Melbourne 27 Sep - 2 Oct

It's a bit of a distant memory but i was in Melbourne way back in 1997 with a couple of first year university friends, and it's either that Melbourne has changed much since or i have a really bad memory cos i don't find many places familiar at all, not even the trams. Maybe cos i remember more of Tasmania or the outdoorsy day trips to Grampians and Great Ocean Road, or even the stopovers at vast meadows and eating lunch out of the back of the car, which i'd really enjoyed. Then again, 1997 is fricking fourteen years ago.

Still, even though we stayed soley in Melbourne City itself this time, and the weather was chilly-er and rainy-er than we had anticipated, i had a really nice time with Cheryl, my trusty regular travel buddy. We woke up any time we wanted, had long breakfasts, wandered about the streets and checked out different precincts without any pre-planned itinerary except for a map in hand, courtesy of our serviced apartment on Queen Street... oh and lots of tips of where to go from her colleague, Jonathan, who studied a couple of years in Melbourne.

Cheryl arrived on the red eye from Singapore and i met her in the apartment after a morning domestic flight from Brisbane, where i'd visited my baby niece a few days earlier.



Melbourne's city planning is awesome, compact and gridded and very easy to navigate, not to mention the free city circle tram where tourists can hop on and off easily. The city centre is bounded by (clockwise from north) La Trobe Street, Spring Street, Flinders Street and Spencer Street, where the airport express Skybus terminal was located at Southern Cross Station. Skybus is super convenient at AUD$26 for a return trip between Melbourne's main airport, Tullamarine and the City Centre, cos cabs were really expensive i heard. We stayed at City Tempo Serviced Apartments, on the junction between Queen and A.Beckett Streets, just off La Trobe and a 3 min walk to Queen Victoria Market, and 7 minutes to Bourke Street Mall.



We didn't do very much on the first day, heading down Bourke Street (or was it Little Bourke) to find lunch at this place recommended by Jon. We found ourselves in the midst of Chinatown and soon i realised that streets in Melbourne go a long way before the street name changes. In the end we were too hungry and settled for some really bad Hong Kong cuisine in a chinese BBQ diner somewhere along Chinatown on Bourke Street.

Somehow the 'little' streets inserted between the main streets, like Little Collins after Collins Street, Little Bourke after Bourke Street and so on made the walking seem less. And i hate having to say the name of Lonsdale Street, i trip over it everytime i had to say it. The perpendicular road names were royally nice, like after the main Swanston Street, it was Elizabeth, then Queen, then William, then King i recall.







On the end of Bourke Street Mall closer to our apartment was Melbourne's General Post Office, adapted and reused as restaurants and the likes.



Elaine picked us up after work and we headed to Lygon Street for the best pasta apparently, at Ti Amo. I had the penne beef ragu with red wine sauce, cheryl had the special pasta with giant pork meatballs and elaine had good old seafood marina. When i was in Melbourne in '97, we visited Elaine at her hostel in Melbourne Uni where she was then studying medicine and fast forward 14 years she's now a doctor and an ophthalmologist at that. (i had to look up that word, i hope i got it right, in layman terms, eye specialist) Oh and she's also mummy to 18 month old Erica and up until just very recently, part-time student part-time mummy when she was specialising.

Wednesday 28 Sep
City Circle Tram sights, Flinders Street, DeGraves Street, Federation Square, National Gallery of Victoria, Crown Casino





We hopped on the City Circle to take us to Flinders Street for breakfast, passing some city sights along the way.



Parliament House along Spring Street where the tram stopped for approximately 7mins.



Majestic Windsor Hotel from tram windows.



Princess Theatre, i think. I'm not sure if this strictly classifies as an example of Victorian architecture, Melbourne being one of the world's greatest Victorian cities. Famous examples we passed would be the State Library and St Paul's Cathedral.





We alighted at Flinders Street Station tram stop and walked to DeGraves Street, a somewhat bohemian cafe-lined street leading to Flinders Lane shopping street.







We picked relatively newly opened Made with Love Healthy Burgers cafe for brunch but they didn't serve coffee so i got mine from a corner stall just across the road.











At the junction of DeGraves Street and Flinders Lane.





Melbourne's laneways and alley culture. I like very much.



Australia on Collins, one of the shopping malls straddling Collins and Little Collins Street.





Flinders Street Railway Station.



St Paul's Cathedral built in the Queen Victoria era. Somehow you could recognise a St Paul's Cathedral when you see one, or maybe not.



Across the street from St Paul's and Flinders Street Railway Station was Federation Square which wasn't constructed in '97. A bit odd to see the dignified classical St Paul's and faceted Federation Square metal facades in the same frame.







Don't think we liked Federation Square very much, never mind that it was AFL finals weekend and the square was filled with cheering football fans to a large TV screen.



