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A Virtual Tour of Melbourne

Seminars@Hadley

A Virtual Tour to Marvelous Melbourne: The Most Livable City Down Under

Presented byMaribel Steel

Moderated byDawn Turco

You’re listening to seminars at Hadley. This seminar is A Virtual Tour to Marvelous Melbourne: The Most Livable City Down Under, presented by Maribel Steel, moderated by Dawn Turco.

Dawn TurcoGood afternoon and welcome to today's Seminars@Hadley. I'm Dawn Turco, and I am moderating today's seminar. We are going down under. The title of today's seminar is A Virtual Tour to Marvelous Melbourne: the Most Livable City Down Under. I'm delighted to bring back a presenter from a prior seminar, and perhaps you'll recognize the name, Maribel Steel. Maribel did a seminar with us last year on Blogging: The 10 Tips to Get You Started. So she is an experienced blogger, author, inspirational speaker, and today a tour guide to her beloved city.

©2014 The Hadley School for the Blind of 46


I'm embarrassed to tell you, but we're friends, I'll tell you the way. I'm embarrassed to say that my first knowledge about Australia came from Crocodile Dundee. So for the Americans online here, those movies are a few years old, so it's a good time for updating. And I so one to visit Australia one day, and after visiting with Maribel, I have added her city to the list of must-sees. So anyway, we are going to get started. And, Maribel, I will be turning the microphone over to you in just a sec, so get yourself settled. And everybody else, welcome today’s Seminars@Hadley. We are on our way to Australia. Maribel, the microphone is yours.

Maribel SteelAha, I'm here. I'm now looking down into my cockpit and ready to take you across the oceans. As you relax there, thank you all for coming. And, yes, we're in Melbourne. Wow, that was quick. So thank you, Dawn, and I’m looking forward to bringing some beautiful sensations, sights, textures, sounds of Melbourne. Yes, we have improved and advanced a little bit from Crocodile Dundee. And one of the things, we don't have kangaroos jumping around in the streets. What I'm going to do here is I've got some notes that I’m going to read from. And my



presentation today consists of a brief intro of why I am the visually impaired tour guide of our family.

Then I'm going to give you some tips before you travel and some things that you might find handy to know. Then I'm just going to deliver a brief early history of Melbourne. And then we get into the mix of our or by getting around, and we're going to talk about some things of interest. And we're going to be leading up to a very special section that Dawn is helping me with, and I think I'll just keep that up my sleeve at the moment because I'm so looking forward to this very unique thing we're going to be doing. And near the end, I'm going to sort of recap on some of the places we've been. And we're going to then hand over for some questions and answers.

So, I am locked in as far as I know, and we're going to get started. So thank you everybody for coming, and introduction now is I'm Maribel Steel. I live in Australia. I was actually born in the UK, but I immigrated with my family to Melbourne when I was about six. So I've been here most of my life, apart from a few other places I've lived with family. Where I am now, I live in a beautiful leafy suburb of Melbourne called Peron, and that is about 4 miles out of the central district. So it's very close. It's a lovely tram ride away, about a 25-minute tram ride. And we're



going to talk about trams in a little while. So it's fairly central. So there is definitely something for everyone in this beautiful, vibrant city.

I'm looking at my notes here… The city is very friendly, and I also find it very easy to get around, which is one the reason why I asked Dawn would she like to do this presentation with me because people may not know how accessible Melbourne is. I find it very easy. It's a fun and vibrant city. And when I'm out and about, it's not hard to get help if I'm feeling a bit lost. I find that Melbournians a very relaxed people, they're friendly, and they often will be quite astute. They can tell if somebody is needing a hand and they're not afraid to come up and ask.

So I am often standing on a street corner, which doesn't sound too good, feeling a bit lost, wondering where I'm going. Then someone might come up and offer some help, so that's great. And what’s lovely is that you get chatting and you get to meet lots of people. Melbourne is a very multicultural city, so there are lots and lots of sounds of international tourists. The smells of international food is quite beautiful as you walk around the streets, and t's just a really cruisey place. So it’s great for the visitor that has never been because you can just take your



time. It's really, really relaxed. You can walk along the river.

We're going to get into some of the places that we can go in a little while. But I guess with this intro, I'm just trying to portray that it's worthwhile coming. As I said, most people are aware of access. If you've got a white cane or a guide dog, they're very helpful. Just passing through my notes here… Accessibility – I wanted to let you know that in terms of accessibility here in the city of Melbourne, we're talking today about the CBD more than say travelling outside of Melbourne, which in an hour’s direction, you can go to lots and lots of different places. But today, we’re just staying in the heart of Melbourne. And basically on every street corner where there are traffic lights, we have audible beepers. So you can feel pretty confident in getting across any road.

