me work colleagues of Matt's were in town from California over the weekend. They wanted to see some animals so we went to the Melbourne Zoo. Part of the zoo was fantastic like the elephant area which was all set up like an Indonesian village. My favorite by far was the butterfly garden. There were hundreds of butterflies flitting around and landing on people. The Australian animal section was a little weaker than all the othe
r animal sanctuaries I have been to in this country but there were some very cute sleeping wombats and a busy, itchy platypus.We we
nt walking around downtown stopping in Federation Square to sample a few beers. It was almost 100 degrees outside so a stop in the shade was very necessary. The city was bustling to say the least with a "green" fair, alfresco dining, street performers including musicians and acrobats. We started making our way down beside the river towards The Eureka Tower. I started sweating and it had little to do with the heat outside.
nt walking around downtown stopping in Federation Square to sample a few beers. It was almost 100 degrees outside so a stop in the shade was very necessary. The city was bustling to say the least with a "green" fair, alfresco dining, street performers including musicians and acrobats. We started making our way down beside the river towards The Eureka Tower. I started sweating and it had little to do with the heat outside.The Eureka Tower is Melbourne's tallest building with an observation deck on the 88th floor. This is nothing new to me. I have been to the Signature Lounge of the John Hancock building in Chicago numerous times and that is on 96th floor. The problem was a little contraption named The Edge
. I have seen this tourist attraction on a travel show and just shook my head saying to myself "not me, never me". The Edge is virtually a cube that is motorized and slides out from the side the of the building until it projects out 3 meters. Here is the clincher, this moving box is made of glass. Yay! I started to get really scared reading all the warnings while Matt was buying the tickets. It was recommended that anyone who has a fear of heights should not participate....Ok then! I am out! But I wanted to face the fear so I kept reading. By purchasing our tickets we were also agreeing to no litigious action in case of injury or death. By this point I was pretty much convinced I was going to die anyway so I couldn't do much by the way of seeing a lawyer unless my spirit was going to haunt one. The Eureka people gave me a bracelet with my ticket which read I SURVIVED THE EDGE, so they obviously didn't think I was going to die I just needed to send this message to rest of my body. As we got in line my heart was throbbing and even though the AC had the observation deck quite cool I was perspiring profusely especially on 
my face. I had the strangest sensation like I was crying from my eyebrows as pools of sweat gathered over my eyelids. Then before I knew it I was in the cube with the door closed behind me. There was shaking and grinding while the cube moves away from the side of the building. The glass was clouded while the box was in motion and I would have been perfectly happy for it to remain that way but alas this was not to be. SWOOSH and the glass is clear. 300 meters (almost 1000 feet) above Melbourne and I could look straight down and see it all, WOO-HOO!!! I had to get gently coaxed to back of the cube for our group picture never able to completely let go of the pole I had a death grip on. So obviously since I am writing this I did not in fact die and now that the experience is over I guess it was pretty cool to see a city from this vantage point. I just don't think I would do it again.
. I have seen this tourist attraction on a travel show and just shook my head saying to myself "not me, never me". The Edge is virtually a cube that is motorized and slides out from the side the of the building until it projects out 3 meters. Here is the clincher, this moving box is made of glass. Yay! I started to get really scared reading all the warnings while Matt was buying the tickets. It was recommended that anyone who has a fear of heights should not participate....Ok then! I am out! But I wanted to face the fear so I kept reading. By purchasing our tickets we were also agreeing to no litigious action in case of injury or death. By this point I was pretty much convinced I was going to die anyway so I couldn't do much by the way of seeing a lawyer unless my spirit was going to haunt one. The Eureka people gave me a bracelet with my ticket which read I SURVIVED THE EDGE, so they obviously didn't think I was going to die I just needed to send this message to rest of my body. As we got in line my heart was throbbing and even though the AC had the observation deck quite cool I was perspiring profusely especially on 
my face. I had the strangest sensation like I was crying from my eyebrows as pools of sweat gathered over my eyelids. Then before I knew it I was in the cube with the door closed behind me. There was shaking and grinding while the cube moves away from the side of the building. The glass was clouded while the box was in motion and I would have been perfectly happy for it to remain that way but alas this was not to be. SWOOSH and the glass is clear. 300 meters (almost 1000 feet) above Melbourne and I could look straight down and see it all, WOO-HOO!!! I had to get gently coaxed to back of the cube for our group picture never able to completely let go of the pole I had a death grip on. So obviously since I am writing this I did not in fact die and now that the experience is over I guess it was pretty cool to see a city from this vantage point. I just don't think I would do it again.