june-2010
june-2010
june-2010
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30<br />
Begin with a quick dash through the Melbourne Zoo (Elliot Ave.; zoo.org.au/melbournezoo),<br />
smack in the middle of the spectacular Royal Park. Catch a glimpse of some native Australian<br />
marsupials, then make like a kangaroo and hop away. ( 0:45 )<br />
Stop at The Queen Victoria Market (Queen St. at Victoria St.; qvm.com.au), the largest open-air<br />
market in the Southern Hemisphere, to pick up a cork hat and sample the famous jam doughnuts<br />
at the American Doughnut Kitchen, a mobile carb factory that’s been churning out piping-hot<br />
jam-fi lled pastries for more than 50 years. ( 1:05 )<br />
Wipe your mouth and walk two blocks to La Trobe Street to catch the historic City Circle Tram.<br />
(There’s one every 12 minutes, and the ride is free.) Admire the 19th century architecture as you<br />
rattle past the handsome Princess Theatre, Parliament House and Old Treasury Building, three of<br />
the grandest structures in the land down under. ( 1:35 )<br />
Jump off the tram at Victoria Street and dash into Carlton Gardens (Victoria St. at Rathdowne St.),<br />
a beloved World Heritage Site known for countless European and Australian trees. Look closely<br />
and you may spot a tawny frogmouth, the best-loved and best-named bird in Melbourne. ( 1:50 )<br />
Hop back on the tram, head to Federation Square and pop into The Ian Potter Centre: NGV<br />
Australia (Russell St. at Flinders St.; ngv.vic.gov.au). Zip through the Indigenous Collection, which<br />
houses striking leather and textile works of Aboriginal art, some dating back as far as 20,000<br />
years. On your way out, check the time on the fl oral clock in the Queen Victoria Gardens across<br />
the street. It’s getting late. ( 2:30 )<br />
Curtin House (252 Swanston St.), once home to the Communist Party of Australia, is now a sixlevel<br />
vertical mall fi lled with bars, fashion boutiques and an open-air cinema. Steal a glance at<br />
the city below from the Rooftop Cinema before working your way down to specialist bookstore<br />
Metropolis, where you hunt for anything by Patrick White, the only Aussie ever to win a Nobel<br />
Prize for Literature. ( 3:30 )<br />
It’s time to eat, so you head down to the hot new underground restaurant Izakaya Den (114<br />
Russell St.; izakayaden.com.au) for the sensational tuna tataki. Japan might be 4,500 miles away,<br />
but at this popular sushi and Sapporo joint, it seems just around the corner. ( 4:30 )<br />
Sprint over to the National Sports Museum (Brunton Ave. in Yarra Park; nsm.org.au). After trying<br />
to wrap your head around cricket and Australian rules football, you swing by the “Game On”<br />
exhibit, the museum’s “hands-, feet- and bottoms-on” area, to try the games out yourself. As you<br />
emerge, you’re thankful for the long fl ight, and long nap, ahead of you. ( 5:00 )<br />
BOARDING PASS<br />
If you would like to<br />
wind down one of the<br />
world’s most beautiful<br />
drives—the famed<br />
stretch of blacktop<br />
known as Great Ocean<br />
Road—you’ll need to<br />
take to the sky fi rst.<br />
Count on United to<br />
get you to Melbourne<br />
ready to take it all in.