05.09 Southern Star Observation Wheel

The face of Docklands is constantly changing, so just to show you what can happen in six months around here, I've added the following photos of the developments happening at the back of our apartment.

When we arrived in March there were four and half days (with Friday afternoons off), from 7am to 5pm, of constant banging from the driving of piles into the ground! Since then the banging has stopped and is now on the other side of Docklands as they continue with the extension of Collins Street - thank godness!

The ground is prepared, with more piles than you could image, and I think we heard each one go in! They had about five machines all working at the same time.

The support struts of the wheel were the first parts to be pieced together.

Almost one of the wheel supports has been completed at this stage. The other white objects lying on the ground behind are the legs for the other side.

The two completed supports are now free-standing and now have 'top-hats', which will be used to support the bearings of the giant wheel. The actual wheel is being constructed on the ground to the left in the yellow scaffolding (see below).


The hub of the wheel is lifted into place. The building under construction to the left is a shopping precinct, with another one planned on the other side of the wheel. So the wheel itself will pass through the middle.

As you can see from the photos, progress is pretty rapid round here. Not sure that it'll be finished in time before we leave though, but we'll see....

06.08 Neighbours Update

We saw 'Tom Scully' at Sovereign Hill. This must be where they come when they leave the 'street! We haven't spotted anyone else recently, but our eyes are always open!

The following bit contains some spoilers, so if you don't want to know don't read any further!

Sky gets out of jail!
Frazer can walk again!
Ned's son turns up out of the blue!
Carmella is pregnant - but who's the father? Ringo? Oliver?!
Paul loses his memory - very convenient!
Oliver isn't Elle's brother!
The Timmins leave! As does Sky & Boyd!
Toddie's done for drink driving!
Lou & Andy make an appearance in Scarlet Bar - very amusing!
The Scarlet Bar gets renamed to Charlie's!

15.07 Sovereign Hill, Ballarat

A little day trip was in order, so we took the cross-country train to Ballarat and headed to Sovereign Hill, which is about 100km from Melbourne. Sovereign Hill is a living museum representing Ballarat during the discovery of gold. So we thought that it would be a little fun...

Welcome to Sovereign Hill. Joanna's packed her lunch and is going to hunt for some gold, if she can beat the bus load of Japanese tourists that have just arrived!

Thank goodness we went before we came - as Joanna is demonstrating!

The town, as you will see, has plenty of shops all selling various wares. That is snow under the bench that Joanna is sitting on, but they had snow making machines there for the school holidays!

This structure was used to house the pump needed pump all the water out of the mine. It was also used to dump all the slag from the quartz & rock processing.

Everyone can have a go! Although the chances of actually finding something are pretty remote - all I managed to do was find a large bit of quartz & handful of pebbles. Back to work for us on Monday then!!

These were the only vehicles back in the day, this horse was enjoying the day off watching the others cart people around all day!

Looking over the Sovereign Hill site from the Pump Tower.

Housed in the Pump House is a massive steam engine driving the pump beam, being fuelled by three enormous boilers! Which was very handy when trying to warm ourselves up!

This is where the Chinese workers used to live. It is still being used to this day copying all sorts of electrical goods and slight redesigns of old Rover cars!!

Some more shops...

Not sure whether Joanna is reflecting about her old stomping ground in London or for her names sake!

Some more horses.

One of the workers cottages, probably not a miner's though!

Looking back towards the gold mine.

Plenty of other shops...

This is the horse-drawn coach ride that you can take around the site.

We had a good day wondering about and learning about the Gold Rush of the 1850's. However you still had to pay for the attractions once you were inside. We paid $30 each (with YHA discount) and extra for the Gold Mine tour - which was the best bit!

07.07 Eureka Tower Sky Deck

While John was in town we decided to go to Melbourne's newest tourist attraction, Eureka Tower's 'The Edge' Sky Deck. The Sky Deck is 88 floors up, almost 300 metres. It gives amazing views across the city and beyond. Its cost $16 for an adult, but if you have YHA membership, they will slice that to $11!!

