One of the more interesting pieces of art in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct is ‘Cow Up A Tree’. Sculptured by artist John Kelly the cow was designed for a sculpture exhibition in Paris on the beautiful Champs Elysees for the millennium in 2000. The Cow up a Tree sculpture was later installed overlooking Victoria Harbour in 2003 and has become a much loved icon of Melbourne’s thriving Docklands precinct. The cow itself is made of bronze and painted black and white, and depicts a surreal image of a cow based on an Australian flood image. The cow is caught upside down in an Australian gum tree after the flood. The cow itself is designed as a tribute to Australian painter Sir William Dobell who began painting stylized cows during the Second World War as a decoy for airfields. The cow features a quirky long neck and very square body with some interesting camouflage like markings.
Melbourne Australia is known for it’s Philip Island fairy penguins but now penguins from the Antarctic are finding their home in this great city. A magnificent new exhibit costing $28 million dollars has just opened at the Melbourne Aquarium featuring five king penguins and 13 very inquisitive gentoo penguins. Bred in captivity these majestic birds have been the biggest attraction these school holidays with thousands of families visiting the aquarium to enjoy these amazing creatures. The enclosure is kept at Antarctic temperatures and is covered in shaved ice and snow there is also a huge pond where the penguins can dive and play. Visitors can view the penguins both on the snow and from a huge glass pane window on the pond. The Melbourne Aquarium is the only place you can see either King or Gentoo penguins in Australia. The aquarium also features a very interesting Antarctic exhibition so visitors can not only see and learn about the penguins but learn a bit about this cold and mysterious southern continent. Read the rest of this entry »
The Southern Star is a new observation wheel that has recently opened in Melbourne’s Docklands. The 120-metre high revolving structure rotates at 11 metres per minute and is the only observation wheel in the southern hemisphere. The wheel houses 21 fully-enclosed, air-conditioned cabins with huge floor to ceiling glass windows and are reminiscent of London Eye’s cabins. The wheel is part of new development at docklands that brings a lot of outlet shops to the the area. Melbourne’s Docklands is part of an urban renewal project that has been underway since the late 90’s with compleation expected to come around 2015. The video above is of the wheel under construction, hit up the link below for more info and a webcam over at their official site. Read the rest of this entry »
Crown Casino in Melbourne is Australia’s largest entertainment precinct being home to the one of the world’s biggest gaming facilities, the city’s best restaurants, clubs, bars and exclusive shopping. Another huge attraction is the nightly fireball or Gas Brigades show which explode into the night sky every night between dusk and midnight (except for bad weather). The huge flames explode out of eight 10 metre high towers and the gas flame can reach sizes of 7 metres in diameter and are the largest ever created in the world all programed with a state of the art computer system. Crown Casino is currently planning the biggest Australian hotel to accompany it’s already huge complex. The $300 million dollar project will feature another 658 rooms bringing the Casino’s rooms to more than 1600 and will feature new convention facilities, bars, restaurants and a huge new retail showcase. It is hoped the new wing will open in May of 2010 in time for the $140 million dollar refurbishment the Casino is currently undertaking. Read the rest of this entry »
St Kilda is a seaside suburb of Melbourne Australia and is home to two of the city’s most iconic buildings Luna Park amusement park and the Palais Theatre. When built in 1927the theatre was one of the largest in the southern hemisphere and was used primarily for a picture theatre but today it is used for live performances hosting some of the world’s biggest names, they have included the likes of the Rolling Stones, Kiss, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and INXS who used the theatre in their Listen Like Thieves video clip. The building is one of Australia’s finest examples of Art Deco and has been placed on the Victorian Heritage Register. The building is planned to be restored to it’s former glory as part of a controversial redevelopment of the area surrounding the theatre. Read the rest of this entry »
The Sofitel Hotel in Melbourne offers one of the best views of the city while you are doing your business. Huge panoramic windows offer spectacular views of Melbourne’s eastern suburbs and a magnificent view of the Melbourne Cricket Ground and sporting precinct from the 35th floor. The 5 star 363 room hotel makes up the upper floors of the Collins Place twin towers which design was inspired by the World Trade Centre in New York. The Towers are also home to major tenants ANZ Bank and has a host of theatres, boutiques, bars and cafes at the basement underneath a huge glass and steel canopy. Read the rest of this entry »
Melbourne’s W class trams are a well known icon of Melbourne that date back to the early 1920s. A main part of Melbourne’s transport system until the 1990s Today the trams are a tourist drawcard operating free on the city circle line as well as at night converted to restaurant trams. Interestingly Melbourne is not the only place in the world where you will see the iconic trams operating as a tourist trolly, a few of the 748 Melbourne built trams were exported to the US in the 70s and 80s and today can be seen operating in San Francisco, Seattle, San Jose, New Orleans, Dallas and Portland. The youtube video above is of a Melbourne tram turning onto San Franscisco’s Embarcadero. There are also some W class trams operating in Auckland and Christchurch New Zealand. Read the rest of this entry »
The Melbourne Museum is the one of the newest and largest museums in the Southern Hemisphere housing a permanent collection in eight galleries, including one just for children and areas for huge traveling exhibitions. The most love treasure of the museum is Pharlap which is renowned as Australia’s greatest racehorse, thousands visit the museum just to view this magnificent animal. The museum features an IMAX theatre and the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Centre which is one of Australia’s finest collection of Australian indigenous culture. The museum isn’t all glass cabinet displays it is a multi media learning centre for young and old and even features an amazing living rain forest complete with animals and plant life in it’s heart. Children love the dinosaur galleries with huge skeleton of a diprotodon, Tarbosaurus, Tsintaosaurus and other huge prehistoric beasts. Read the rest of this entry »
Legendary rock group Kiss will be the star attractions along with the best of Formula One motorsport and the mighty Australian V8 Supercars at the Australian Grand Prix held in Melbourne, March next year. The band has had a long history of playing special concerts in Melbourne, they recorded a television special there a few years back with a one of concert with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with classical music set to their greatest hits. The Melbourne Grand Prix is the first event on the 2008 Grand Prix calendar and promises to be huge with several hundred thousand people attending over the four day event. Held beautiful Albert Park with sweeping views of the city the Grand Prix is regarded one of the world’s best and with next years special guests Kiss it promises to be even better.
The Queen Victoria Market has been an institution in Melbourne Australia for over 125 years. With over a 1000 stalls selling just about everything from fresh meat, fish and vegetables to clothing, housewares and the unusual the market attracts tens of thousands of shoppers every day. Built on Melbourne’s first cemetery the market covers seven hectares of the city with most of it undercover. The market opens Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays with a huge Sunday market which sells mainly fashion and variety items being the biggest day. Over the warmer months a popular night market is held on Wednesdays where there is gourmet food, wine tasting and plenty of entertainment. A trip to Melbourne is not complete without visiting the QV.
