After a few days on the Great Ocean Road, we ended up in Melbourne, where we had just over two days to finish off our great trip. We arrived in the late afternoon following a long day of winding roads. I was a little bit nervous about driving in Melbourne because of the Trams, but our Aussie GPS friend, Karen, steered us correctly into the city and we all arrived in one piece.
We made dinner reservations at a restaurant on Federation Square called Taxi after reading several places that it was a spot not to be missed on the Melbourne food circuit. And, while the food was pretty good, it didn't make up for the egotistical and aggressive sommelier who was clearly in love with himself and his knowledge of wines.
Flinders Street Station at night, on our way home from dinner.
The next morning we woke early and went to see the National Opal Collection. It was a tiny little space, but worth the visit, especially since it opened early and Opals are my birthstone. I've loved them since I was a little girl {think rainbows} and now that we live in Australia, where 97% of opals are found are they are the national gemstone, I love them even more.
Next it was on to St. Paul's Cathedral across from Flinder's Station and Federation Square. Such a beautiful church. Afterwards, we hoped onto the city circle tram, an old model tram car that literally circles the city for tourists to see the sights for free. We had planned to ride it all the way around, hopping on and off, but after one or two stops, the crowd and the heat made us hop off for good. We walked over to South Bank to see the city from a different view and wound up at the National Gallery of Victoria and went in to see some art. After about an hour, we decided the weather was too good to be indoors, and so ditched the art gallery to ride the tram down to St. Kildas. We passed the pier and saw Luna Park {unfortunately the front gate was under construction, so all we saw was a sorry screen painted version of it's glorious entrance} then we stopped on Acland Street for a delicious desert and some tea - after all, who can pass up another opportunity to eat while you are in Melbourne!
St. Pauls
But of course.
Melbourne's City Circle Tram.
Part of the National Art Centre.
Luna Park.
So many yummy things to choose from! I think it took us about 15 minutes to decide!
He was eyeing our awesome desserts the whole time!
Once our bellies were full of sweets, we headed over to Chapel Street to do some shopping. There were boutiques, cafes and shoe stores on every corner...it was a dream come true :) With a few bags in our hands and the sun getting low, we decided to head back to the hotel to put our feet up before heading out for dinner. After much research and a little debate, we settled on Tutto Bene on South Bank who is known for their famous risottos {oh how I love risotto!}. We were immediately given a table with a twinkling view over the river to the city. A few glasses of wine and bowl full of risotto later, we were happy as cats with our choice.
Our last day in Melbourne started with the Victoria Market. It is the largest market in Victoria and has numerous sections, many of which we didn't even see! We started in the deli {?} section and wound our way to the veggie section, stopped for doughnuts and then on to retail goods. It was somewhat overwhelming, but the good thing about markets, is once you've been to a few, it's easier to spot what you really want to look at and what is probably knock off junk.
I can only imagine what it must be like to have a market like this to shop at in your own town. It had everything from fresh quail eggs to pink sea salt, every meat you can imagine and specialty dips, spreads, spices, breads...seriously you name it.
How much fun to put together a dinner party at a market like this!
Oh yes, we did have some!
Once we were content with our time at the Victoria Market, we headed back to Federation Square to see the Ian Potter Gallery of Aboriginal Art. Definitely a highlight of our time in Melbourne. Every piece of art displayed was gripping. They each gave us a better sense of their history and what their cultural paintings are about: explaining "The Dreamtime" or "The Dreaming". This is the term European settlers gave to the stories they heard Aboriginals tell of their spiritual heritage relating to creation. It was amazing to learn that because the Aboriginals have an oral culture, their artwork was only transferred to canvas within the past 50 years and is considered one of the last great art movements of the century by some critics.
A charcoal sketch of Barak, the Aboriginal man said to have helped start the movement of Aboriginal art onto canvas for the world to see.
After finishing at the Ian Potter Gallery, we went across the street and shared our last meal in Melbourne at the Young & Jackson Pub. It is one of the oldest buildings and oldest pubs in the city, and it was nice to end our trip on such a good note.
Mom and I were both sad to say goodbye to Melbourne and Victoria. We were fortunate to have fantastic weather {which we have learned can absolutely make or break a holiday} and were generally surprised and touched by the friendliness and grace of the people there. I can't tell you how many times we were asked if we needed help getting around in Melbourne. I'm not sure if we looked that clueless, or if people were just genuinely out to help, but we weren't expecting it, and were much better off for it! I hope it won't be my first and last visit there, but with three families we know moving there this year alone, we just may be making plans to visit again sooner than we thought!
