Adventures on the Pacific Rim – Melbourne, Australia (Continued) -Segment 5 Part 4

Welcome to the finale of our epic mega-journey, Grand Pacific Voyage, Adventures on the Pacific Rim, and a two-week post-cruise stop in Australia. This is Segment FIVE – PART FOUR of our Post-Grand Pacific Voyage, Adventures on the Pacific Rim!

In this Part, we continue our travels to the exceptional Melbourne, Australia area before heading home.

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Segment FIVE: Two weeks in Australia – November 22nd to December 6th
Part ONE – Sydney, Australia – Posted
Part TWO – The Blue Mountains – Posted
Part THREE – Melbourne, Australia – Posted
Part FOUR – Melbourne, Australia Continued – Posted

Grand Pacific Voyage
While you’re at it, check out the rest of our 58-day Mega-Cruise as we travel onboard the Silver Muse for our Grand Pacific Voyage! All segments of the cruise are now on YouTube.

The Grand Pacific Voyage – Adventures on the Pacific Rim aboard the SILVERSEA SILVER MUSE is 57 Nights – 7 Countries – 28 Ports of Call.

The Grand Pacific Voyage is presented in FOUR Segments, split into 13 Parts (videos) PLUS THREE informational videos.
1. Silver Muse 2024 Ship and Suite Tour
2. Silver Muse 2024 Dining and Drink Guide
3. Silversea – The Grand Pacific Voyage – The Silversea Experience – The
Pros and Cons – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!

Segment ONE – Tokyo, Japan to Yokohama, Japan – September 25 to October 6
Part ONE – Tokyo (Pre-Cruise – Yokohama, Japan (Embarkation) – Day at Sea – Kobe, Japan – Day at Sea
Part TWO – Busan, South Korea – Day at Sea – Kanazawa, Japan – Day at Sea – Hakodate, Japan – Day at Sea

Segment TWO Yokohama, Japan to Singapore – October 6 to October 21
Part ONE – Yokohama, Japan – Day at Sea – Kagoshima, Japan – Day at Sea
Part TWO – Busan to Seoul, South Korea (TWO DAYS) – Jeju Island, South Korea – Day at Sea – Day at Sea
Part THREE – Hong Kong, China – DAS x 3 – Singapore Day one

Segment 3 – Singapore to Mooloolaba October 21 to November 6
Part ONE – Singapore (Day Two) – DAS –
Part TWO – Bali, Indonesia – DAS – Komodo Island, Indonesia – Day at Sea
x 2
Part THREE – Darwin, Australia – DAS x 3 – Cairns, Australia
Part FOUR – Townsville, Australia – Shute Harbor, Australia – DAS – Mooloolaba, Australia

Segment FOUR – November 7 to November 22
Part ONE – Brisbane, Australia – DAS x 3 – Bay of Islands, New Zealand – Auckland, New Zealand
Part TWO – Tauranga, NZ – Gisborne, NZ
Part THREE – Napier, NZ – Wellington, NZ
Part FOUR – Picton, NZ – Nelson, NZ – DAS x 3 – Sydney, Australia (disembarkation)

Segment FIVE: Two weeks in Australia – November 22nd to December 6th
Part ONE – Sydney, Australia – Posted
Part TWO – The Blue Mountains – Posted
Part THREE – Melbourne, Australia Part 1 (This Video)
Part FOUR – Melbourne, Australia -Continued

