Melbourne Meanderings

It was with considerable excitement that we boarded the plane to Melbourne, after 16 months of no travel outside the state. And it was one of the most enjoyable flights ever!

Our accommodation for five nights was a unit in Little Bourke Street, in the midst of Chinatown, not only handy to everything in the CBD, but with an abundance of good restaurants nearby. On our first night we dined at Chine on Paramount, literally across the street, which served delicious fresh Chinese food.

Our first full day was indeed full. We started by walking down to Swanston and Bourke Streets to catch a tram to the Royal Botanical Gardens. Along the way we happened upon a beautiful display of dolls' houses on plastic crates, in a vacant lot in Little Bourke Street - amazing what you see in Melbourne. The display is part of a city council program to encourage artists to display their creativity in laneways in the CBD.

We finally reached the tram stop only to discover that tram services on St Kilda Road were non-existent due to road works, so we opted to walk. The Gardens did not disappoint and we spent several hours wandering the never-ending pathways before lunching at The Terrace by the lake.

 

By the time we got back to the unit we had walked just over 6.5 kilometres - and although exhausted we were pleased to find the dolls house display lit, and open to the public!

Later that night we dined at The Elephant and Wheelbarrow, a lovely traditional British pub we know well, not far from our unit.

Already seated...

Day 2 - we walked to Elizabeth Street and trammed to the Queen Victoria Market where we spent a few hours browsing stalls. Jim had a leather belt hand-crafted on the spot and Penny purchased two of her favourite custard tarts, available only from Ferguson's Bakery. We then trammed back to the city and did a spot of shopping in and around Bourke Street Mall. That night we dined at Tsindos Greek Restaurant where the food was superb.

Day 3 - we walked in the opposite direction to the Melbourne Museum with our pre-booked tickets for Treasures of the Natural World, an exhibition from the Museum of Natural History in London. We followed this fantastic display with morning tea in one of the cafes before spending another hour or two wandering through many before unseen exhibits in the museum proper.

Queensland Gropers...

The extinct Dodo

Ancient Egyptian mummified cat

Historia Naturalis, published in 1469 in Venice,

 written by Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder from AD77

Sabre Tooth Cat

Giant Crab

Dinosaur Walk

Walking through the Carlton Gardens on our way back to the CBD

Yet another delightful dinner at the Elephant and Wheelbarrow where we watched some AFL and chatted to Launceston local Graham Towns who was at the next table. Turns out he went to school with HASH's own Brian Connelly... just a few years ago.

Day 4 -  we caught a train from Flinders Street station to Ringwood and walked to Float-a-Boat, the hobby shop from which Jim, and some of his model building mates, purchase much of their model ship building requirements online. We were made very welcome by Rhonda, with whom Jim has had many a phone conversation, and we were delighted to spend time in the shop which is beautifully laid out and carries a generous supply of all things model ship. We even picked up orders for friends from home.

 

Before we headed back to Melbourne we called in at the fabulous Eastland Shopping Centre (not to be confused with the Eastlands Shopping Centre at Rosny...) at Ringwood for lunch at the Coffee Club, and a wander through just a few of the 400+ stores.

The' main event' was then upon us - the Rugby Union international between the Wallabies and France at AAMI Park Stadium. Earlier in the day we received an email from Ticketek to advise that all tickets purchased in NSW, the ACT and Queensland had been cancelled due to COVID. Lucky we're Tasmanians...

We walked the 2kms to the ground and were fortunate to have seats on the halfway line. It was a great spectacle between two great teams but unfortunately Australia lost. However, the French spectators beside us were naturally overjoyed and continued to shout 'allez les bleus' (go the blues) throughout the game.

Day 5 - we checked out of our accommodation, stored our bags and headed across the laneway to the Museum of Chinese Australian History. An absolute must, this museum's five floors hold Chinese Australian artefacts comprising textiles, objects, documents and images. It has a research library and caters to educational groups - a group of school children arrived just after us.

We were enthralled by the stories we read and the items we saw including a Finding Gold exhibition in the basement where we walked through a sailing ship that actually moved under our feet!

Jade burial suit

This dragon stretched all the way around the inside of the building

from the lower ground floor up to the ground floor

Part of the Finding Gold exhibit

From the museum we walked to Bourke Street and trammed to Docklands. The weather was inclement... and freezing but we had an early lunch at the Coffee Club and then caught a tram out to St Kilda and back before collecting our bags and taking our shuttle out to the airport.

We had five terrific days in Melbourne. When we left here there were no COVID cases in Victoria. By the time we flew home there were 11 new cases. And given the checks we witnessed at the airport including staff in PPE at the gates in Melbourne and temperature checks in Launceston, we believe we made it out just in time!