Day 17: Arriving in Melbourne

Today was a travel day out of Brisbane and in to Melbourne. We left "The Gabba" around 7am and caught our flight (with considerably less difficulty this time) to Melbourne at 9:30. Immediately upon arrival here it became obvious that this is the artistic and cultural capital of the country.
It is reminiscent of a San Francisco or Los Angeles in America, with a very eclectic group of people ranging widely in their dress, culture and interests. We encountered several musicians, skateboarders, as well as some peculiarly dressed people with no real discernible  talent or skill hanging out on the street.

Federation Square in downtown Melbourne

After getting settled in to our new dorm, which are even nicer than our last ones, we went out to see some of the city as a group. We took their New Orleansesque street car system downtown and explored the sprawling Royal Botanical Gardens here. While certainly larger than what we saw of Sydney's, these gardens did not quite have the view that the garden on Sydney Harbor did. There was definitely an array of massive ancient trees and amazing plants spread throughout the park, however.

Massive tree I tried to climb

We had a fantastic dinner in an alley of restaurants where several of us ordered the chicken parmigiana (one of the lower priced items) and a round of drinks. After dinner we went and explored the alley and found a really lively area with lots of dining options and people out having fun.