Sadly, our time in New Zealand among mountains eventually came to an end. See below for 32 photos. They are mostly architecture but there’s also a snake. And a vacuum cleaner.
It’s not just me, right? That’s basically the same shape… Somehow I’m not able to think of my state as shaped like the tail of a plane. I’m only able to think that the airline is using my state as part of its logo. It’s as if I’ve been programmed to only see one half of the “two faces / goblet” illusion.We’re going to get in a plane now, but we’re not going to exit before we arrive this time like my husband and I did when we went skydiving. He pointed out that from now on, the number of take-offs and number of landings we’ve experienced in planes will never again match.This is the kind of view we had when we went skydiving, only we were seeing it through goggles instead of an airplane window. No snow on the mountains, but still really spectacular.Goodbye, New Zealand!No, this is not a normal mode of transportation in Melbourne. It’s for weddings, and maybe tourists. Not this tourist, though.We took one of the famous Melbourne trams. All the trams are free within the central business district. There’s one rather quaint old tram that does nothing but go around the CBD in a circle. There are several, actually. We rode one of them all the way around, starting from the Victoria Parliament building, just opposite the grand old Hotel Windsor (in the center of the photo), where we were staying.I love this guy! I wish Singapore would just quit already with their public transit etiquette advice cartoon characters (Bag-down Benny, Hush-hush Hannah, et al) and install someone as cool as Melbourne’s Tram Coach. He uses “tram” as a verb!“Sit right. Grip tight. Stand strong. This is how we tram.” Oh yeah. This is totally how we tram.A car was deliberately driven into some pedestrians at this famous Melbourne landmark (Flinders Street Station) on the same day we went past it in the tram (21 Dec 2017). Luckily we were not involved, but we saw a lot of cops standing around in the CBD after that.The tram took us past some new buildings as well as some old ones.Shiny.I think the pattern is supposed to be waves, but overall I have the impression of a pinecone.We toured the Victoria Parliament. Beautiful building.This is one of the assembly rooms.This is the other.This is a representation of wisdom.I photographed the Parliament Library…… and the Parliament Library ceiling, naturally.The columns are chimneys.I love the waves on the railings on this staircase.the floor in the entrance halla lamp outside ParliamentHere’s a different style of tram. There are some newer ones, but apparently I didn’t get a photo of one.The show playing at the Regent Theatre is Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. I saw the movie on a plane once.Okay so we went to Lightning Ridge Opals Melbourne and the history of the family involves lizards, spiders, and snakes, and they have some in the shop itself. Seeing them was at least as cool as seeing the opals they were selling.They had two snakes. I love snakes. Snakes are awesome. I got to hold one of them!I never thought I’d see a vacuum cleaner that could be called “cute”, but this one is. Update (22-01-2018): I just saw another one like this in Singapore albeit with a different name. I can only conclude they’re cheerfully but inexorably taking over the world.Melbourne’s Golden MileI had fun taking pictures of this building. I like the geometry of it.This pedestrian looks like some kind of superhero. Those shoulders!colorful muralThis was an experiment with Photoshop’s merge tool. I couldn’t get the whole building in one photo, so I took lots of photos and combined them. It turned out kinda okay.
