The city has a skyline, and the Yarra River is quite nice.

The next morning we walked over to the National Gallery of Victoria’s Ian Potter Centre to see Australian art. 

One of the displays was about Australian racism and entitled “If I was White,” by Vernon Ah Kee. 

After lunch, we went over to the impressive Melbourne Aquarium, located on the Yarra River. We attended a lecture on sharks and rays, and then looked at the exhibits, which includes a fine set of eels and a lot of penguins.

Next morning, Saturday, we went to the Queen Victoria Market, perhaps the largest market in the southern hemisphere. 

After the market, we walked around within the city center. We walked within several indoor shopping arcades built decades ago. This one, the Royal Arcade, opened in 1870 and has an interesting and working clock built in 1892.

We also visited the Melbourne Museum on Saturday afternoon. It is the largest museum in the Southern Hemisphere.

The next morning we packed up and went back to the airport for a twice–weekly non stop flight to Broome, located on the Indian Ocean in Western Australia. The flight distance is 1,929 miles/3,105 kilometers.

Since Melbourne was quite cool, with on and off rain, we were looking forward to the change of climates to warm and balmy. 

We left San Francisco on 8 May for Auckland, where we transferred to another flight for Melbourne. We arrived on 10 May and will stay for three nights before heading across the country to Broome.