Departure Day - on to the West - Perth

After packing and breakfast in the apartment - emptying our fridge - we took the tram to the South Melbourne Market. Established in 1867 it is the oldest continually running market in Melbourne, nowadays open Wed/Fri-Sun. A wonderful, not-at-all touristic market, and, cheap, too! Seafood, fish, meat, sausages, Italian and greek food in a great variety, a food hall, veggies & fruit and artsy vendors, too. 

So fantastic to stroll through, and, so embarrassing if you think about what we are having back home in comparison! Overpriced goods in a by-far-not so appealing presentation and in a much smaller variety. 

 

 

 

There were some nice murals in the South Market's neighborhood, too!

We had to check out at noon (already had arranged for a late check-out), we did that and went over to the great Spencer Outlet adjacent to the Southern Cross Station. Took turns in exploring the stores. Same here: not your standard mostly American brands, but also Australian, good deals! Just wished our luggage capacities wouldn't have been that restricted.

At around 2 pm we took the airport bus to Tullamarine Airport. Jetstar, the budget company, we had chosen, was not very accommodating in regard to hand luggage, and, we had to pay extra. But, we arrived well and on time - photos above taken when approaching Perth at sunset - and were picked up by our friends and enjoyed a warm welcome to Perth in their beautiful historic home. For the next three days I'll take off, won't be writing on the blog. We'll be out with them at a beach house - vacation!!!

Museums and beer in Melbourne

Cool this morning and cloudy, about 16 deg C, with some sprinkles of rain! 

Thursday morning: Melbourne Museum first. Passing by the Royal Exhibition Building, a UNESCO World Heritage-site, built in 1879–1880 and 150 m long. It was getting ready for a the big Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show (left photo), but we got a glimpse. It's supposed to be the world's oldest remaining exhibition pavilion and is beautiful inside and out.

The modern Melbourne Museum (right) is located adjacent to the Royal Exhibition Building and has several departments, one of them the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, a space dedicated to honouring First People's (the Eastern Kulin Nations) history and culture, through exhibits of all kinds. Unfortunately, photo taking is not permitted in these galleries.

There is the Forest Gallery, offering a chance to gain a deeper understanding of the flora and fauna, the "600 Mio. Years" gallery with "The Dinosaur Walk", "Our Wonderous Planet", and, interesting: the Melbourne Gallery informing about the city's history. 

 

 

On to the State Library Victoria (right photo) - beautiful, completely unexpected: the splendid main reading room and the exhibitions, e.g. on rare books. It is Australia's oldest public library, renowned for its heritage architecture, particularly the iconic domed La Trobe Reading Room. The library opened in 1856 as "the people’s university", as a place for everyone, a radical idea in the mid-19th century, when education was the preserve of the high society!

Walked over (photo above) to the Parliament House (photo above) - tours on the hour only, long lines, seems like the Parliament of Victoria is a popular sight! Therefore, we visited the Old Treasury Building instead, with more interesting historic exhibitions (below). The building was built 1858-62 and hosts the original gold vaults where gold was stored during the gold rush era (from 1851 into the 1860s), as well as rare and historic documents.

Next: Immigration Museum in the Old Customs House. This museum focuses on Melbourne and Victoria's immigration history. A bit too much digital/multi-media and general information for us, but it seems like especially the Greek (photo on left side) and Italian population seems to be strong (got it confirmed at the South Market today).

Melbourne's history in a timeline above.

Melbourne's craft brewery scene as the grand finale: excellent! We took the train for a change instead of the tram, but all is unified thanks to Myki, a card which has to be loaded with money (daily max is $ 11,40/7 Euro, but in downtown it's free anyway). Drove to the suburb of Collingwood, notable for its historical buildings along the main axle, Smith Street (photo further below). The formerly industrial neighborhood is nowadays one of Melbourne's innovative areas and a major nightlife and retail strips. It has been voted one of the coolest street in the world and it has some great murals, too!