We have all the tactile markers on the pavements leading to the important places like crossings, bus stops, tram stops. We have them on the ground in buildings to lead you to front doors. The tactile markers run along in stations to help you get to different platforms. They're just everywhere, so it's great to have that tactile assurity. When I'm crossing roads, I have a little bit of vision. I didn’t mention that I have RP, retinitis pigmentosa, so I function using



contrasts. And I find the tactile markers on the ground very helpful in guiding me because I could see a little bit of those white bumpy bits, and that will guide me to where I need to go.

There are also braille displays in certain places, and especially in lifts. So if you're in a building and you're used to using braille, a lot of the lifts now have audio as well as braille buttons to find your way around. So in terms of getting around like that, I find that I've been to other places like France and other places in Europe, but they have bollards in the way where you're walking down the street. Whereas, here it's pretty clear. We're also quite an expansive city. In terms of our streets, they can be quite wide which were built in the 1850s because they were allowing for the bollard carriages and carts to be able to turn in the streets. So we have very wide streets.

How I began to be a tourist in my home city came from the fact that when I went to France, I was traveling back on the plane and I was thinking about, wow, the places we've been, and wasn’t it great that I researched before I went. And I suddenly thought, I don't think I know Melbourne as well as I know Paris. I had so many websites and so many things to see and do written on a list so that when we were there, I wouldn't run out of ideas. And although we



couldn't do all of them, I did feel well prepared that if something came up and we were in a certain district, then maybe we could go into this thing.

So I was quite shocked with myself that I didn't really know my own city. So I promptly decided to appoint myself as the family tour guide, and what I discovered has been absolutely amazing as we have gotten out and about and poked around like tourists in our hometown to really appreciate a lot of the things that are here. There are so many things we never knew, and at the end of my talk, I am going to give Dawn a list of several websites of some of the places that we talk about, and then you can follow that up later and read through.

Particularly one, there is a great audio on Melbourne Central, and I'll be giving you the link to that. So that's what I did. I just decided that I’d have to subscribe to some emails, and week by week I started to comb through what was here and would drag my family out. And my friends went, wow, we didn't know that existed either. So before long, I had everybody coming along. So that's a little bit of the intro. And we're going to move on to what I have as part two which is before you leave, some things that you may want to know.



Take a little breath as a change papers. I'm using my CCTV here on a negative background to read my notes, because these will help me remember what I want to talk about. Part Two: Tips and Info Before You Leave. So, where exactly is Melbourne? Well, first Australia has six states and two territories. The population of Australia itself is 23,851,658, with one more coming very soon when my grandson is born in about a couple weeks’ time. Melbourne itself is the capital city of the state of Victoria, and we are in the southeastern part of Australia. So we're just below New South Wales, and we're just above the state of Tasmania.

So in Melbourne, we have a population of 4.1 million. There are 31 municipalities within this area, which is just in Melbourne. So I've found some interesting facts that I thought you might find interesting too. There are approximately 805,000 people that use the city daily. So these people commuting, tourists, business people, shops retail – no wonder it's a hub of activity because there's just so much going on. We also receive over one million international visitors each year. So obviously there's something to see here.

I’ve got point number two – how long is the flight from, say, New York as a guide. Well, the flight time from



New York to Melbourne, and I like this Dawn because it has minutes, is 21 hours and 13. So don't be late. What are the best times to travel in terms of the seasons? Well, don't forget that our seasons are opposite to the northern hemisphere, so you need to just take that into consideration when you're planning the trip and what you might want to do here. For instance, your winter is our summer, and your spring is our autumn. So we are just coming out of the tail end of winter, thank goodness. It's been a cold one.

When you come will also depend on what you're coming to do. So for instance, I would say the best months, the kinder months in terms of our extreme temperatures, because it can get very hot and very cold, the autumn months for us are March to May. And these are pretty good times to come out. There are lots of festivals going on, lots of events that don't happen during the year. The other good reason is that the locals and the children are back at school. So we have our big long holiday from the December to February, that's our summer six-week vacation.

And sometimes in January, which is our height of summer, it can be a bit quiet around here because people have gone away. But then that might be a great time if you want to come and poke around



because there are a few less people. The other good time to visit is inspiring which is September to November when it’s just starting to warm up a little because winter here can actually get cold. It's been the coldest winter here I think just this one that we're coming out of for the last 20 years or something. We do get snow on the mountains that are just outside of Melbourne a couple of hours away. So you can come for skiing too if you want, but maybe you've got better places there for snow.

So that's just some of the times that I would suggest you might want to visit. Autumn and spring are pretty good. Now, I have a tip here. It says pack for all seasons when coming to Melbourne. It's quite known here; the locals have a saying that if you wait a while, the weather will change. We can tend to get four seasons in one day. We can have a plummet of temperature of 20°. So it's good to bring a shower coat, an umbrella, maybe a warm jumper, and your shorts and a T-shirt. These things will get you by. That’s worth knowing.

