And back now on the city side of the river with what is probably Melbourne’s most recognisable view, the entrance to Flinders Street Station.

I wonder if the woman exiting the station had intended to be so well colour-coordinated with the turnstile barriers?

It is increasingly likely that the Australian car industry will be shut down later this decade, with Ford and Holden plant closures already announced. That leaves Toyota as the last man standing, which is unlikely to be a viable proposition. Here we see Melbourne planning ahead and trialing alternatives to it’s current fleet of Ford Falcon taxis…

Melbourne kept on with its network of trams after other Australian cities ripped up their tracks in the 1950’s. For some years now, Swanson Street has been closed to vehicle traffic and left to the city’s trams and bike riders. A good location for anyone wishing to undertake a moment or two of tram-spotting.

Moving into Bourke Street, the heart of Melbourne’s retail area, we find more trams and Christmas decorations. And yes, you read correctly the advertisement on the roof of the tram in the first of these images.  It’s a musical apparently.  I’ll leave it to you to google away and discover the plot. It’s a bit lame, if you get my drift….

This street performer was quite interesting. His party trick is to hold impossibly painful poses for lengthy periods of time. One of the three ‘people’ here is a real person, the other two are mannequins. Take a guess which is which. The answer will be at the end of this post.

Melbourne had its special postal service to the North Pole set up on the corner of City Square. Annoyingly, someone had sprayed their tag on the mail box. This young chap is posting quite a large letter, hopefully he’s included his younger sibling’s wish list as well.

Just next to the mail box is this little puppy, Larry La Trobe. He probably has thoughts of leaving his mark on the letter box as well.

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