Day Three - 24 December 2010 Christmas Eve - Arrival in Melbourne.

Weather - Sunny 27°C, light breeze, calm seas

Having a balcony meant we did not need to have an alarm clock as we just left the curtains open a little.  It was quite bumpy coming into the heads of Port Philip Bay.   We opened up the ranch slider and enjoyed the early morning fresh air.  We were amazed at how huge Port Philip Bay was.   It took us about 3hrs to get from the heads to the wharf.  

At the wharf we berthed along side the Spirit of Tasmania II - the inter-island ferry, and the Silver Shadow Cruise Liner, which would ‘shadow’ us on our trip.









Disembarkation onto the wharf was via a ‘shed’, thru customs and the security.  Here we had to line up long a white line, and place all our bags on the other side of the line to be ‘sniffed’ by the beagle!  Then we were released to walk out into Port Melbourne.  We decided we would hail a cab, as it was easier than trying to catch the tram or buses.  Getting a cab was easy, and it was a short ride into Federation Square - $16, very reasonable.

Melbourne was quiet initially for Christmas Eve, so we did our shopping as quickly as possible, which was in hindsight a very good thing as by 11.30 the place was madness.   Pete managed to get two pairs of Kangaroo leather dress shoes for a great price.  (Found out the shop has a branch in Auckland not far from Pete’s work, and if he keeps the style number they will be able to import shoes in the future for him.)

At noon we met with Julie and Dave and Dave’s cousin at Federation Square for a lovely lunch.  Food was great and the company was even better. 




From there we returned to the wharf, again by cab.  At the Wharf there was a small supermarket type shop which we were able to get out wine and water supplies.  They were doing a roaring trade with the two ships, and the internet café was bursting at it seams with crew!  Much cheaper than on the ship, as it was USD$55 for 100 mins, and at the slow satellite speed it is a luxury rather than a necessity.



Diamond Princess from outside the 'Superette' at the Port Shopping Centre




Diamond Princess

  

Silver Shadow

For the departure we ‘hung out’ on the balcony initially, as our cabin was on the wharf side.   As we pulled away we waved to the passengers on the Silver Shadow.  Pete shouted “See you in Hobart” and the response was “Oh yeah!”

Silver Shadow in the forground with the Tasmanian Inter Island Ferry



Small vessel under tow

 Dinner was in the Savoy dining room as we had been to the Santa Fe the night before.   We had the 'free massage table’ for dinner - it had a constant shudder and our waitress Flora made light of the situation very well.  Again the meals were superb, not too large, beautifully presented and divine.   We decided that although we had wine on the deck we would order a bottle between the four of us each night at dinner, either to share or one red and one white over two nights.  (The restaurants hold wine overnight where necessary and it doesn’t matter where you eat, you can order it up.)

As it was Christmas Eve we attended the Christmas Carols on the Atrium, which over three levels - I was able to peer through the rails on one of the marble stairs cases!  Song sheets were handed out to everyone, and we had about an hour of carols.    Pete spent most of this time dashing backwards and forwards to the "Gents" as he had for some reason only known to him, drunk one of those large cans of Fosters beer.   Fosters can only be described as an excellent and inexpensive why to 'flush' ones system in a very short space of time.