The other tip I have is a bit like what I did for going overseas is research first. Subscribe to a couple of our local websites, which I'll give you the links later, because it really does help know what's there. And just spend a few weeks in advance combing through



some stuff, getting to know the place. It will certainly help you when you arrive because the sounds of places won't be so new to you, and you'll have a bit of better orientation to our landscape. And I've got why come to Melbourne. Hmm, good question. Well, you can have fun here. It's a pretty fun place.

There are really so many choices, depending on if you want to go to the beach, do the arts, walk around, have fun, eat, gorge on beautiful food. We are coffee mad here in Melbourne, so there are just cafes galore. And we have beautiful architecture dating back to the 1800s which is about the latest you'll get here. It's fairly easy to get around is another reason for coming. Why it's easy to get around is because our city is built on a system called the Hoddle Grid, and that just means that our streets run parallel to each other. And so it just makes the CBD very simple.

Once you orientate yourself to the center, you're going to just go in parallel lines to where you need to get to. One little thing though is be aware that there are lots of pedestrians on mobile phones in the city, and I find them a little bit of a hazard. I do have a few collisions because they're looking at their phone, which maybe isn't just for Melbourne, but it's something to be aware of. And we also have bi-car in



the city. So that means they're quite a few cyclists whizzing around. So just be aware that you need to keep an ear out for those as well.

The other reason to come, like I said, it's a feast for the senses. There really are places where you can touch and smell or taste so many things, which I'm going to suggest in just a minute, and the music and buskers are everywhere. Melbourne just pulses through the city streets with the sound of music. Oh, that sounds like a good title for a film. It's everywhere, on corners, in Bourke Street, in the markets, it's really lovely, music from all different cultures. And also art – there's world class art here. Exhibitions that we often go to are brought out here from all around the world.

So even though we are quite a distance away, I do feel very in touch with the world with all these things that come across as exhibitions in our city. And also Melbourne known as the UNESCO City of Literature. We are the creative city. And the last reason to come is because your US dollar will go a lot further, so you'll get more value for your buck. And you might be interested to know, as a local person myself being blind, there are benefits that I get in terms of accessibility. I get free public transport because I use a special travel card for the blind and



vision impaired. So I can get on trams, trains, buses and country travel for free, which is great.

I only have to pay half fare taxis when I go places, so that helps me heaps. And I have a companion card which means that whoever is my sighted helper that comes with me to an event, to a performance, or to the cinema, a gallery, any place like that, they get in for free as my sight of companion, and then I pay my concession. So that is a pretty good deal. Now, that is for locals, and I don't think that’s for visitors. But I was just pointing that out because it helps to know how embraced I feel as someone with a disability living in Melbourne.

And my last tip before you get here is being realistic with your time, so being aware that we need extra time. To get the best out of your trip, narrow down your choice of what you want to do, and really enjoy those things in the heart of Melbourne, rather than trying to spread yourself too thin and not really settling in to those delights that you could just take a little longer to enjoy. So there are my tips. Oh, I have one little fact before we move onto our brief history.

Here's a funny thing – in 1910, 20,000 people came to watch the famous Harry Houdini dive into the Yarrow River, which is our river here. He was locked in



chains as he normally did, and he dived in from the Queen's Bridge. And after 25 seconds, he came up laughing. Well, I don't think I'm going to try that. So we're going to move right along. And I hope you don't mind a little time check on my little talking watch. Okay, whoa. Doesn’t time fly when you're having fun? I have a brief history. I'm wondering whether to do that because we have this special thing to play you. Maybe I'll just quickly talk about a couple of things, and rush into what to do.

So basically to give you, the Yarrow River is our river. It is an aboriginal word, yarrow-yarrow which means river that flows. And it winds along the banks where our city is built. Basically, we were built from the Gold Rush days which is where Melbourne got its wealth and became known as one of the richest cities in the world. That was in the 1850s. In 1801 and 1803, Matthew Flinders circumnavigated the continent. So he's the guy that we named our Flinder Street Station after. You may have heard of Flinder Street Station. It's the main area, and it's right in the heart of Melbourne that people can travel to and from.

Now, I’m going to move straight into some of the things here. Thank you, and I hope you're sitting back and, yes, still waiting to know but what do we do in



the heart of Melbourne? Okay, well, I've told you Melbourne’s vibrant. Yes. I've said come prepared. Yes. Now, we're going to start in Federation Square which is a beautiful place. It's right in the heart of Melbourne, and it's buzzing and vibrant, center of our city. It's across the road from Flinder Street Station where you might find yourself coming out from wherever you've been, to the airport, or where you're staying in the heart of Melbourne.