Here's John getting all excited as we head skyward!

You can see the Yarra winding towards the bay. You can just see Docklands, the Telstra Dome and Bolte Bridge.

You can clearly see the CBD and Docklands with far reaching views to the West side.

More views of the CBD. You can see Federation Square in the bottom right hand corner, with a small section of Flinders Street station to the left.

Views looking over the MCG, with the Yarra winding through the picture. This is looking east. In the distance you can see the Dandenong Ranges.

This picture shows the Botanical Gardens with Government House in the middle of it.

The taller buildings line St. Kilda Road, with Albert Park just off centre. In the distance is St. Kilda and the coastline of the Bay heading towards Brighton & Frankston.

South Melbourne and Port Melbourne are the areas heading directly down to the coast, with Williamstown just across the water.

'The Edge' is a glass box that comes out of the side of the building, even the floor is made of glass! When the electronically-tinted glass is cleared they also play the sound of breaking glass - nice!! Its cost an extra $11 for the experience, which lasts for about two minutes. You must get some excellent views though.

There are a number of viewing points around the Sky Deck, this was the one pointing to the Docklands & Telstra Dome. Its CRAZY!!

This is just a short video showing the 'The Edge' coming out from the side of the building.

The views are amazing across the city and beyond. However, there is also the Observation Deck in the Rialto Towers. YHA Discounts also apply here too!

07.07 John's Holiday '07: Melbourne

After much anticipation John arrived in Melbourne for 'John's Holiday '07'!

The first evening was spent visiting a number of bars, the first being Lot 50 at Yarra's Edge, followed by to trip into the city to find some of Melbourne's hidden treasures. Two bars later, which included the Trader Bar, some people were feeling a little worse for wear. Excuses such as jetlag were used!?

John finds on the way home that being behind the ticket machine is actually the worst seat on the tram!

The excitement builds as we head to the Eureka Tower!

Almost there! This is the fastest lift in the southern hemisphere, it takes just 30 seconds to reach the 88th floor!

Joanna & John on the Sky Deck with views towards Docklands.

Nathan & John on the outside terrace of the Sky Deck.

Its the little things that remind you of home. John used to work for a company, amusingly called, Down to Earth!

Nice photos of public art being ruined by passers by! Funnily enough the figure John is having an intimate moment with was sculpted by another John Robinson!!

The Botanical Gardens, with Joanna & John by a big tree. Keep an eye on the comments, as I'm sure that someone may identify it!

Views over the lake & John by a very big asparagus/aloe vera plant. Again, watch the comments for the correct name!!

'Its only a short walk down here' says Joanna! Hmm, that's fine if it wasn't pissing down with rain! Here we are standing outside Melbourne Grammar School for Girls, Wadhurst Branch absolutely drenched! Hence why John isn't so happy!!

Delicious tea and cake on Acland Street in St. Kilda, note the shop name to the right of my head - they were that good!

John & Nathan trying not be sucked into Luna Park!

Just the three of us on St. Kilda pier just before we went looking for penguins. No we didn't find any this time!

Views back to the City with some helicopters looking for an escaped person from Western Australia. Joanna & I were waving but they didn't see us!

John surveys Docklands at twilight.

The moon rising over Docklands.

The flames on Southbank after a bit of a flutter on the Roulette Wheel. Joanna lost $10 & I broke even after placing all my winnings on red, as it hadn't come up for sometime, then the ball landed on 0/green!! I forgot about that one!?!?!

One of us was a little bit luckier than the rest on the 'wheel the night before and managed to come out with a bit more than was spent, so we had breakfast out in Brunswick Street. Cheers John! The only issue was who farted? I think that a certain person looks quite guilty!

John taking a keen interest in the City Circle Loop, although he is sat the wrong way round and there is a voice-over man telling him about the key landmarks as we ride past!

Then all of a sudden the weekend draws to a sudden close and John's escorted back to Perth by Jetstar!