On day 32 I got up pretty early as I had a packed day of things to do and see, as the weather had changed to being lovely and sunny again with temperatures around 28 degrees, I headed back to the MCG to get some pictures of it with some blue skies rather than the ones I had originally taken which were all very dark and grey. After doing this and walking along the champions' parade where all of Australia's most famous sports people have a statue in honour of their achievements. I then headed over to the Rod Laver Arena which is home to the Grand Final of the Australian Open among other activities it also has live concerts from some of the world's biggest music acts, including Muse, Usher, Michael Bublé etc. As well as the Rod Laver Arena the Australian Open is played on other courts surrounding this primary building all situated within the Melbourne Park, the other big stage for the Australian Open is the HiSense Arena which is probably the equivalent to Wimbledon's Court Number One. Having explored Melbourne Park I ventured down to the Olympic park which has the AAMI Arena amongst other sports facilities that have held both the Olympic Games and more recently the Commonwealth Games. As the weather still nice I decided to walk through the main gardens of Melbourne where there is the Myer Music Bowl which again is often used for outdoor concerts providing a great stage for any musician, as well as the Melbourne National Botanical Gardens which were set in a stunning area of the city that provide people the chance to enjoy peace and tranquillity just a couple of minutes from the city, there are lots of different lakes along with rest houses for people who wish to have their lunch with a view of the gardens and the city skyline. It is also a natural habitat for many species of birds and mammals including long necked turtles; having explored this I headed down to La Trobe's Cottage and Domain House - La Trobe's Cottage is a historic cottage in Melbourne, which was built in 1839 by the first Superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales, Charles La Trobe who lived there with his family. When the colony achieved independence from New South Wales in 1851 La Trobe was made the first Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria and, although land had been reserved in Kings Domain as the site for a future Government House, he remained living with his family in this cottage at Jolimont until his departure for England in 1854.

My next stop was to look at the Melbourne Observatory which was founded in 1862 to serve as a scientific research institution for the rapidly growing city of Melbourne, the capital of the colony of Victoria. The observatory was tasked by the Victorian government with maintaining an accurate time reference for the colony through observations of stars using a transit telescope as well as general astronomical research. When at the observatory it was hard not to notice the large building opposite it on the other side of the road, which was the Shrine of Remembrance, a building dedicated to all those who have bravely fought in the wars especially the soldiers who had represented the state of Victoria. It is a site of annual observances of ANZAC Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November) and is one of the largest war memorials in Australia. One of the guides who showed me around the information centre explained about the two Victoria Cross's that they had in their collection and also explained that there was a lot of development going on underneath the Shrine because as it was built on a hill there was a lot of room for them to put rooms underneath in such a way that it blended in with the rest of the shrine and didn't obstruct and take away the impressiveness of the original building and trying not to surround it with tourist museums/buildings like most other monuments do which then distract people from the enormity/beauty of such an incredible building. From the balcony located near the top of the Shrine you could see all the way down St. Kilda road into the CBD of Melbourne along with other iconic landmarks (Flinders Station, Federation Square, Eureka Tower).

When heading back to the CBD I had a look at the International Gallery of Victoria which is between the Victorian University of Arts and the Melbourne Arts Centre, again like most museums it showed an array of different artwork spanning many years from the 1850's to the present day. On my way to meeting Jim I wanted to go to the Eureka tower to take some pictures of The Edge which I previously mentioned I went on the other day when I went up the Tower, which is a 3 metre platform that extends out of the building allowing people to see the bustling city traffic right underneath their feet, so check out the photo's I have uploaded. But whilst taking these pictures I was right outside an Aston Martin, Rolls Royce & McLaren garage, now being an Aston Martin fan I wanted to see if I was allowed to have a look at the cars to which the lady behind the desk said, "of course you can". So I was like a little boy all over again admiring the quality of some true British cars that had been designed and made by some very clever genius's, I thought I would ask if I was allowed to sit in them and also take some pictures and again Cassandra very kindly said I was allowed to, she even took my picture in one! Best day ever! So I now need to make my millions and buy my dream car, she also gave me a special 100 year catalogue about how they make the cars plus a list of the cars they have made plus future developments. After having a very busy and packed day it was nice to meet Jim after he had finished work and have a drink in the restaurant that is under the building where he works which is Roy Morgan Research.