Welcome back everyone! The Day 8 half-day trip was only a preview, today we officially begin the tour of Melbourne. Nobody visits Melbourne without dropping by one of the it's most famous place for shopping, The Queen Victoria Market, lucky for us the hostel we were staying was just 5-minute walk. It started its operation since 1878, the Market's seven hectare site is the largest open air Market in the southern hemisphere. It has variety of items for sale like fruits, vegetables, meats and also souvenir items like T-shirts, hats, jackets, magnets, keychain and many more. The market also sells exotic animal meat, but this is a story for another day. (Day 10 to be uploaded soon)

Do note of its schedule and plan accordingly:

9.00am to 2.00pm Tuesday and Thursday,
6.00am to 6.00pm Friday,
6.00am to 3.00pm Saturday,
9.00am to 4.00pm Sunday.

Not to be outdone by its bitter rival Sydney, Melbourne also offer tourist a free shuttle bus ride around attractions inside the city. (Update: Bad news guys, starting Oct 1,2013 it will now cost $5 for one day ride all you can. Visit the website for more info: http://www.thatsmelbourne.com.au/visitors/transport/shuttle/Pages/VisitorShuttle.aspx) The shuttle operates daily (except Christmas Day), departing every 30 minutes from 9.30am to 4.30pm and the full trip takes 90 minutes. What makes it better than the one is Sydney is that the buses here includes on-board commentary with interesting trivia of places you pass by.

The Shrine of Remembrance was built between July 1928 and November 1934 in remembrance of those 114,000 men and women of Victoria who served and those who died in the Great War of 1914-1918. 89,100 of them served overseas and 19,000 did not return. It is open from 10am to 5pm daily, except on Good Friday and Christmas Day. After arriving, we took several photos of the Shrine. We see several statues on the sides. We then went inside the Sanctuary, and on the center we saw the Stone of Remembrance which has the inscription "GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN". This is actually part of a Bible verse from John 15:13 which says "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends". We also went up the Sanctuary to see the top view of the Shrine. Some parts are still under construction for redevelopment plans by Melbourne government.

Now, we then proceeded to our next stop, the Royal Botanic Gardens. Are you seeing the trend here? Melbourne also has its own Royal Botanic Gardens, just like Sydney. Both are really competitive because they want to be the best Australian city. Established in 1846, the gardens extend over 36 hectares and display an amazingly diverse collection of over 50,000 plants from around the world, including rare and threatened species. Considered one of the finest examples of Victorian-era landscaped gardens in the world, the Royal Botanic Gardens hosts year-round events, picnics, weddings and tours. The garden is open 7.30am – 8pm everyday. Due to time constraint, we were only able to see 1/4 of the Gardens, and we decide to proceed with the next stop, the National Gallery of Victoria.

Founded in 1861, the National Gallery of Victoria is the oldest public art museum in Australia. Its collections range over European, Asian, and Australian art of all periods. The NGV Collection contains over 68,000 works of art and approximately 87% of its records are available for viewing. During our visit we were able to see Asian and European artworks. 2 artworks really caught our attention. Just near the entrance was a beautiful artwork of a deer made in diamonds - PixCell-Red Deer by Kohei Nawa. On the center of the hall is the artwork, clinamen by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot. It composes of porcelain bowls floating in a pool of sky blue water. The bowls float in circular motion and produces nice sound when it hits each other. Better to see for yourself when you can visit.

Up next for today's tour is a visit to the oldest station in Australia, Flinders Street Station. Constructed on 1910, it is the busiest suburban railway station in the southern hemisphere and its 700 metre main platform is the longest in the country. The term "meet me under the clocks" would refer to the clocks above the main entrance which is a famous meeting place for locals.

Just across Flinders Street Station we can see one of Melbourne's most famous tourist attraction, the Federation Square. It is a unique cultural precinct which brings together a creative mix of attractions, museums and galleries, and the finest of dining with its many restaurants, cafes and bars. We also entered the nearby Melbourne Visitor Centre (MVC) and got ourselves free brochures and maps of tourist sites around Melbourne. On the Square is a big TV screen that shows video of people walking around. We can't help but take pictures of us starring in the TV since this is our only chance of fame!

Just across the street from Federation Square, is St. Paul's Cathedral. The Cathedral is built in the neo-Gothic transitional style, that is, partly Early English and partly Decorated.  It was designed by the distinguished English architect William Butterfield, who was noted for his ecclesiastical work.  The foundation stone was laid in 1880. More recently, and completed in 2009, extensive restoration works were carried out.

If you are a fan of street arts, we recommend you guys to visit Hosier Lane. It's just walking distance from Flinders Street Station. The whole place is covered with colorful works of art by different people. We were really amazed at the details of the paintings that covers the walls, windows and even garbage bins.

We then took the free tram ride Elizabeth St-Flinders St to South Wharf to get to our next destination, the Southbank. We started our walking tour at the Melbourne Exhibition Center. Just nearby was DFO, it's a mall that sells clothes, shoes, bags from different brands. Since it was winter season, summer fashion styles were on sale. Walking along the Yarra river, we took pictures of several brightly colored buildings and watched the sunset. We also passed by several steel statues along the bridge.

That is it for day 8, join us tomorrow for adventure in Winter Wonderland!