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Health & Fitness

Marvelous Melbourne, Australia

Victoria is a wonderful state, sports events like tennis, golf,horse racing all take place in Melbourne its capital boasts the greatest collection of Victorian architecture outside of England.

I arrived in Melbourne to attend the Aussie Specialists' Conference and was delighted that it was at the same time the Melbourne Cup was being held.

Melbourne is known for its championship sports events, horse racing, sailing, tennis, golf, and fashion. This is a wonderful town to buy the latest in fashions.    Anything you can find in Europe, you can buy here at a lower price. 

The nation stops for three minutes every year when the Flemington Race Track hosts the Melbourne Cup. It is so much fun to see every lady in the town dressed up like the dog’s dinner with a spectacular hat. It was just like the Ascot Races in England.

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A great unique tour to explore is the historic "Arcades and Alleyways" filled with wonderful little shops tucked away off the normal pathways. Whereas many places in Australia have residents mostly of British background, Melbourne is very cosmopolitan with wonderfully diverse foreign restaurants and shops.    

Melbourne has the largest collection of Victorian architecture outside of Great Britain. Wonderful old mansions, gardens, and wrought iron gates and balconies which were used as ballist for the sailing ships in the 1800’s.

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One of the most interesting places to visit is the Queen Victoria market. There are 1,000 stalls selling food, flowers, crafts, fashion, and its fun to explore then have a coffee and pastry and watch the world go by. It opens at 6:00 a.m. and you would be surprised at the hustle and bustle so easy in the morning.

A very popular tour is to Philip Island to see the 30,000 fairy penguins march in a column out of the sea each night at dusk to sleep in the sand dunes. I sat in the pouring rain, looking very fashionable in a plastic poncho on a seat in the bleachers while they take two hours to come ashore. They take a few steps then rest, talking all the time, so you have a front row seat. It’s a three hour-journey from the city but it is worth it.

Free transportation within the city, excellent museums, art galleries, and theatre.  Easy town to get around. One of the best places for shopping is at the airport.  I always end up buying a woolen sweater which is a good buy.

The old historic gold mining town of Bendigo is a sister city to Los Altos and well worth visiting.

The Mornington Peninsula, just an hour’s drive from Melbourne, has some wonderful golf courses, and it’s a great food and wine destination for travelers. I normally don’t recommend anyone driving a car in Australia since the distances are so vast. However, one lovely journey is the Great Ocean Road, Melbourne to Adelaide; it takes four days and there are some lovely little sea side towns to explore along the way.

Famous for its wine region, the Yarra Valley has several lovely lodges to stay in, and it's worth the hour’s drive to perhaps see the valley in a hot air balloon.    There are over seventy award-winning wineries to explore, and the view of the Dandenong mountain range is gorgeous.

Maureen Jones is president of All Horizons Travel at 160 Main Street in Los Altos. Members of her staff are experts in business travel, cruises, and all types of leisure.

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