 

Stomping Ground is located in a large industrial warehouse. Exceptionally good variety and quality food for a brewery! We had to try the BBQ pork meat pie (below, right). The Bendigo Hotel ("The Bendi", further below) is another Collingwood institution and home of The Mill Brewery - pure contrast to the previous one! Old rockers around, dark, cozy atmosphere and superb Special of the day: Porterhouse Steak for $ 25/15 Euro (!). A pint of beer (0,6 l) went for AUS$ 9/10 (6 €) at Happy Hour, otherwise around $ 14.

Something typically Australian, BTW, are the many historic corner buildings, often former hotels, now transfered into restaurants and bars, some of them still renting out rooms in the upper floors.

Wishing, we would have planned a day or two more in Melbourne! Running out of time,,, 

Four highlights on one day!

 

Grey skies, not too warm this Wednesday morning. We had a tour arranged at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), and, no, it's not an elite historic English-style cricket clubhouse, but a rather modern, huge arena used for different sports (photo).

Passed by the Melbourne Tennis Center and famous Rod Lever Arena (left) on the way, equally impressive!

 

The MCG gets compared to the Wembley or the Yankee Stadium and dates back in 1853, when the then 15-year-old Melbourne Cricket Club was forced to move. Plenty of international cricket games took place here, but other sporting spectacles, too, including soccer, rugby, the 2006 Commonwealth Games, blockbuster concerts, pope's masses and Aussie football. Record crowd there was 121,696! On the world stage, the MCG’s most notable attendance record (still standing) is 1.153 million patrons for the 15 days of the 1956 Olympics.

The Australian Sports Museum is located in the stadium and that's where we spent time after the great tour with a cricket club veteran (photo above). The museum shows interactive exhibits and is a mecca for sports enthusiasts, celebrating the diverse sporting culture of Australia including Olympics etc.. A special exhibition with personal items and memorabilia honored Shane Warne, "Warny", a cricket legend (photo on left).

Next destination: The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, founded in 1846. We walked over from the MCG, along the river (photo above, right). The garden is more of a park, an arboretum in the English-style with historic cottage buildings and pavilions than the rather small-scale botanical gardens we know from home. 

It extends over 38 ha and houses a collection of  almost 50,000 individual plants representing 8,500 different species from around the world, including plant collections such as camellias, rainforest flora, cacti and succulents, roses, etc. It was developed scientifically by the German Ferdinand von Mueller (1857–1873) - who we met several times before! 

Below: Noisy Miner at work,,, 

 

Streetcar - very convenient in Melbourne! - brought us to St. Kilda Beach next, located just 6 km from downtown. Known for its palm-lined boardwalk, a long pier and a long sandy beach, we passed Luna Park - similar to the one in Coney Island/NYC - and the famous Sea Bath. Views went the Port Philip and the Cruiseship Harbour. Suddenly a storm went in, not much rain, but heavy winds. Hurried into town, to the center of St. Kilda to get out of the storm and to catch a tram back.

 

 

 

 

 

Evening entertainment and dinner at Queen Victoria M​​arket, where the last Wednesday Night Market took place for the season. The regular vendors were closed, but one big hall was transformed into a fun zone. As one of the great nineteenth century markets in Victoria it was Melbourne’s chief wholesale market and has played an important role in the economic and social history of the city. There was a stage set up, vendors of all kinds (jewelry, books, clothing, candles, artwork,,,) to be found, the Lord Mayor Nicolas Reece (photo below, right) was present greeting International Students who just started into their semester at Melbourne University, and, for them a Chinese New Year's Dance was presented.

 

 

But what was definitely different and unique were the food offerings: First, our Greek dinner,,,

 

 

Escargots above

Pasta

Paella

Greek skewers,,,

Over a dozen different countries at least sold their culinary specialities, Nepalese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Greek, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Turkish, French (escargots!) and many more. Germany was only represented with a pretzel vendor outside,,, Never have seen such a variety and quality of food like here, nowhere in the world, and, all went for reasonable prices (10-20 Euro)! And our dinner really tasted like at a street vendor in Athens. Fantastic event! Photos below from our walk home.