Last walks

[A] Our flight home didn’t leave until 6:00pm, so we got a chance to see a bit more of Melbourne.

I got up early for an ‘Arcades and Lanes’ walk, following a route described in a brochure we’d picked from the Visitor Centre.  Similar sort of idea to the walking tour we’d done in Sydney a couple of years ago.  Transpires that early Sunday morning probably wasn’t an ideal time to do this walk – several of the arcades were locked, so I had to detour around them.

And the bustling, vibrant laneways were all-but empty.

Anyway, all good, it was still an enjoyable walk.

After checking out of the hotel, we headed for Fitzroy Gardens, somewhere we’d never managed to get to in all our previous visits to Melbourne.  Reminiscent of an old-style London park, with plenty of trees, lawns and pathways.  All covered with autumn leaves!

We spent a bit of time at James Cook’s Cottage, the oldest building in Australia, although to be fair it was shipped from England in 1934 and then reconstructed here!

It was very pleasant wandering through the gardens, coming across plenty of leaves blowing in the wind, a Conservatory…

… a model Tudor village, sculptures, fountains, and a fairy tree.

We enjoyed our brief sojourn back in Melbourne, although we both felt as though we could have done with a few more days there – it felt as though we were packing quite a bit into every day.  Always more things to do and places to go!

[S] We often forget to write the final post of our holidays – we get back in to the hurly-burly after a long flight and the holiday memories fade quite quickly, sadly.

The last day was very pleasant out in the fresh air – we had a lovely Devonshire tea looking out at the beautiful grounds of the Fitzroy Gardens.  A bit of a change to land at Wellington Airport with a temp of 4 degrees and 100 km winds – welcome home to Wellington!

It was a lovely break though, and Melbourne is still one of my favourite cities in the world after Wellington.  We really know it well so it sort-of feels like home, but we always find new things to do – the perfect mix really. 

Woolly Geelong

[S] We’ve had a lovely day out at Geelong. The train trip was just one hour through mostly flat sheep country – the sky was blue although the air was pretty crisp.

Mum and I had passed through Geelong on our Great Ocean Road bus trip, but that gave no hint of what we saw today. I hadn’t even realised that it was on the coast, but the waterfront has been developed beautifully.

[A] Walked past the wonky Police Station wall on the way from the railway station.

[S] Our first stop was a Wool Museum which told the story of the early sheep farmers and the process of getting the wool off the sheep and into fabric, yarn, carpet and socks. The history was told interactively with hands-on displays and stories told by those who lived it – that’s the way I like my history.

[A] Also had a cool woolly spider-web art display.

[S] There was an enormous carpet loom that was over 100 years old and still in working order – we saw it in action and it was very impressive. Quite amazing that a machine that technologically complex could be designed that long ago. I gather that carpets are only made on looms in India and Portugal now.

After that we wandered down to the waterfront and a café Allan had seen online. It was very pleasant eating nice food whilst watching the world go by.

Then we hit the promenade.  Geelong is famous for its bollards – clusters of poles painted to a theme – quite funky! There was an indoor Carousel, creative parks and dead calm blue sea. Not a bad way to spend our last full day in Melbourne.

Free trams

[S] Allan's been at his conference from 7am until 8pm today, so what’s a girl to do?  Say no more.

I think I mentioned that the trams are now free - this means that…

1. Everyone takes them, even if they are only going a block or two
2. They are packed to the gunnels and consequently you are up very close and personal with complete strangers
3. We haven't been on a train on this trip where we would normally interchange trams and trains but they’ve offset the free trams by increasing the price of all other travel so why would you?

They are putting a new train line under Swanston St – they have ripped up the park just along from Federation Square and they have dug down and concreted the ground and walls.

At street level, they’ve painted a picture of a train with window you can look through to see the project. Quite cool. I imagine that they will reinstate the park once they have finished.

It is such a pretty city and the sun has finally come out. Shame this is such a short trip!

A beautiful day

[S] Just back from the show, Beautiful, about the life of Carole King.  It was fantastic – great music and fantastic staging.  All the cast were great and we just loved the show. Unfortunately, the last tram had already departed on our route so it was a loooong walk back and a bit much for my dodgy hip.

It’s been a good day all round really.  Nipped into the Queen Victoria Markets since they were so close and whiled away a couple of hours.  Had to yield to the temptation of the famed Donut Truck.

Then we trammed out to St Kilda to the famed cake shop and the famed book shop.  It was another greyish day so we didn’t see the beach at its best, but it wasn’t windy or cold, so all good.

[A] I jumped off the tram on the way back from St Kilda to visit the Shrine of Remembrance (war memorial).  Looks a bit parthenony...

At 11am on 11 November each year (Armistice Day marking the end of World War I), a hole in the roof allows the sun to shine through and illuminate the word 'LOVE' on the marble Stone of Remembrance.  I waited for the brief ceremony using a prerecorded message and artificial lighting that plays regularly during the rest of the year.  Well worth the visit.

[S] Last stop before the show was the famed Hardware Lane for dinner.  We always love going there for the entertainment value of the hosts doing all they can to entice the punters in to their restaurants.  No-one should ever pay full price here!  For us tonight it was a free glass of wine each and entrée or dessert for $7.  Lots of fun and the food was good too.

I love the vibe of Melbourne – the old architecture is beautiful, but so are the modern buildings.  It is so easy to get around and the people are really friendly.  Can’t ask for much more really!

We’re back!

[S] It has been four years since we were last in Melbourne and it still feels like one of my favourite places.

It was a very early alarm that woke us at 3.15 am this morning for our 6 am flight.  We were pleased to see that the violent winds and thunder and lightening of the night before had passed, although there were still plenty of ‘lumps and bumps’ as the pilot described it, to keep us alert.

We landed at 8.15 am local time - we’ve taken to lingering at the airport until the peak traffic abates, so we grabbed a coffee and some tourist brochures and sorted out local transport cards and data and roaming for our phones before a leisurely trip into the city.

We are staying in a different location from usual - we’re outside the ‘square’ by about a block, near the QV markets and the beautiful Flagstaff Gardens.  The free trams are just a five minute walk away, the accommodation is really nice, and we even have a pool and a gym.  I might be persuaded to do some lengths in the morning!

First job of the day was to try to get tickets to the show ‘Beautiful’ which is based on the life and music of Carole King.  We were pretty keen to see it so it was good to get tickets, since we had tried and failed online before we came.  Then we saw that ‘The Wizard of Oz’ had just opened so we tried to get tickets for that too.  There was a matinee on today with what seemed like thousands of college groups attending and the box office was so preoccupied with getting them in and having the show start on time that they wouldn’t sell us tickets, so will have to go back when they are less busy if we are going to squeeze it in.

I was amazed that I could remember where the theatres were after all this time – Melbourne is so easy to navigate.

[A] Found The Book Grocer on Bourke Street - $20 for three books was too good to pass up.  I'm pretty sure they weren't there last time we were here - there are obviously quite a number of them around now, and we certainly haven't noticed any before. 

[S] We’ve decided to take a day trip on the train and visit Geelong – the weather looks good on Saturday so we’ll aim for that.  Allan’s conference is on Friday so that’s shopping day!

Ate too many chippies with our pre-dinner drink (and kept falling asleep!) so just popped down to Nandos for a quick dinner.

St Kilda day tomorrow!