We walked down across the Yarra River to check out the Arts precinct, comprising the Performing Arts Centre which was under renovation and the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), among other buildings i suppose.











National Gallery of Victoria



Performing Arts Centre was under renovation and what's with the rocket launcher-effiel tower steet structure?



View along St Kilda Road bridge over the Yarra River looking across Southbank towards the Crown Entertainment Complex.



Some renovation works were happening at Southbank and the alresco cafes looked closed so we walked back to Flinders Street tram stop and rode the City Circle down to the Crown Casino.



The tram stops remind me a bit of Istanbul, having to wait in the middle between 2 roads.



The City Circle Tram, our favourite mode of transport when the weather got too chilly to walk (ave temp of 10-12 deg).



Inside Crown Casino, i made AUD$11 on free AUD$5 capital at the jackpot all becos of a persistant roaming casino staff. But later because the heavy rain wouldn't let up, we had to buy a AUD$19 umbrella from the casino gift shop to make our way home as it was turning dark. Or we could technically stay and gamble the night away...





Waiting out the rain over choc-mint movenpick ice-cream but there was just so much ice-cream you could eat.



The Melbourne Aquarium across the Yarra River from Southbank.



Waiting for our tram on a very rainy evening, which eventually dropped us even further from our apartment cos it suddenly announced that Spring Street Parliament House station would be the last stop for the day. We walked the rest of the way back in the rain with one umbrella.



The Public State Library we passed on our walk home, which we'd planned on coming back to but never did.

Thursday 29 Sep
Queen Victoria Market, QV, St Kilda's Acland, Fitzroy, Carlisle, Barkly Streets, Block Arcade, Royal Arcade, Swanston Street





Bacon and eggs on toast with coffee was AUD$15 each at this corner cafe opposite Queen Victoria Market. Expensive eh?



Melbourne City Baths along Swanston Street, bordered by Victoria and Franklin Streets.







We didn't have enough coins when we boarded the tram and the kind driver let us ride 2 stops for free and we had to alight outside QV, a shopping mall near Melbourne Central Station, to get change. Then we hopped on Tram no. 16 all the way to St Kilda.



There were several quaint looking cake shops along Acland Street and the temptation was too great so we popped into one for a sampling.











Cheryl had the coconut tart and i had the florentine. They were AUD$5 a pop.



I could only glimpse at the Royal Botanic Gardens from my tram windows to and from St Kilda as it was either raining or too chilly to lie on the grass and picnic.







Back in the city centre, we chanced upon this alleyway and tucked into the yummiest pizza ever at Olio. We vowed to come back once more at the end of our trip. Turns out this alleyway is called Block Pl. and connects to the Block Arcade, at the corner of Collins and Elizabeth Streets. It was really nice to get lost in these alleyways and arcades and appear on another street altogether.







Yummiest. Pizza. Ever.



Busker singing Coldplay at the end of Block Pl. Nice vocals.



Another of Melbourne's many arcades, this was the Royal Arcade. I like the bay window-like glass showcases.







The chequered floor patterns seemed to go well too.



Chinese claypot dinner at Claypot King along Swanston Street on another cold rainy evening before walking back.

Friday 30 Sep
Melbourne Central, City Centre, Bourke Street Mall, Cathedral Arcade, Block Arcade





Breakfast at Muleta's near Queen Victoria Market before shopping day in the city today.



We waited some half an hour in the cold for the City Circle this morning and finally saw a notice that said the city circle service would be disrupted today due to the AFL finals. Darn football. Heh.



Melbourne Central, which is a shopping mall built into/over a train station i think. We thought we had gotten ourselves in the middle of a flash mob when a group of people in black started mass-dancing out of the blue.





Brick-faced clock tower inside the shopping mall. Escalators and lifts lead you down to the train platforms underground.





This is the Cathedral Arcade, i forgot bounded by which streets cos we kinda randomly walked into it while taking shelter from the rain.



Hey matching outfit as the lady waiting for the lifts.



I took this picture cos i wanted to say that the trees lining the sidewalk were very nice, very european. Alas it was raining (again) and Crown's umbrella had to be blue of all colours.



Inside vintage wooden tram. I like the many assorted tram designs that came our way. We were on our way to Harbour Town at the Docklands.





Napoli prawn linguine (cheryl) and chilli prawn risotto (me) at Segonia, along our favourite Block Place just opposite Olio.



Cheryl warming her hands by the candle flame. Raining outside and a busker playing the guitar warms the cold.

Saturday 1 Oct
Fitzroy (Brunswick & Smith Streets), Toorak Rd, Chapel Street, Lygon Street





Today we headed to the edgy district of Brunswick and Smith Streets, and looking at the scale and shapes of the buildings as we got off the tram, i liked this place already.



