Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Melbourne, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Melbourne and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Melbourne
- Astronomy & Satellites ...
- Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
- To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Melbourne:
- 39.283229, -123.650845
- Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Melbourne
- Bird Watching ...
- We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
- The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Mendocino County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Mendocino County
- Waymarking ...
- Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Melbourne ...
We found twelve communities that share the name Melbourne.
Within California, the name Melbourne is unique.
Beyond California, we know of another twelve communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these twelve communities, eight are located in the United States and four are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Manitoba
- This Melbourne lies 1,398 miles [2,249.9 km]<1> to the northeast of the Melbourne that is located in Mendocino County.
- Michigan
- Missouri
- Nova Scotia
- This Melbourne lies 2,932 miles [4,718.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Melbourne that is located in Mendocino County.
- Ontario
- This Melbourne lies 2,182 miles [3,511.6 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Melbourne that is located in Mendocino County.
- Quebec
- Tennessee
- Washington
Curious and Interesting Names Near Melbourne ...
As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.
- Alpine
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north) - Cape Horn
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the south) - Elk
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk
- Elk is located in Mendocino County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elk <5>
- Grove
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north) - Little River
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little River
- Little River is located in Mendocino County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Little River <5>
- Marble Place
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marble Place have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marble Place
- Marble Place is located in Mendocino County
- Shake City
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shake City have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shake City
- Shake City is located in Mendocino County
- Soda Springs
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Soda Springs
- Soda Springs is located in Mendocino County
- Whiskey Springs
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Whiskey Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whiskey Springs
- Whiskey Springs is located in Mendocino County
How Far From Melbourne to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Melbourne to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Melbourne and extending to:
- Ukiah, which is the Seat of Mendocino County, lies 25 miles [40.2 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Melbourne to Ukiah, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
- Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 126 miles [202.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,469 miles [3,973.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 97 days and walking would take 141 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,338 miles [11,809.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,103 miles [13,040.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,183 miles [9,950.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Melbourne. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Mendocino County: www.co.mendocino.ca.us/
The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Melbourne) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Melbourne. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.2832, Longitude: -123.6508 In this case, the coordinates for Melbourne have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Melbourne, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer. Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name. Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time. Also keep in mind that Melbourne could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out. |
| <4> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day. |
| <7> | The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Melbourne to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 341.396 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 342.657 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 328.931 degrees. |