contrary to most prison museums I have visited, and there were other visitors.

Passed by the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels on the way to the Geelong Gaol Museum. The basilica was completed in 1937.

Geelong Gaol Museum.

It's a torture box. Prisoners are placed inside and depending on what is needed, the box can be repeatedly submerged in water, or hung from a high place, you name it.

This is just the hallway on the way to the main prison.

Ned Kelly gang armor. These steel armors were used by the criminal Ned Kelly and his other robber friends especially when fighting with the police.

Main prison.

Stairs.

Upper-level cells.

- While walking towards the train station, I had a brief photo shop at the Geelong Library and Heritage Centre at Johnstone Park. This new building was built in 2015, and resembles a big shiny orb.

Johnstone Park, with the Geelong Gallery at the side, and the Geelong Library at the back.

Geelong Library.

From the corner.

- I had a good rest during the train ride back to Melbourne CBD. I didn't realize how much walking I had done during the day! That evening, I also had a nice catch up session with my kindergarten and grade school teacher Margaret and her husband Caslon. I was happy that we were able to see each other during this trip since the last time we met was when I went to Melbourne n 2022. They're like my family in Melbourne!

Thank you for meeting me!! <3 <3 <3 <3

- Visiting Geelong gave me time to breathe and just be in the moment. Even though I spent the whole day chasing painted bollards and museums, Geelong's vibe was just so chill yet exciting, calm yet colorful!