Now, my first tip here is to pick up the Melbourne booklet at the tourist Visitor Center which is right there. It’s easy to find. I did this recently, and I found that there's a booklet that comes out each season, and inside it has discount coupons. So you can get some discounts to some of the things going on in the city. It's well worth picking up this book from the Melbourne Visitors Center, which is open seven days a week. Now, how you get around Melbourne is either on foot, there's a shuttle bus, and there are trams. So you can stroll in and take the delicious smells of coffee and food. You can listen out for the buskers and the music.

But what I've found is that there are walking tours, and there are several actually to choose from. When I read them online, I was really excited, and I'm going to be trying some of these myself. So when you go



online, you can also download an app for iPhones that gives you a guide to follow certain destinations depending on the walking tour you've chosen. So there are brochures on the web that you can also download and read through. Some of them you can walk through.

There are 471 [Inaudible 00:26:09] days of parkland. That's a lot, but I wouldn't do that all in one day. So if you’re doing a walking tour, that's great. You can just follow that guide. The other way to get around is called the Melbourne Visitor's Shuttle Bus. And it's a hop on, hop off service. It costs about $10 for the weekend, and it has 13 stops along key city destinations. So that's a pretty great way to get around. It also has an onboard commentary, so you'll be able to ask the bus driver about places, and I'm sure he’d be very helpful. It runs very regularly, and it's well worth trying out getting around.

So exploring with all the senses – we have old arcades and quaint laneways dating back to the 1800s. There are beautiful cathedrals and historic buildings. When I go inside, you can really feel the ambience, very beautiful. We have a lovely arts center, and outdoor sculptures to feel. There is also the waterfront and the river where you get a beautiful ambience of the city. You can walk and rest in some



of our lush parks and gardens. Botanical Gardens is one of our favorites.

And there are amazing galleries. And my tip here is that if you want to go into a gallery, I would go to the gift shop because you can actually touch the merchandise. So sometimes in the galleries, they represent what’s on exhibition, and obviously you can't touch the exhibition. But you can certainly go into the gift shop and have a little feel around. And naturally, you can shop ‘til you drop. Melbourne is just a hive of retail therapy. I'll come with you. Just tell me when you're here, I'll come. Now, the other way to get around are trams, and there is a free city trams that goes around the center with a commentary as well.

So any of those forms of transport are pretty easy. There's a little treat that if you wanted to splurge out, you can book a romantic dinner for two on a colonial tram restaurant which is a very private, beautifully decked out 1920s tram, plush, plush interior. I know because we've done this one time for Valentines. It was just a beautiful experience, very special. There's food galore in Melbourne. Melbournians love dining out, and there are actually 145,000 café or restaurant seats, so that shows you, we’re pretty serious about dining out.



You can go down the charming laneways, and there are block arcade, the royal arcade with Gog and Magog which are some sculptures that strike on the hour. I'm just buzzing through here. We've done the retail therapy. And there is street art which is – people would call it graffiti in other places, but Melbourne calls it street art. They are certain laneways that have been approved for artists to spray their beautiful artwork onto the walls as huge murals. So Queen Victoria Market has wonderful to sit in [Inaudible 00:30:03] open air market. It has tours, and there's a sensory treat. You can do a 2 hour tour for $50, and it just takes you around. With the smells, tastes, the sounds, it's just a vibrant thing to do.

We have beer tours, and in July there's even a truffle festival. Wow. It's the largest truffle festival outside of Europe. Well, there you go. I haven't been to that one yet. I think we might. Now, I’ve got here we’re going to go to our special, special feature for today before I run out of time, Dawn. And know you'll be looking at the time. So how about I hand back to you and we introduce our special feature that we're going to play for you now.



DawnThank you, Maribel. This is Dawn. I've got the microphone back. Folks, time to listen sharp. I'm going to play – Maribel went on a walkabout, I guess, and we are going to experience a little bit of the city. There are sections where there are lots of city noise is going on, so you'll need to listen sharp, and then there are other places where it's a lot quieter. So I invite you to just sit back and we'll join Maribel and her friend – I believe Harry was with you – on the walkabout Melbourne. So give me one second to get us launched. Here were go folks.

[Recording starts 00:31:37]

AnnouncerBeginning of album.

HarryWe're just coming into Federation Square.

MaribelThe meeting point for many people. When you live in Melbourne, this is often the place we'll meet.

HarryHi, I'm here in Federation Square. Actually, I'm with Loraine and she's a barista. Hello, Loraine.



LoraineHi, how're you going?

HarryYeah, good. I'd be interested to know what it's like for you working in the heart of Melbourne.

LoraineIt's quite exciting most of the time. There's always something on. There’s always things happening in Melbourne. It's quite a vibrant city. There’s always things to do, places to see, events on.

