Friday, November 20th
Our last full day in Melbourne (and OZ) and I, personally, was determined to do a few things that I had not done when I had last visited and, in particular, I wanted to visit Queen Victoria Market. While here for my convention I had been busy attending that rather than seeing the city though my mother had, every day, headed up the market for breakfast but, for some reason, I had never made it. Mel seemed to be OK with the idea so off we went…
This hotel includes breakfast and what an amazing breakfast it turned out to be! It is in the restaurant at the far side of the hotel from us in a large room and, of course, is a buffet. It has a large cold section full of fresh fruit and salad, then a cereal section, a bread section, and a hot section with the normal breakfast suspects. Of particular interest to me was the fresh orange juice for me - I returned several times over the course of our meal. The restaurant is on the ground floor and looks out over the very busy “Queens Road” that runs beside the hotel. You can clearly see the green and leafy Albert Park, along with lake, on the other side of the road so after we finished I convinced Mel to go for a walk there - I wanted to see where the Formula One track is. To be fair, we both did…
It was interesting to see the roads in the park that are so obviously part of the car racing track when the race is here - The curved roads and even markings you can see rubbed out on the surface. It is really quite a thrill for me to see it. The last time I was in Melbourne I did not see Albert Park nor, indeed, did I even know where it was!
We walked to the edge of the lake (imaginatively named “Albert Park Lake”) to have a look. Mel made some friends with some birds and took a bunch of pictures.
There is a building on the shore right here, the “Power House Rugby Union Football Club”, with a small pier at the back that we walked along to get a better view and talk with the black swans here.
Crossing back to the hotel we continued around the corner to the tram station for the trip back into the city centre. Our first destination of the day was Queen Victoria Market so we headed out in search of it using the GPS on my phone for assistance. This turned out to be a good move as it was not as easy to find as I would have thought and particularly the part of the market that the public visit (rather than the wholesale area or the car park). On the way Mel made a quick visit to the “Melbourne Central” train station to use the toilets that turned out to be quite amazing looking with a huge glass central atrium and some wonderful pieces of art scattered everywhere - Quite a buzz.
While she did that I wandered around a magazine shop for quite some time and getting an occasional interested look from the guy at the desk…I was running out of magazines I might be interested in flipping through and just beginning to wonder where she might have got too when she came and found me.
When we finally managed to find the market (despite the GPS it seemed quite confusing though I am sure it was just we were approaching it from the wrong angle or something) it was just beginning to rain. It has been overcast all morning so it is lucky yesterday we had the sun.
The market is absolutely huge with several large covered sections containing different types of things to buy.
We started with the souvenir shops. They were selling lots of different things - Pictures, wigs (!), jewellery, toys, clothing, etc. There did not seem to be a lot of people about but there were a lot of stalls. The prices seemed to be fairly reasonable with Mel stopping to pick up some opal earrings which were only about $70 (others were far more expensive but I was a bit nervous about fakes) - They are very nice.
It was about 1 pm so we stopped at a stall at the far side of the market to have some drinks and pizza. Mel was not feeling very good and I have to agree with her - We are both exhausted from two weeks on the road. We will be sleeping well when we get home.
The next building over in the market is for food so there was a large amount of fresh fruit and vegetables - Many of which we had never seen before or in larger quantities or larger sizes than we had ever seen before.
On the street outside the covered market area Mel was fascinated to see a man selling live chickens - Many different varieties, adult and chicks. We watched as someone bought some chicks that the man put into a box that he had poked holes into. You don’t see this sort of thing at Borough.
We stopped and had a gelato before entering the final building which was meat, fish and cheese. Surrounded by such delights I was annoyed to think I could not take any of it back to the UK (I spent a few minutes downloading a guide onto my phone to check the import guidelines just be sure) so I had to just look…The cured meats and jerky looked particularly good. I was amazed, of course, at the variety of fresh seafood on offer though the prices were largely what we see back in the UK.
A quick stop at the toilets then we left the market. Mel stopped at a small, cramped local pharmacy to see about something to help with the cold she seems to be coming down with. They were very helpful and offered her some liquid syrup that seems to have helped her feel a lot better.
Another thing I wanted to do while here was to have a tour of the city by catching one of the free trams that follow a circular route around the city centre. These are old trams that stop at the major tourist stops and offer a bit of a running commentary on what to see and do. They run every day until 9 pm so are a great way to see the city. We walked a few blocks south of the market and waited for ten minutes for one of the old trams to pull up for our tour.
While waiting for the tram to arrive we amused ourselves by watching people use the unusual “turn right” procedures here in Melbourne due to the train tracks: You pull into the EXTREME left lane and wait for a dedicated signal to allow you to turn. This light seemed particularly complicated….
Eventually the tram arrived and, boy, it was a lot of fun!
As you might expect, the tram was full of tourists and it took some time before we had a seat where we had a good view of outside (right beside the driver). Our tram was made of wood but was in great shape.
The driver stands at the end in a small booth operating the controls. When we reached the end of the line rather than turn around he leaves his booth and walks to the other end of the tram where a matching booth awaits for him from which he continues the journey. I am sure he must be used to us tourists taking his picture so just ignored us…
The tram first took us east to the harbour-front which I have never seen before. There is a small Ferris Wheel here that immediately catches the eye. As we left the area we passed by the massive modern “Etihad Stadium” which is used for football. We then passed by the hotel that mother and I stayed at and followed the road along the north side of the river until we came to Flinders Street Station where we headed north again past “Parliament House” then east once again to pass near to where we started: Queen Victoria Market. We were simply enjoying sitting and watching the city going by. Spotting a tram painted like one from a Monopoly set we immediately scrambled to take pictures…you know, the whole tourist thing? At another point we saw a tram stuck upright in the ground as a piece of art…
We went around the circle 1 ½ times before finally leaving at Flinders Street Station for our trip home. We got some takeaway food from the station (I had some sushi from “Tower Sushi” while Mel had a “classic burger and fries with Belgium mayo” from nicely named “Lord of the Fries”) then caught the tram back to the hotel.
Eating our food in the room we have been, sadly, packing for our return to the UK.
Leaving the room we crossed over into Albert Park to have a little walk around. Mel had a bit of a conversation with a black swan at the pier then we had a seat beside the lake and watch the sunset.
The clouds are magnificent tonight with the sun poking out occasionally with rays of light. We had a nice little talk about our trip and about the future. Will we want to live here? What will we be doing next? That sort of thing. It was very nice. We have not really been talking a lot on this trip as there as been so much to see and do all the time. In the car during our long drives we have been simply enjoying the scenery and the peacefulness of being together so did not do much talking there, really.
So, to answer the question: We are not sure we, personally, like Sydney or even Melbourne (though of the two Melbourne is probably nicer for us). The country is quite nice, the climate is great, the wildlife amazing, scenery…lots of it, and the people are wonderful. But is it right for us? We are not convinced. Still, time to think about it…
Back in the room we have completed our packing and are now getting ready for bed. We have an early start tomorrow and a long, long way to go to get back to the UK.