Hello and welcome to the final part of our Grand Pacific voyage adventures on the Pacific Rim in our two week post cruise adventure in Australia. Well where is, as some might ask, the center of the universe? If you ask the Asian subpopulation in Glen Waverly Australia, they will tell you, well it’s right here. And if you think I’m kidding, please do a search on what is the fount of all knowledge, that would be Wikipedia, for where is the center of the universe? And why would they think such a thing? Well, it’s because of its location, access to public transportation, plenty of amenities, high quality schooling, and favorable living conditions. But Glen Waverly only has a population of around 46,000 and only about 22% of the population is Asian. So let’s take a look at it. Well if there’s a center to the center of the universe, it is the Glen Shopping Center. The Glen hosts 202 specialty stores in about 45 different restaurants at any given time. It is the fourth largest shopping mall in the Melbourne metropolitan area and has many good dining spots. Some of them Asian, some of them not. Once you’re inside the mall, it looks like any other mall, full of shopping, specialty stores and anchored by two giant department stores, David Jones and Target. I think what makes the difference to the population is the basement. The lower level is predominantly restaurants and food stores. There are three Asian food stores, two of them Chinese, one of them Japanese, that cater to all things Asian. Fresh fruits and vegetables abound. And keep in mind those prices are per kilo and in Australian dollars. And currently one Australian dollars equals about 63 cents US. So those Lebanese cucumbers you see there are worth about a dollar nine a pound US. They also have butchers, bakers, but no candlestick makers as far as I could see. And plenty of places you could purchase already prepared food like these geese and ducks you see hanging here. Which we did one evening and found it actually quite good. But also on the flip side you have three giant western style grocery stores in the shape of Woolworths, Kohl’s and Audie’s. But let’s climb those escalators and step outside once more to find out if there might be something else that makes this area the center of the universe for the Chinese community. And yes there is. This shopping area is only steps away from the Glen Mall and contains a densely packed street scene of stores catering to the Chinese and every Asian demographic. From Chinese dim sum to sushi to Korean, Malaysian, Thai and Western, every restaurant and food possibility is covered. Now the price to live in the center of the universe or Glen Waverly is a bit high with a median price tag of around 1 million Australian dollars. That’s about 630 ,000 US for a three bedroom condo or two bedroom home. But enough about Glen Waverly. It’s time to get ready for tomorrow’s adventure. And the adventure today would be Mount Dandenong. First stop is Sky High. This is an observation point at the top of one of the mountains in the Dandenong mountain range. And while the observation point is very nice, it will set you back 8 Australian dollars just to wander around the top of the mountain and take in those views. One supposed resident of the mountain is Igor the Giant. And while we were there we had the chance to sit in his chair. But as the sign says, if Igor comes back, you better give it up to him. There is also a somewhat unappealing and expensive restaurant and a gift shop to look through. But we were there for the views. Leaving the observation point on Mount Dandenong, we made a quick stop here. This is a property belonging to a friend of Lee Guang’s. It’s about a four acre property and this is literally the front yard. And after enjoying a brief but restful interlude at his friend’s home, we moved on to the Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden. The gardens are located adjacent to the Dandenong Ranges National Park and cover about 42 hectares or around 103 acres at an elevation close to 2,000 feet or 600 meters. Admission is free. Almost as soon as we walked in and started moving about, we saw this little fellow, an Australian, Echidna, also known as the Spiny Anteater. At first I misidentified the animal as a hedgehog, but while similar in appearance, it is definitely a different animal. The gardens were opened in 1960 by the Australian Rhododendrum Club on a lease grant from the Victoria government. Opened in 1960 and then promptly destroyed by bushfires in 1962, the Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden is a story of tragedy and triumph. Fully restored to all its glory, it comes complete with breathtaking views and stunning displays. The garden is considered Victoria’s premier cool climate garden, set amongst a magnificent landscape of mountain meadows populated with native and exotic trees. Today the gardens are home to a staggering 15,000 Rhododendrons, 12,000 Azaleas, 3,000 Chameleons, and 250,000 Daffodils covering the landscape. The garden houses Australia’s largest collection of Australian and overseas raised hybrids of Rhododendrons that cannot be replaced, re-bred, or even re-imported. It’s a wonderful place to just stroll about, exploring the mysterious paths offshooting from the main paths. I’m going to shut