Today, and for the first time, I did some touristy things around my home city, Melbourne. My friend Ben has his Japanese host sister, Emi, over for a few days and we took her around Melbourne doing things like a breakfast on Degraves, shopping, seeing random Melbourne sites and lastly... going on the observation deck on the Rialto! Haha. I never thought I'd ever make it up there but today I did.

It's awesome. I have never seen Melbourne like this before. It is quite the stunning city. Let these photos speak for themselves - Click on them for larger (and better) views.

Crown Entertainment Complex and Southbank,
Albert Park in the distance, Port Melbourne to the right.

This part was rather funny. There were these binoculars that you could use to look into the distance and that was what the instructions on the side (drilled in, no less) of the large heavy metal obstacles that said "For long distance viewing only". Of course we decided to just look into apartment buildings. To our disappointment we didn't find anything too crash hot to write home about, except one guy standing near the window of the Crown Towers peering over the river. How exciting. It is also a Saturday so no chance of spotting CEOs getting happy endings from their secretaries. Damn!

Yarra River, more Southbank, Eureka tower (that tall thing) - World's tallest residential building, and Melbourne Cricket Ground and Melbourne Park off in the distance.

A small portion of the Central Business District,
Flinders St Station and Fed Square


Of course, y'know you can't compare to a view of say New York City which looks something a little like this (taken when I was up on the Empire State Building):


God, I love New York *heart flutters as I look at that photo*. But y'know, Melbourne, like New York, has it's own character that is incredibly strong and unique. That is what I've noticed today... being sorta put in the shoes as a tourist... trying to find out things about Melbourne to show or talk about. Walking down Collins St, I've never really appreciated the buildings and architecture - especially down near the Rialto end. They are beautiful (unfortunately I didn't take any pictures thinking that I'll be in Melbourne for a little while still :P). The ANZ (I think it was) building is incredibly gothic with thorny spires and gargoyles hanging off the edges. In many ways Melbourne is a lot like New York but in many ways it stands apart - like the lack of public transport past midnight... haha, no I'm kidding... well, that's true... but y'know there ARE some good things that Melbourne does have - it's laid back, friendly and accommodating - just to name a few.

After coming down from the Rialto observation deck, we went into the riveting RIALTOVISION and saw the lamest documentary (aka count the cliched tourist spots in Melbourne or simply, a half hour long advert of Melbourne) about the city ever to the equally as cheesy soundtrack. It is even described as "a sight and sound extravaganza". Emi, who's obviously not a Melbournian, fell asleep. I think that just speaks for itself. As for me? I watched it for entertainment purposes and wonder how come I've never even heard of some of these tourist 'hotspots'. Yes, things such as... hmm, oh I can't remember. Something along the lines of "let's ride on a horse around thorny dry bushes, cook up a storm on the barbie with these people with incredibly heavy put-on aussie accents for the sake of the camera and let's chuck our dog on the horse too". Awesome.

We headed home straight after the Rialto as the weather was shit and everyone looked rather tired (I'm sure it was the Rialtovision). I also wasn't feeling too good with my stomach playing up again. I really need to get it checked out again. Grr! Was a fun day though and Emi seemed to be having a good time which was most important. She's a great tourist, very open to the Australian culture and generally all things Australian - she was willing to give up tiramisu to try some sticky date pudding - that deserves some kudos because the term "sticky date pudding" in itself doesn't sound too magnificent in wetting one's palate!