The train ride from sea level Sydney to 3,120 foot Lithgow took 3 hours through countryside into the Blue Mountains, similar to the Appalachian Range, not too high and no jagged peaks!

.The main street is long and reminiscent of a bygone era.

Alleyways along the street are decorated with artworks like these colorful tiles.

We ended our second night at The Blue Fox, a restaurant a 15 minute walk from our apartment. We settled at a table next to the warm woodstove to take the winter chill off. The waiter shared photos he had of the snow flurries late last night that we missed!

The huge fig tree, the banana plant, the bird’s nest fern backlit by the sun, and the giant tropical plant leaves that make Robert look miniature! And Central Oregon is referenced as home to the largest living organism on Earth!

From one spot the soaring roofs look like conquistador helmets, another angle looks like the open mouth of a humpback whale!

Many of the stone buildings were slated for demolition, but saved by neighborhood efforts and renovated.

The river is brown and looks muddy. I don’t know if that is usual or due to recent rains. There are trees flowering with bright yellow and very fragrant blooms!

Further down the trail we spotted bright colorful parrots. This pair were busy, one on the branch with its head tucked as it preened, the other with its head in a cavity on the tree trunk, perhaps excavating for a nesting site! These are rainbow lorikeets, a native Australian parrot!

Along the trail is a reserve for flying foxes, apparently a larger colony than the one we saw in Albury!

We walked through the reserve area without seeing a single flying fox. We rounded a bend in the river, and there they were! Thousands of the dark pendulous forms hanging in the trees over the river!

We started with a tram ride to The Queen Victoria Market in the center of the city. We wandered through the many stalls in the different sections, meat, fish, produce and lots of clothing and knick-knacks spread over 2 city blocks in 19th century buildings.

From the market we crossed town to the Botanic Garden and meandered along the forest paths.

We then walked along the historic river front where the docks, ship building and repair, and factories were established in the mid 1800’s as Melbourne exploded in population due to the 1852 gold rush.

We completed our circuit of the city back at Docklands where we were staying, visiting the shopping center a few blocks from our hotel. The huge ferris wheel was not operating, maybe not until summer.

An evening walk along Docklands was lit up with city lights.

This morning we woke to a view of hot-air balloons over the city!

We took the bus into the CBD and stopped at the renowned State Library of Victoria. An absolutely fantastic building housing riveting exhibits! The Reading Room is crowned by a dome that lets in natural light.

The details are beautiful!

A current exhibit is about Misleading Information or Misinformation. This section told the story of a PR campaign by Shell oil in the 1960’s “See Australia with Shell”. The marketing used fairies and beautiful iconic Australian images. An artist recreated the scenes using ‘blak’ fairies and a true depiction of the ravages of the oil industry on the natural environment.

Of course books are the main focus in a library, and they have wonderful displays of their collection. This caught my eye, the gray faced flying fox!