up now and let you enjoy the garden as we stroll through it. Eventually we made it to the highest point in the park and that is the lookout at Serenity Point. And although we did look out, we didn’t see a whole lot as the trees in the brush had grown up enough that they obscured the view somewhat. And that’s okay. In Australia they seem to protect the environment and the growth of the forest before they pander to a tourist or a hiker’s view. And at least to me, that is the right way to do it. From Serenity Point we continued on, making our way slowly back to the entrance of the park. And we noticed a couple of these signs placed around the park, but we did not see any wombat’s, mangy or not. Continuing on, admiring the flora, if not the fauna, the wild natural beauty of the park continued to impress. From the flowers, both plantings and wild, to the high mountain meadows, we continued our journey through the park. We continued our journey through the park. After wandering about for about three solid hours, yes, you can wander around for that long. And then we made our way to the Melbourne suburb of Doncaster East for dinner with our niece Ranran and her family at Two Circle’s Malaysian Cafe. The cafe is a bright, simple, yet elegant space to dine in with a very diverse and large menu of Malaysian favorites. This being my first experience with Malaysian food, we let Ranran and her family order, and I just concentrated on eating while everybody chatted. Here are a few of the dishes we enjoyed, and every one was a winner. Hey, family photo op. Our next adventure out would be to downtown Melbourne. Parking is almost impossible downtown Melbourne, so we walked from Liguang’s house to the Metro Station. At the Metro Station, we purchased our tickets, essentially day passes, boarded our train, and made our way toward the center of Melbourne. Metro trains are clean, relatively quiet, and an easy way to navigate the urban landscape of Melbourne. We eventually disembarked at the Flinders Street Station and took a whirlwind tour and walk about downtown Melbourne. Downtown Melbourne is an interesting mix of the old and the new, and is a very walkable area. Walkabout took us down the main streets where we could admire the street art, make that graffiti, and soak up the vibe that is Melbourne. It was December, so the Christmas decorations were out, along with tourists and locals just wandering the streets. Downtown is well connected with a bus system and trolleys and little short hop trains running around everywhere. One of our goals was to find Chinatown. Hey, found it. Chinatown in Melbourne is essentially about four blocks along one street full of Chinese stores, restaurants, and shops, lining the main drag and shooting off into the alleyways. Chinatown was not immune from the graffiti, but it seemed to be a higher quality of graffiti. In fact, we were told that somewhere around here, although we never found it, is a street called Graffiti Street. Ah well, something else for next time. There was even a mowtai store, looking like a boutique with a sparse line -up of that mowtai, sort of equating it with looking in the window of a Louis Vuitton store. Eventually, we left Chinatown proper and moved back into the quirkiness that is downtown Melbourne. This interesting building is Minkari, a quiet place, a non-denominational sanctuary open to all for meditation and reflection. More graffiti leads you back to the spice market, a restaurant and bar connected to the Hyatt. And just around the corner is NGV, or the National Gallery of Victoria. The NGV is the most visited gallery in Australia, and even the outside was sort of interesting. It was Christmas, and you can picture Santa holding court here with those very creepy-looking, I think, koala bears or things. There was even a bit of kinetic art outside that you could play with a little bit. The way back to the train station, we stopped at Time Out, which is a square right across the street from the Flinders Street train station and enjoyed the Christmas decorations set up in the square. And after a couple hours of wandering around, it was time to get back on the train and head back to Glen Waverly. Once back in Glen Waverly, we decided to do Tina’s Noodle Kitchen that night. Tina’s Noodle Kitchen is at the Glen Shopping Center, and as the name implies, it is a soup kitchen. And as it turned out, a very good soup kitchen. Here’s the menu, and you might notice the prices look a little high for a bowl of soup. Well, keep in mind those are Australian dollars, so $25 Australian is about $16 US. And that the menu prices include, or should include, all taxes and fees, including any gratuities for the servers, so no tipping. Wagyu beef. Good. Well, that’s it. But Finne, we relaxed totally for a day, jumped on an airplane, and headed back home. Overall, I enjoyed very much my time in Australia, both the cruise and the two weeks after. And while this trip is over, I’m working on posting a video I made of a trip to Australia 25 years ago. And we have more travel coming up, so stay tuned for more. Please like, subscribe, and ring that notification bell. And as always, please check out some of our other content, and comments and suggestions are always welcome. Safe and happy travels from T’s cruise and travel muse.