HarryI noticed at the gallery behind us here, there's pretty much a different show every couple of weeks, isn't there?

LoraineYes, that's correct. Yeah. And is a beautiful city with the river running right through the center of it.

[Singing]

MaribelSo we're in Kirra Gallery, my favorite gallery because everything is made of glass, which sounds a bit



dangerous for someone who's blind. And although I may not see the colors, I can certainly see these incredible waves of glass in their different shapes. And it's just a place we like to come. It's free. There's a coffee place just nearby, and it's just nice to see some things. And this is one of the places where I get to do that. From Federation Square, we walk past St. Paul's cathedral, down to Swanston Street where carriages of beautiful horses wait to take visitors around the streets of Melbourne.

HarryI'd like to know what breed they are.

WomanThey're a Percheron crossed with a standard breed. So they're and very strong horse, but light enough to be in the city because you don't want them too big to try and go around the streets.]MaribelAnd Percherons have got a very gentle nature, don't they?

WomanThey have. That's why we've got them because they’re just very sweet.



HarryThey're the best. We have friends who are Percherons.

MaribelSome of our best friends are Percherons, yes.

WomanAww.

HarryNo, they do. They make friends very easily and they're very placid. They’re amazing.

MaribelHow much does it for a ride?

WomanA half an hour ride is $100, and that's per group of people with a maximum of eight. Yeah, we go over the river, down sinkhole to the shrine. We stop at the shrine and take a few photos. And then come back through the King's Domain Gardens and then pass the National Gallery and the Arts Center back to here.



Maribel It's fairly easy getting around the streets of Melbourne. We're coming across Princess Bridge to South Bank. See how friendly this group is.

Harry[Inaudible 00:34:59]

MaribelOkay, what are we first seeing, Harry?

HarryThe bottom one.

MaribelThat one?

HarryNo, the bottom one.

MaribelThat one?

HarryYeah.

MaribelOh, it's a glass lift. Bye, bye...



HarryIt's dark in here...

MaribelAnd we're coming to the ground level.

HarryThere we go. That was it. That was quick. And now it's very peaceful down here by the river.

MaribelStanding by the Yarrow River on a Sunday afternoon, lots of people out enjoying Melbourne. We've got buskers and markets. There are often rowers on the river. Boats go down the river giving hourly tours, and it’s just really sunny and vibrant. I love this city. We have a, what's this, a ferry boat coming past?

HarryThis is a little water taxi coming by.

MaribelYeah? Good. Makes for a good sound effect. Melbourne is well known for its many choirs. One of the ones you may encounter is Men in Suits.

[Singing]



HarryHere we are in 1914. Maribel.

MaribelOkay. So we're now at the Arts Center of Melbourne where they have lots and lots of wonderful performances. Melbourne is the city of festivals and performances. And just last night, we came here to watch Westside Story, but with a difference – it was being audio described, so I was able to watch and listen to the show with my audio description equipment that’s supplied by Vision Australia.

HarryAnd there are three theaters here. There's the State Theater and two smaller theaters. And yes it's the center of the National Center for Performing Arts, although Melbourne is a very artistic city and it has a number of older theaters dotted around the CBD within 20 minutes' walk of where we're standing now.

MaribelYeah, it’s well worth a visit.

[Singing]



Harry“Art is not a frill on the frock of life, but the very fabric with which it is woven.” “Music in our heart brings love to the world, and music in the world brings love through our hearts.”

MaribelThat's nice. Who said that?

HarryJudith Durham, OAM.

MaribelOh, she's from The Seekers.

HarrySinger, composer, pianist, poet.

MaribelFrom the Australian band, The Seekers.

HarryYep. Here were are on actually St. Kilda Road, and I'm with Yani who makes these lovely boxes.

MaribelCan you tell us some of the Australian woods you use?



YaniYeah, the Australian woods, the one you've got in your hand now is red gum burl on the lid.

MaribelThat's beautiful.

YaniYeah, and that's red gum tree around the outside. Most of them are burls. Then you've got myrtle burl from Tasmania here, jarrah burl, red gum burl. There's a figure of blackwood in here.

HarryBeautiful

YaniTiger myrtle, eucalypt burl. Mainly from Tassie, Victoria, Western Australia.

HarryAnd when is the market open?

YaniThe market is open from 10 until 4 o'clock every Sunday.



MaribelEvery Sunday?

YaniEvery Sunday.

MaribelAll year around.

YaniAll year around, yeah.

MaribelYeah, excellent. Definitely worth a visit, isn't it?

YaniIt is, yeah.

MaribelWhere you can get Australian souvenirs, hand-made goods.

YaniAbsolutely. It’s one of the only markets where it's fairly strict. They sort of try and restrict that it is handcrafted and hand-made.



