March 2, 2016 – Melbourne, Australia

March 2, 2016 – Flying to Melbourne
This mornings schedule is:
breakfast
8:45am bags outside room
9:10am On bus ready to leave for airport
10:40am flight to Melbourne
This is the first of 9 flights I will be taking over the next 4 weeks. We will stay in most places for 2 or 3 nights following a schedule like the one above. Packing cubes are a necessity on a trip like this to keep everything g organized. When I get to a hotel, I remove the clothes for that stay and leave everything else in the suitcase.
We got to the hotel at 1pm. We had 1/2 hour before we’d go get lunch and do a walking tour of the city. I tried WiFi in the hotel and found out that it costs $10 a day. So my blogs may not come consistently each day for a while.  I found out I can get free internet by joining the hotel chains frequent stay club.  Should be able to blog each day here in Melbourne.
We met the 5 people joining us for the main tour. We walked for 2 1/2 hours all over the city. The temperature was in the 90s. We were all drinking water continually. The highlight was the State Library which is modeled after the Library of Congress. There are many beautiful buildings. Also we walked through an alley where artists are allowed to do art on the walls and, apparently, the dumpsters.
Tomorrow is a prison tour where we will learn about Ned Kelly. We will also go to the Botanical Garden and Victoria Market.