When This Baby Hits 88 I Think We're Going to See Some Serious ... Views

My first trip to Melbourne ever was when I drove down the Hume Highway from Albury to Port Melbourne to catch the Spirit of Tasmania to cross the Bass Strait to Devonport, Tasmania for a week away to explore the island state.

The Spirit of Tasmania docked at Port Melbourne
on June 15th, 2016

I Sat by the Ocean

Driving my car onto the Spirit of Tasmania
June 15th, 2016

I didn't get much time to explore Melbourne that day, apart from the Port Melbourne area, as I didn't want to miss the boat to Tasmania, but I would be back in a week's time to spend the weekend in Melbourne.

The Melbourne skyline at night from the Spirit of Tasmania

I remember watching the Melbourne skyline at night while the boat sailed for Tasmania as I was picking out the landmarks of the places I hoped to explore on my return to the mainland in a week's time. 
Going With the Flow in Devonport on My Last Day in Tasmania

I especially wanted to check out the Eureka Tower, Melbourne's tallest building, by hitting the 88th floor.

Eureka ... I found my admission ticket:-)

Looking out to the Spirit of Tasmania
 docked at Port Melbourne

Eureka Tower
"The observation deck (Eureka Skydeck 88) occupies the entire 88th floor of the Eureka Tower and is the highest public vantage point in a building in the Southern Hemisphere at 285 m (935 ft)."

A red stripe representing the blood spilt
during the Eureka revolt

"Eureka Tower is named after the Eureka Stockade, a rebellion during the Victorian gold rush in 1854. 
This has been incorporated into the design, with the building's gold crown representing the gold rush and a red stripe representing the blood spilt during the revolt.
The blue glass cladding that covers most of the building represents the blue background of the stockade's flag and the white lines also represent the Eureka Stockade flag. 
The white horizontal stripes also represent markings on a  
surveyor's measuring staff."

The Eureka flag is today on display
at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery

Swearing allegiance to the Eureka flag, 1854

This seemed like a bizarre piece of artwork at the Eureka building

The Eureka building behind Flinders Street station

Kind of reminded me of Flinders Street station, that mouth

The first real Melbourne icon I drove past coming off the boat from Tasmania was Luna Park. 
I didn't get to visit the park when I was down in Melbourne, the closest I got was when I snapped the above pictures while stopped at a red light in traffic.
Later when I saw Flinders Street railway station I couldn't help comparing the entrances to both, thinking, Flinders Street station kind of had a "Mr Moon" face entry, as well:-)
Luna Park, Melbourne
"The main historic features of the park to remain include the iconic "Mr Moon" face entry and flanking towers (1912, restored 1999), the Scenic Railway (1912), which is the oldest continuously operating roller coaster in the world, and the carousel (1913 restored 2000). Other historic attractions include the Ghost Train (1934), and the fairytale castle-style Dodgem's Building constructed to house the newly patented ride in 1927 (the ride itself was relocated from the first floor of this building to the ground level in the late 1990s). 
The park also includes many modern attractions such as the Crazy Coaster roller-coaster, the Spider, a Ferris wheel, and other mechanical thrill-rides."

A window cleaner outside floor 88 of the Eureka building

The first thing to greet me on the 88th floor was the shadow of a guy outside the building cleaning the windows.
The sight of this guy's shadow sent chills up my spine, as I could never do that job he was doing and if we were to swap positions in the building right at that moment I would have froze in terror.

I looked down from inside the building to the street and couldn't imagine there would be enough money in the world to get me to be a window cleaner on this building.

The outdoor part of the observation deck has only fence wire as a barrier

'The Terrace' looking towards the MCG

"There is a small outside area called 'The Terrace' which is closed in high winds. 
There is also a glass cube called 'The Edge', which extends itself from the building to hang over the edge of the tower and add to the viewing experience."

Looking at the MCG and Ammi Park
where I would spend the weekend

My view of the MCG at the
Brisbane Lions/Richmond Tigers game, 2016

My view of Ammi Park at the
Melbourne Storm/Wests Tigers game

88 floors above the Melbourne street level

Looking down at Flinders Street station, bottom centre

I was born on the 23rd and my middle
name is Sydney, not Sidney though:-)

Looking down at Flinders Street railway station

Rain hitting the window with a storm forecast to hit Friday afternoon

Looking at the Yarra River snaking
 through the Melbourne CBD

Being from Brisbane and being used to the wide river that runs through our city I couldn't believe how narrow the Yarra River was compared to the Brisbane River.
The Yarra looked like a big creek, more than a river. 