HarryThe condition really is that the things here are hand-made?

YaniYeah, absolutely.

MaribelFor a visitor who was here for just a day, being here on a Sunday is fabulous because they can just get a whole taste of Australia from the market.

YaniAbsolutely. Yeah, because you’ve got the gardens opposite, you've got the market, you got the constables, you’ve got the art gallery just up the road. People love Melbourne because it's very easy to get around. Free trams – I think there are a few free trams.

MaribelThere's a free circle tram, and there's also, we just saw a bus.

YaniYeah, a bus too.



MaribelIt's not free, but it's $10 for the weekend so that's pretty good.

YaniThat is pretty good enough.

HarryIt is pretty good, yeah. Here we are in the NGB, Maribel, and I find it's quite cold outside but it's very warm and pleasant in here, isn't it?

MaribelOh, wow. You look up, right up above us, the entire ceiling is stained glass. And all my eyes can really see are just different amounts of bright colors, but not really discerning what colors they are. But that is pretty stunning anyway.

HarryThe roof is basically stained glass. And it's called the Garden of Eden but it is pretty abstract. There is a kind of giant serpent that goes through it in a tree. But I would say its modern abstract.

MaribelWe're in the gift shop of the National Gallery, and what we often do when we come to an exhibition that



I can't see is that we’ll often come out to the shop afterwards. And a lot of items are here that can represent the exhibition. So one time there was an exhibition on beautiful chairs, the history of chairs, and in the shop, there were these lovely little miniatures of [names 00:41:48], chairs and rocking chairs, and all sorts of things. And one by one, Harry would let me feel one very carefully. And because we're in a shop, naturally, they can’t tell you not to touch.

HarryLook, here's this rather beautiful scarf.

MaribelOh, that is. That is absolutely silk. That is so soft.

HarryIt's called the Banquet of Cleopatra.

MaribelOh, it's beautiful. Okay, let's get this one.

HarryThis is an unusual glass. This is a double-ended glass, so cocktail one end and wine in the other, have it either way up.



MaribelOh, my goodness.

HarrySo you have it like one way or the other.

MaribelOkay, so I'll have a glass of champagne dear. And then afterwards, yes, now I'm ready for my wine. Oh, that's hilarious.

HarryIsn't that cool?

MaribelOh, my goodness. This is incredible.

HarryGiant wombat made of wood. Yep, made with a chainsaw.

MaribelWow.

HarrySerious wombat. This is too fat here.



MaribelDo wombats have teeth?

HarryIt's a symbolic wombat.

MaribelLet’s see what flowers are out this season. Let's have a look. Wow, Pansies. Bright. What are they, purple?

HarryWhite.

MaribelGood. There are a lot of bike riders. One thing to avoid is just to be aware of the bike riders. They seem to come up from behind. So I guess just whack that white cane like this. The bells are playing. I can hear the Federation bells.

HarryOh, yes, you can. Let's listen for a minute.

[Bells]

MaribelWe hope you've enjoyed hearing a few of the sounds of Melbourne.



HarryCome and explore the Victorian laneways, bustling markets, shops, botanical gardens, and arcades that make Melbourne one of the world's most livable and accessible cities.

MaribelWhere are we going next weekend, Harry?

HarryAha.

DawnI have to say, that was a lot of fun. As much as I love hop on, hop off tours, I would be very tempted to just hoof it around Melbourne every single moment of my visit. Maribel, thank you, and to Harry for taking us around your city. I'm going to hand the microphone back to you for just a moment, and then let me know if we are ready for Q&A. Oh, that was so much fun.

MaribelIt was great. It was lovely. Thank you, everyone. Yes, I think we should hand over to Q&A now, so over to you, Dawn.



DawnAlright, folks, we are opening the microphones. It's been a quiet texting today, so I have nothing that I need to read on to the group. But feel free to raise your hand and come on in and find out what's the answer to whatever is on your mind. I'm sure Maribel has the answer. So here we go.

WomanPerhaps I could stray a little bit. If a stray too far, let me know. Back in 1954, I was a very young one. I went with my family to Adelaide. And I went to a school which is no longer there, and I'm just wondering if there might be a similar school. It was a boarding school for the blind called Townsend House School. I was the little American girl living there, and it was a boarding school. It was a wonderful, wonderful experience. I was so warmly welcomed. Maybe you can mention something. Maybe in Melbourne there might be a school for the blind. And also, am I correct Melbourne is the capital of the country? And do you have an Australian dollar which is similar to the American dollar? That really blew my mind when you said that ride was $100. Wow. Thank you.



