!#5: "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia" Worldcruise's photos around Melbourne, Australia (travel pics)

!±8± "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia" Worldcruise's photos around Melbourne, Australia (travel pics)

Preview of Worldcruise'sblog at TravelPod. Read the full blog here: www.travelpod.com This blog preview was made by TravelPod using the TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow creator. Entry from: Melbourne, Australia Entry Title: "Melbourne, Victoria, Australia" Entry: "Our second stop in Australia, Melbourne, is the capital of the state of Victoria. It is ranked second to Sydney in popularity and there is quite a rivalry between the residents of the two cities. The biggest rivalry, of course, is sporting, specifically rugby and football (soccer). I thought Americans were passionate about their sports (Go Red Sox!), but nothing compares to the Aussies. The city of Melbourne was very nice, but we didn't feel the sense of awe and excitement that we felt in Sydney. We went off for the day into the Yarro River valley and Dandenong Ranges (low-rise mountains) to get a feel for life outside of the city. We traveled on a vintage steam train, the "Puffing Billy" from the township of Belgrave to Menzies Creek. The train is over 100 years old and was revived in the 1950s for short trips. It was quite chilly but it didn't stop the children and teens on board from sitting on the edge of the open-air windows and hanging their legs off the side of the cars. All we could think was that this would never be allowed in the US for safety reasons. One of our friends on board was wearing his new Aussie Outback hat. When he put his head out to take a picture, it went flying off into the woods. So much ...