We walked down Brunswick Street, past Johnston Street to get to Babka, a breakfast cafe recommended by Elaine earlier. Along the way we got distracted by florists, bookshops, scent shops and furniture shops in nicely furnished warehouse interior.





I love the bright spot of cherry-red umbrella against the black walls of the Deli.



Brunswick Bookstore. Cheryl's umbrella (or rather, Crown's umbrella) matches.



Alas it was another rainy morning and cold too i decided it was better putting my hands in my pockets and using my scarf around my head to shield from the rain, than to have exposed freezing fingers holding an umbrella. Cheryl bought woolly gloves from a thrift shop cos her hands were freezing.





At Babka, i had the most delicious hotcakes ever. You know how it is with pancakes, especially when they're not eaten fresh from the pan. These ones were thick and super moist on the inside. Every mouthful was a delight, coupled with the pistachios and generous strawberries and cream. It's called the Ricotti Hotcakes with strawberries if you wish to order that. It cost AUD$13 btw.





Cheryl had lean bacon and scrambled eggs on sourdough. i like the chewiness and slightly sourish taste of sourdough bread. A long line was forming for freshly baked takeaway bread. They must be pretty popular. The chatter filling the air from the morning breakfast people interspersed with the clanking of cutlery felt like a really festive start to the weekend.



We just couldn't get enough pictures of the pretty hotcakes.





Waiting along Smith Street for the tram. I'd bought a fragile vintage cup and saucer with lovely flower prints that i absolutely can't take my eyes off, a brown italian leather bag and a vintage purse from this second hand shop along Smith Street.



Pretty tiny yellow flowers against dark grey building facade.





There's something about being in quiet neighbourhoods that i like about travelling. I think it's the feeling of being a stranger in somebody's backyard, sort of. I can't quite put my finger on it but i like the mundane-ness of quiet neighbourhoods, and i'm like this foreign object gingerly treading through trying not to disrupt their peace.





Almost like winter.



I would like to be able to hop on and off trams to check out random buildings or places that catch my eye, like this church for example.



Another recommendation from Elaine, this was at Toorak Road in the Chapel Street Precinct, where we were immediately served hot double-boiled chinese pork-rib and red date soup and in the cold weather it was a real comfort food man...





We had the crab noodles that Elaine recommended but i suspect we ordered the wrong version of crab noodles.



Spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at Chapel Street, which was pretty much the usual stores you'd find along Bourke Street Mall so it wasn't terribly interesting.











Snacking on fries while waiting for our tram back to the city.





We thought of dropping by the warehouses on Bridge Road but it was already past 6pm and shops close really early even on weekends. After waiting a while for our tram we decided to head to Lygon Street instead for another pasta place and ice-cream joint recommended by Jon.





I can't believe we randomly stopped along Lygon Street and managed to find Zingarella, without the address. It was that easy.





Rocher (cheryl) and durian (me) ice-cream at Il Dolce Fredo, popularised by students from the nearby university lodging.





After a while we got used to the fact that it was safe to stand and wait for the trams without cars running over our toes despite having no pavement to the tram stop.

Sunday 2 Oct
Queen Victoria Market, St. Kilda's Pier Sunday Market, Block Arcade, Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne Central





Colourful lift lobby on the 5th floor of City Tempo, the apartment we stayed at.



Funk (?) Fish... is that how you wanna describe your fish? Really? Lol.





Fish and chips for breakfast at the food court inside Queen Victoria Market, and our last chance to buy foodstuff from here for people back home.



Latte glasses always look so pretty.







Queen Victoria Market



Ooh orange tram!



Enjoying some sunshine at the tram stop, finally.



More tram photos haha.



RMIT along the busy Swanston Street.



St Kilda Pier. I'm so happy today was bright and sunny. Never mind it was our last day in Melbourne. I liked walking down the pier in the glorious blue skies and cool winds and seeing kids, families, couples, joggers, people walking their dogs and all passing me by along the pier.









I don't remember St Kilda Pier being like this when we came in '97, it was a lot less crowded and i swear the little building at the end of the pier was made of wood.





Absolutely love this!



I like sitting on grass in nice cool weather too. A pity we don't really get to do that much in Singapore.









St Kilda Sunday Market along the Esplanade.



I think is the awesome Block Arcade. The decor is so ornately beautiful i'm looking at the intricate patterns on the floor tiles and arcaded ceilings more than anything else.











And our favourite alleyway, Block Place. It's almost like we're in a Spanish or Italian alleyway huh...





Pizza at Olio, again, as promised. Australia makes pretty good italian i must say!







New life injected to the GPO, at the start of Bourke Street Mall at the junction of Elizabeth Street.