MaribelThank you. Yes, the $100 does sound a lot for the ride. Our dollar is about 77¢ to your dollar, if that helps. Yeah, but it’s a pretty special ride. Now, going back to your school, Adelaide is in the state of South Australia, which is next to us. We used to have in Melbourne the blind school called Victorian Blind School. It no longer exists because the try and place children into mainstream schools, and have special teachers for them. But there is a new blind school that’s just started just outside of Melbourne, but I don't think it's a boarding school. I'm not sure, but yes, they try and assimilate the blind children more now into mainstream. And Melbourne Victoria is not the capital of Australia. What happened was New South Wales and Victoria both wanted to be the capital. So instead of either of us gaining that title, they created Canberra, which is known as the capitol territory of Australia. So I hope that answers your question.

DawnGreat answers, and I want to get a text message in because we have a question about what is a wombat, and how often do you see kangaroos. Again, we're going back to the Crocodile Dundee thinking. We think there are kangaroos everywhere, I think. But anyway, tell us about these creatures, the wombat and the kangaroo.



MaribelYeah, I'm smiling. We don't have kangaroos in Main Street. I don't know, think of sort of Melbourne as a little mini New York because it’s buildings and traffic and horse carriages and trams and people. So our Australian animals live much further out into the bush. Now, a wombat is an Australian animal that lives in a borough. It’s quite a large, sort of a mini brown grizzly bear if you want to think of it that way. When I say mini, they are about a meter – I was waiting because I know Harry knows more than me and he’s sitting in the other room – they’re about a meter plump. They’re very plump animals, and they claw and go underground. So we were just looking at a sculpture of a wombat. It's wonderful to just have a little read of some of the Australian animals because they really are very strange creatures indeed.

Dawn Next question.

SheilaHi, this is Sheila from Minneapolis, Minnesota. And I was wondering – you said that there are six states and two territories. Could you give us the names and things about those, because that's one of those things that I never knew about? And also, I know that cruise



ships also to come into Australia. Can you talk a little bit about that if you know anything about that?

MaribelThank you, Sheila. A cruise ship would be great. And yes, we do have many cruise ships coming into Melbourne. I think going on a cruise, if you can afford it, is a wonderful way to learn and orientate yourself to the ship. I think that would be a wonderful way to travel. So, yes, they do dock here. Now, in terms of our six states and two territories, we're putting my mind to the test here, but I understand it's good to know our geography. We're on the east coast of Australia.

We have Queensland at the top. We have New South Wales coming down in the middle. We have us, Victoria, which is down at the bottom. When you go across Beth strait to a state called Tasmania, so that's four, I've got my fingers counting. You come back across to the mainland next to us is a place called South Australia. Then we go right across to the west which is a huge state, it's called Western Australia. And then the two that are missing are, oh help me Harry, Northern Territory, which is right up at the top and middle, it's a huge territory, and our capital territory which is Canberra. So that's sort of traveling



from the east, down, up and around the west, to the north. I hope that helps.

DawnNext question

WomanHello. I'm from Wisconsin, but I was originally from Indiana. And I do not know if you're familiar with the Indianapolis 500 Motor Speedway and the IndyCar racing circuit. But Will Power, who is from Australia, is very famous in IndyCar racing, and I believe Ryan Briscoe also is from Australia. And I wonder are they as famous in Australia as they are here in the United States for those of us who are fans of IndyCar racing, and thank you for a delightful presentation. And your special presentation also – the sounds were just so very nice. Thank you.

MaribelThank you so much, and isn't it wonderful we can talk across continents like this? I’m afraid I haven't heard of those car drivers, but because I'm not really into the sport. So maybe they're not as well known here. We do have the Grand Prix every year in Melbourne which attracts hundreds of thousands of people. So that's the only sort of car racing that I'm aware of here. And living four miles out of the city, we do hear



it as well. They sound like incredible drones coming over the city when the cars get roaring. So I'm sorry, I don't know those people. And thank you so much for listening and for your lovely comments. Thank you.

DawnHi, it's Dawn. I'm going to get another text question in, and this is a toughie because I'm not sure you would know this. We have a question as to whether or not guide dogs coming in with their handlers from America or I guess anywhere else, do they have to be in quarantine before coming in, or do you have an answer to that. I'm not sure I put the question out correctly, but anyway it's about quarantine and guide dogs coming in with the tourists.

MaribelWell, in honesty, no, I don't know fully that answer. Guide Dogs Victoria would definitely be the people to write to or email to find that out. I think with guide dogs, and I am only just guessing that if there is a quarantine, it's a shorter period. But I'm sorry, I really don't know, and I would go to Guide Dogs Victoria.

DawnAlrighty, that's a great suggestion. And maybe we can research it too on our end a little bit because maybe the guide dogs close here would know. But I have a



food question, actually. You mentioned, and perhaps it surprised a lot of us how much you all love your coffee over there, and I know I didn't know that. We tend to think of Australians and barbecue, and the barbie. We love barbecue in Chicago. I can tell you, we love our meat here. But I'm wondering if barbecuing is as popular as we think it is in Australia.

