{"id":2178,"date":"2012-12-07T21:24:01","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T13:24:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/?page_id=2178"},"modified":"2017-08-17T21:48:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T13:48:00","slug":"melbourne-pg-3","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/?page_id=2178","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne Pg 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday 19th<\/sup><\/strong><\/p>\n

We slept well again.\u00a0 This really was a comfy bed, which was so nice.\u00a0 In fact the hotel room was very nice too and our little kitchenette with its fridge, kettle, toaster and crockery and cutlery was wonderful.\u00a0 There was a little stove top and pots and pans but we don\u2019t go on holiday to cook meals!\u00a0 We had our breakfast of toast, this time with some honey which made a big difference, though the soy milk was still disgusting.\u00a0 It just wasn\u2019t worth trying to find another place to buy a different one so I put up with it, and promise not to mention it again \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

The staff behind the reception counter at the hotel were also really nice.\u00a0 You\u2019ll often find hotel staff can be a bit snobby\/elitist but these guys were really friendly, natural and helpful.<\/p>\n

So today we walked down Collins Street and Swanston Street and found Federation Square, ready for when we would need it on Thursday to meet a friend for lunch, but also because this was where we could catch a free tourist bus to Chadstone Shopping Centre.\u00a0 We walked up and down trying to find any sign of the exact spot to wait at for this bus and even went into the Tourist Information Bureau but that was chokkas and you had to take a number to be served so we went back to our own resources.\u00a0 Eventually we found a small crowd of people sitting along a wall and hoped this was the right spot.\u00a0 I was getting a bit flustered but David said \u201cIf we miss it, we miss it, it\u2019s only a shopping centre\u201d and I appreciated his wisdom, as I so often do, and eventually the bus arrived anyway.<\/p>\n

Apparently you have to live more than 40 kms from Melbourne to qualify to use this bus.\u00a0 We qualified.\u00a0 It\u2019s 3,300 kms to our house!\u00a0 But nobody checked anyway.\u00a0 I think the first few on the bus were asked, but the driver had got fed up by the time we reached the door.\u00a0 The bus had been a good 10 minutes late picking us up but it was privately owned by the shopping centre, not public transport \u2013 and traffic affects everyone anyway!\u00a0 There were really cute seat covers in the bus.<\/p>\n

\"Cute

Cute Seat Covers<\/p><\/div>\n

The driver, bless his heart, looked as if he\u2019d retired from whatever job he used to do about 20 years ago.\u00a0 And to a large degree he drove like it too.\u00a0 We turned at, and went through, several red lights, though we learned later that this is apparently fairly standard practice in Melbourne, so I may have been judging him a little harshly.<\/p>\n

It was quite a drive to the shopping centre, mostly along a fairly fast freeway, and we were glad we had not tried to make our own way.\u00a0 One of the few complaints I have about Melbourne is that you can\u2019t get on a \u2018bus route\u2019 tram and pay a fare to the driver, you have to buy a cash card, with money in advance, from kiosks and use these.\u00a0 Well we had no clue how much we would use the trams so we did without, rather than spend money we would never use.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t seem to have any thought for tourists at all.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll be relieved to hear that there\u2019s not a whole lot to say about the shopping centre.\u00a0 Needless to say it was the \u2018Biggest Shopping Centre in the Southern Hemisphere\u2019 but it took us quite a while to accept this as the truth.\u00a0 For the most part it was like every large shopping centre in Australia with all the same brands and more dress and shoe shops than anything else.\u00a0 But there was one corner dedicated to designer label shops so that was different \u2013 for us anyway.\u00a0 Prada, Gucci, and other such names that are just words to me.\u00a0 Except for Tiffanys.\u00a0 When we got to their door I marched right in, which threw David off his step because that was the last thing he expected *giggle*.\u00a0\u00a0 There was nothing that interested me in the front half but I found a few diamonds towards the back of the shop so I enjoyed a little admire of them as well as getting my own diamond ring under the display lights to make it twinkle too.\u00a0 Why not!?!?\u00a0 The best thing in there was that one of the assistants admired my hair tinsel.\u00a0 I was so pleased!\u00a0 A Tiffany expert being impressed with sparkles that came from a, ummm, slightly cheaper purveyor of fine goods \u2013 we\u2019re talking the $2 shop here!!!\u00a0 And then we left, not having seen anything that I couldn\u2019t live without ROFL<\/p>\n

