Melbourne is well known for its art, architecture, music, food & coffee culture.
It has many hidden gems that can be found down little lanes and arcades in the central business district that take some exploring to find.
With this virtual we will take you to five locations which will feature Melbourne’s art, architecture, music, food and coffee culture. There are many more such lanes, alleyways and arcades but we hope this gives you a taste for what Melbourne has to offer, if you make the effort to look.
Plowfive are fans of street art (as long as it is done in permitted areas), particularly stencil art and many samples can be seen on this virtual tour.
To log this cache you must send answers to the 10 questions below (two per stage) to us either via geocaching.com messenger or via email link on our profile page. Do not place the answers in your log otherwise we will need to delete it.
We will try to respond as soon as we can. You may log after sending us the answers but note logs for finds that don’t have corresponding correct answers sent to us may be deleted.
It may take a few hours to visit and collect all the answers for this virtual hence the difficulty rating of 3.5. This virtual is wheel chair accessible (hence terrain rating of 1) but Hosier Lane does have rough bluestone surfaces – however the answer to question for this one can be obtained from the footpath at the northern end of the lane, corresponding to Virtual Stage WP4. We recommend starting the virtual in Flinders Street and doing the way points in order which will bring you back close to Flinders street at the end.
Please note that this cache is not accessible 24/7. Some of the arcades close at 6pm each night but may be open later on Friday nights. We recommend doing the arcades during the day
Centre Place – Virtual Stage WP1
Centre Place is short laneway running north from Flinders Lane It is known for its tiny cafes and street art at the northern end.
At the southern end entrance of the lane, on the corner of Flinders Lane is the beautiful Majorca House. Its front façade is really unusual and interesting.
Q1) There is a small blue oval shaped plaque on the side of the Majorca Building – please read it. Who was the architect that designed the Majorca Building?
Q2) In Centre Place there is overhead lighting lamps in the middle of the lane. How many of these are there?
On the southern side of Flinders Lane almost in line with Centre Place you will see Degraves Street. This is also worth a look.
Degraves Street is another interesting small street in Melbourne for a coffee or meal catch-up.
Block Arcade – Virtual Stage WP2
Waypoint 2 will take you to its southern entrance of the Block Arcade in Collins Street.
The Block Arcade is a historic shopping arcade. Originally it was known as Carpenter’s Lane.
It is L-shaped connecting to Elizabeth Street. It also joins with Block Place on the north side going through to Little Collins Street.
The Block Arcade opened in 1892 and has a lovely mosaic floor and other architectural features such as the glass roof.
Q3) In what year were the Tea Rooms within the arcade established?
Q4) At the southern entrance of the Block Arcade near waypoint 2, you will see a mosaic on the ground. In the central circular portion of the mosaic are some blue and white leaf like objects. How many are there?
Alternative Q4) Note in the case the mosaic is covered with a mat, then please answer this alternative question: In the middle of the arcade, there is a red/burgundy coloured historic scale. Read the sign above it and tell us what is the number of the scale?
Royal Arcade – Virtual Stage WP3
Waypoint 3 will take you to the southern entrance of the Royal Arcade.
The Royal arcade was the first arcade in Melbourne - in fact it is the oldest surviving arcade in Australia.
It also has lovely architecture - If you look into some of the shops in the western wing of the arcade you will see some lovely vintage spiral staircases.
Q5) In the southern end of the arcade is Gaunt’s clock. Two large mythical figures flank the clock. What are their names?
Q6) A National Trust of Australia, Victoria circular bronze coloured plaque can be found in the vicinity – find it. Who was the architect of the Royal Arcade?
Hosier Lane – Virtual Stage WP4
Waypoint 4 will take you to the northern end of Hosier Lane, near the intersection with Flinders Lane.
In the late 1920’s Hosier Lane was clothing manufacturing area. Today Hosier Lane is famous for its street art (although it can be found in many other lanes of Melbourne).
Q7) From the northern end of Hosier Lane (from Flinders Lane footpath), how many vertical bars are there on the first window (from Flinders Lane) on the Western side of Hosier? The window starts at ground level and is not that transparent these days.
Q8) What is your opinion on the street art in this lane or other lanes you have visited today in your travels?
Optionally include in your log a photo of some of the street art in Hosier Lane.
ACDC Lane – Virtual Stage WP5
Waypoint 5 will bring you to the northern end of ACDC lane.
Melbourne is famous for its music scene and music venues. In fact a famous music venue can be found in this laneway – but this came after my main music going days.
Originally the lane was called Corporation Lane but was renamed in 2004 by the Melbourne City Council to ACDC lane as a tribute to the Australian rock band AC/DC.
Mr plowfive enjoyed Melbourne’s music scene in his late uni/early working years in the late 80s and early 90s, seeing local Australian bands such as The Killjoys, Club Hoy, The Sea Stories, The Whippersnappers, The Underground Lovers, The Clouds, The Falling Joys, My Friend the chocolate Cake etc etc. Oh the memories!
Q9) How many fold up benches are on the east wall of ACDC Lane?
Q10) What is your favourite street/arcade/lane or alleyway in Melbourne and why do you like it?
Optionally include a photo from your favourite street mentioned in Q10
This brings us to the end of this virtual tour. We hope you have enjoyed it and found some new places and had some interesting experiences on your journey.
We would love it if you could add pictures of any interesting things you have seen on your journey to your log.
**** Congratulations to the Sims_family and RubberChalk for their joint FTF of this Virtual Cache ****
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018 This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.