Melbourne is wet and cold but the harbour view is something else.....

I made the short flight from Canberra to Melbourne Saturday morning, rented a van at the airport and drove (left side) across town to historic Williamstown where I have a small apartment on the Melbourne Harbour. The above picture was taken from my room patio. The weather here is cold and wet and overcast but the scenery more than makes up for it. On Saturday I walked several miles along the prominade and took a short bus tour around the town.

Williamstown was established in the early 1800s and for many years was the major point of entry for immigrants--much like Galveston or Indianola in Texas. This is where many of the convicts sent from England arrived and many of the old buildings seen above were built by convict labor. This is also the location where most of the miners arrived in Australia for the Gold Rush of the later 1800s so it was a pretty wild place for decades. Today it is an upscale historical community full of restaurants and shops.

Despite the fact it's mid-winter, the landscape is green. In the above picture you can see the outline of the city of Melbourne in the background--this is as close to sunshine as I've had the two days I've been here.

I start work tomorrow so the vacation time is over for now.....