MaribelI would say barbecuing is pretty popular in the summer months. It's more a thing we do when we get together with families, socials. It's certainly not something you do in the heart of Melbourne. When I was talking about food and cuisine, it is such a rich diverse melting pot of cuisines that you can choose from anywhere in the world to dine in those flavors. Yes, but barbecues naturally, yes, we do love our barbie, but not so much in the heart of Melbourne.

But it is one of the things that we do as sort of a social get together. But I think actually, no, Melbourne too, we're into salads. I think with all of these master chefs shows and all these cooking shows, honestly the quality of dishes here and they're not expensive which is another great thing, the quality of food when you dine out is extremely good. So that's all I would say there.



DawnThank you, and I'm throwing the mic back open again. We’re coming up on the hour so step on up if you have a question.

AliceI have another question. Are you still doing both blogs? I enjoyed your presentation last year so much and was interested in your blogs, and are you still working in that area or have you done any other writing?

MaribelThank you. Yeah, I'm writing all the time. I write for Vision Aware, so I'm a peer advisor. So if you go to VisionAware.org, you'll get to see some of my articles there along with the other peers. We all put in some great stuff there. And I've just taken on a new commission for About.com to write about blindness and living with low vision. So that's actually being launched sometime this week, and I'll have many, many posts going up there. My blogs have been less written just because of all these other things I'm doing. But I'll be putting something on my Touching Landscapes about this presentation, Dawn. So people can revisit and go back to the seminar. So thank you, and I hope to see you on one of my blogs or my writing ventures. Thank you.



DawnI appreciate the question, Alice, because I couldn't have lined you up any more perfectly. I did want to ask you, Maribel, could you get into the recording for us, how does one get to your blog, and the Touching Landscapes one that you just mentioned? It would be fun for those who would like to follow up and keep in touch with you to do it that way. So as I hand the microphone back to you, go ahead and get that information into the recording for us.

MaribelOkay, thank you. First of all, my website is MaribelSteel.com, that’s M-A-R-I-B-E-L -S-T-E-E-L.com. My two blogs are TouchingLanscapes.com, and GatewayToBlindness.blogspot.com. They are the three main places, and once I get my About.com going up, that’ll be on my Facebook as well. So if you’re on Facebook, have a little search, and I’m happy to accept your friend request. Thank you, Dawn.

DawnMaribel, I can’t help but feel like we all feel like we now have a friend in Melbourne, Australia, and how special is that. So thank you so much for bringing your life and your environment and your city. I tell



you, if we could have smelled it through the computer, we would have smelled it. You did such a wonderful job sharing with us all that is around you. I’m handing the microphone back to you for a farewell. And I will get us closing out just shortly. So here you go.

MaribelWell, thank you. It has gone so quickly. I was just thrilled to bring some of these things, and I hope that it’s been of interest. And I will have those links to give you, too, Dawn where people can read a lot more about the things that we might not have touched on today. I have a little Hadley scoop for you that I didn’t mention before. The Federation bells that we finished on, which are 39 beautiful sculptured bells not far from the center of Melbourne, about a 500 meter walk, are actually managed by my partner, Harry Williamson. So there’s a little scoop for you.

And the link that I give you, you can listen to the bells. They play 3 times a day. And you can even submit a composition that they may accept and play on the bells. So how’s that? So that’s my little scoop for you. Thank you all. We’re landing safely now back into your home towns, and hope you have a nice day.



DawnThank you so much, Maribel. This was a delight. Folks as know, we are recording today. And this recording will be in the past seminars area of the Hadley website, and we’ll get it there within a day or two. And any of the links that Maribel sends on to me, we will post those there as well so you are able to go back and listen at your leisure to what we did today afresh, or recommend it to others. We’d love to have the traffic come and listen to our seminars in the past seminars area. So watch for us there.

If something else comes to mind that you’d like to share with us outside of the survey, we have the [email protected] email box, so feel free to use that. I can pass messages on to Maribel or Harry. And if you have ideas for future Seminars@Hadley, we’d love to hear those as well. It’s a little bit later in the day here, but for Maribel, I have to tell you it’s quite early in the morning. And since we’ve learned that they love their coffee, I know she has not had a chance to get to her second cup yet. So we are going to be shutting down the seminar so she can get off to starting her day, and we’ll be ending our workday here in the Chicago area. Maribel, one last time for the microphone.


mailto:[email protected]


MaribelWell, guess what Dawn? I’m actually having my second cup now because Harry just brought it to me. Thank you so much. Thank you.

DawnBye, bye everyone. Have a great afternoon, evening, or morning wherever you are and whatever time of the day it is. Thank you so much. Bye, bye.


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