Crossing the Yarra River on a bleak Friday afternoon

The Spirit of Tasmania would lose
 a passenger overboard tonight

I remembered looking out at the Spirit of Tasmania docked waiting to leave for Devonport tonight (pictured above) thinking with a storm forecast for that afternoon I was glad not to be making the journey over, as the night before (Thursday, June 23rd) on the water was choppy enough. 
But on this night (Friday, June 24th) when the boat sailed a passenger would jump overboard to his eventual death, spending an hour in the water while crew tried to rescue the man, only for him to disappear under the ship without being found.  
The ships wouldn't make dock until around the middle of the day, after a fruitless search for the man overboard.

My 'Spirit of Tasmania' ferry ticket
from Devonport to Melbourne

Search for missing Spirit of Tasmania ferry passenger called off on medical advice
"Police have called off the search for a man who went overboard from the Spirit of Tasmania after medical experts advised it would have been impossible for him to survive.
Passengers on the Spirit of Tasmania I saw the 45-year-old Ballarat man go overboard about 11:40pm, when the ship was about 43 nautical miles south-east of Victoria's Port Phillip Heads.
The ship was traveling from Melbourne to Tasmania, but by the time it turned around, there was no sign of the man, who is yet to be identified."
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said the search was suspended at 12:00pm, based on expert medical advice that the man could not have survived past that time.
The water temperature in the area was about 12 or 13 degrees, with waves of up to two metres and winds of up to 25 knots.
Victoria Police are investigating with the assistance of Tasmania Police but the death is not being treated as suspicious.
Sergeant Paul Bartlett, from Victoria's Water Police, said police were examining clothing and identification found by merchant vessels in the search area.
Sergeant Bartlett said survival time would have been "very limited in [the] conditions".
"Hypothermia would limit their capability of survival," he said."
Search for man who fell overboard from Spirit of Tasmania 
"The rescue mission was hindered by massive swells and darkness with the man eventually disappearing under the water.
It is understood he was last seen swimming towards the large ship, rather than the emergency craft, and was sucked under the boat. An extensive 12-hour search failed to find him, leaving authorities to presume he drowned.
Witnesses have told how the man was chatting with other passengers on the top deck just after 11.30pm on Friday when he swore and then jumped over the rail. 
Passenger Kent Scannell described the frantic scenes that ensued. He said the man was in the water for over an hour as the crew tried to rescue him with an emergency boat and threw him ropes and an inflatable device.
“I was on deck acting as an observer to keep an eye on him. He was screaming for help and I looked him in the eye as he drifted past,” Mr Scannell said.
“The crew were doing everything they could but in the end they were endangering their own lives. They circled and circled and the life raft was getting smashed against the ship.
Mr Scannell said the man was wearing a life jacket when he jumped. Another passenger said they believed the life jacket had been thrown to him from the ship.
Items of the man’s clothing were found in the water by a merchant vessel. But his body could not be found."

A show on channel 9 about the Skydeck
on that Friday night I was there

The weird thing also about my day in Melbourne is that when I got back to my motel room that night there was a local show on TV about Melbourne tourist attractions with a segment about the

88th floor of the Eureka building. 

"Skydeck 88 features 'The Edge' – a glass cube which projects 3 m (10 ft) out from the building with visitors inside, suspended almost 300 m (984 ft) above the ground. 
When one enters, the glass is opaque as the cube moves out over the edge of the building. 
Once fully extended over the edge, the glass becomes clear."
I wasn't going to pay the extra cash to go on 'The Edge', as I was already on edge and wanted to get down below the height a fire ladder could reach me if this building suddenly caught fire, cutting off the 13 lifts (that's right 13, which I'm sure if this was a casino would have one more, or one less lift in the building) operating in the building.

Highest post box in Australia?
Really??

Seeing this mailbox on the 88th floor I couldn't help thinking that the highest post box was more likely to be in Nimbin, Australia's unofficial drug capital:-)

Nimbin, Australia's unofficial drug capital

I visited the Eureka building under the impression that I could say that I have been in Australia's tallest building, but I discovered that as far as official recognition goes, I already had the day I visited the Q1 in my home state, even though it is only 77 stories high, as I wrote about in this post in the link below -
Neuromancer, Pirates, Pearls and Lightbulbs???