AUSTRALIA - DAY FIVE - Williamstown

Previous Blogs: Day 1 Portland & Honolulu | Day 2 Oahu | Day 3+4 Melbourne | Day 5 Williamstown | Day 6 Launceston | Day 7 Cradle Mountain | Day 8 Road to Hobart | Day 9 Port Arthur | Day 10 Apollo Beach | Day 11 Port Fairy | Day12+13 Southern Ports | Day 14 Kangaroo Island | Day 15 Kangaroo Island | Day 16 Kangaroo Island | Day 17 Adelaide | Day 18 Adelaide | Day 19 Adelaide Hills | Day 20+21 Uluru | Day 22+23 Alice Springs | Day 24 Darwin | Day 25 Darwin | Day 26+27 Port Douglas | Day 28 Daintree | Day 29+30 Gold Coast | Day 31+32 Brisbane | Day 33 Brisbane | Day 34-36 Hawaii

Click photos for a larger image...

This morning the day dawned with dark skies and drizzle. Suckwad! Oh, well. We decided to proceed with our plan to go on a boat cruise to Williamstown anyway.

We would not be Captains Bruce and Wendy if we didn't go on a boat at some stage in our travels! Might as well start in Melbourne.

Trams only start running at 10am. First sail was 10.30 but we figured we probably wouldn't make that. However, first tram arrived at 10.02am and even though it stopped half way for some sort of hold up, we power walked the rest of the way and made it just in time for 10.30 departure. Damn....we could have used a beer after that hefty trek!  Sadly the boat didn't offer such.

The boat ride to get there takes about 50 minutes in a small shuttle with indoor and outdoor area.

Williamstown is a quaint waterfront village with loads of restaurants, gift shops and other unique shops.

Most are sidewalk cafes. However Williamstown is known for it's fish and chips!

So we suspended our search for the perfect meat pie and found a local "fish and chippery" and a couple local beers. Lunch $7.50, Beers $5.00. Not bad at all.

Williamstown has many small bungalows to large state homes with Victorian Gingerbread architecture. 

Williamstown has a great view of Melbourne across the bay.  I'm sure it would be gorgeous if the sun was actually shining. 

But, it's not all about the destination. Here's some things we saw along the way...

Flying things...

and ships...

Are we seriously going to fit underneath that bridge???

As always, Wendy buddies up to the captain.  Not sure who was more loquacious - him or her!  Our captain did admit whenever he is on holiday, he always has to go on a boat and kibitz with the captain as well.  We Captains are just drawn to each other that way according to him.

Once we got back to the dock we had one more stop. One of the bridges crossing the river has etched glass sheets on display that depict the immigrants who moved to Australia (as at 2001 when they were made). Like the USA, Australia is a nation of immigrants and this bridge pays homage to that.  Hundreds of these glass panels line the bridge and it is quite fascinating to read each country's immigrant stats (We admit it - we're architecture and stat nerds!)

27% of Australia's current population was born outside the country. That is one in four people you meet!

Many are from Asia due to the country's proximity to the area. About 20% of the population in the major cities is Asian (considerably less in the country).

Australia has a population of 24 million, which is pretty small by US standards given the fact that the countries are almost exactly the same size (USA has population of 324  million -  even little 'ole South Africa - the size of Texas -  is at 54 million)

But this is easily explained - 85% of Australians live within 30 miles of the coast. This is because most of Australia's interior is uninhabitable.

For those outside "home" reading this, we live in Pasco County. 

For those of you from "home" reading this....who wants to do an Ancestry.com to see if Samuel Pasco was related?

Urinals in British Commonwealth countries such as England, Australia and South Africa are not privacy oriented like those in the USA.

It's a stainless steel wall you pee against with a trough below.  Y'all stand side by side and do your thing, eyes straight ahead. 

NO looking down or to the side allowed!