We lunched in a food hall about \u00be of the way around the ground level and, believe it or not, had Subway.\u00a0 It was nice to sit and people watch as we ate and to take a break.\u00a0 When we go to new places \u2013 shops or markets etc \u2013 we always keep left and only look in the left side windows\/stalls and eventually you get back to your start point.\u00a0 In many cases you\u2019ve even seen both sides \u2013 or if not then you start out again keeping right!\u00a0 It\u2019s always served us very well, but this centre had 2 \u2018middle aisles\u2019 so we had to just watch our route around there which involved going into the aisle and chucking a Uey at the end so that we\u2019d seen those shops without going out the other end and getting confused on our keep left rule.<\/p>\n

Soon enough we\u2019d done the whole floor so we went down the escalators to the basement level and kept left again.\u00a0 There was a fairly large Christmas tree down here that I took a photo of, but the best part of it is that you can see the Prada shop on the top right.\u00a0 Compared to the trees we\u2019d seen in Kuala Lumpur<\/a> last year this one wasn\u2019t very impressive though.<\/p>\n

\"Christmas

Christmas Tree at Chadstone Shopping Centre<\/p><\/div>\n

I found several places down here that had some nice gifts ready for family for Christmas and we laughed about whether we\u2019d be the lightest shoppers on the bus.\u00a0 I wondered if there would be anyone with arms full of carrier bags.<\/p>\n

We finished in plenty of time \u2013 the bus wasn\u2019t due to collect us again until 3:30 \u2013 he\u2019d given us extra time to make up for being late in the morning.\u00a0 So we decided on a caf\u00e9 and sat and enjoyed a coffee for David and a juice for me and watched the people go by once more.\u00a0 We also went into an Asian bakery and bought some coconut bread, thinking it would be nice for breakfast.\u00a0 We could not find a \u2018real\u2019 loaf of bread in this bakery. \u00a0It was full of really fascinating things, and some things that sounded truly disgusting to our Western sensibilities, but not what we were honestly looking for.\u00a0 And David got himself another bottle of wine.<\/p>\n

We went out to wait for the bus again and found that most of the others were out there, ready to return as well.\u00a0 We enjoyed a bit of a chat and found that there were way more people for the return journey than had come out in the morning.\u00a0 Other than running more red lights the return journey was nothing to speak of either.<\/p>\n

Back at Federation Square we explored it, only to find it really small.\u00a0 We\u2019d understood it to be the \u2018Meeting Place of the City\u2019 and expected shops and cafes and restaurants\u2026\u00a0 Its architecture was interesting though.<\/p>\n

\"Federation

Federation Square Architecture<\/p><\/div>\n

And there was a hidden camera somewhere out in a massive courtyard that displayed up on a wall so we had a photo of the video of us taking the photo.\u00a0 We couldn\u2019t *quite* pin down where the camera was though.<\/p>\n

\"Federation

Federation Square Camera Screen<\/p><\/div>\n

We decided to go over the road to explore another Cathedral.\u00a0 This one was the Anglican Cathedral but, having been touched by the Catholic one so deeply, this seemed only interesting, not stunning, and we didn\u2019t stay terribly long.\u00a0 The only thing that really fascinated me was this very large and ornate carved wooden \u2018cap\u2019 for the baptismal font.\u00a0 It appeared to be winched upwards when needed on chains to the roof and would have worried me a whole lot if it was my baby about to be held anywhere near such a heavy, insecure-looking thing.\u00a0 It was a beautiful work of art, but a worry.<\/p>\n

\"Anglican

Anglican Cathedral, Melbourne<\/p><\/div>\n

Outside the Cathedral in the street we found the horse-drawn carriage rank and grabbed a couple of photos and enquired after the price of a ride.\u00a0 I *think* the incredibly hunky young man said it was $100 for the carriage for 30 minutes, no matter how many people you put in it.\u00a0 Well we were only 2 people so that would have been quite a price and we thanked him and moved on.<\/p>\n

\"Horse-Drawn

Horse-Drawn Carriage<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Feathered

Feathered Ponies<\/p><\/div>\n

We walked down Bourke Street, then William Street to our hotel.\u00a0 No point going the same way twice!\u00a0 And then got changed to go out for a run.\u00a0 We jogged gently down the Market Street hill against the cold, strong wind that always seemed to be blowing there, and then down to the river.\u00a0 As soon as we turned left, and away from the \u2018tunnel effect\u2019 of the road, the wind dropped and we were able to run in perfectly cool temperatures with no head-wind.\u00a0 All along the side of the river was perfectly flat except for some occasional slight ramps up towards foot bridges, but then always the down slope the other side.\u00a0 It was absolutely, to us, the most perfect running space we\u2019ve ever enjoyed.\u00a0 We just ran, and ran, and ran and David was getting really surprised that I had not stopped yet for a breather, but the scenery was empowering and beautiful.\u00a0 The river didn\u2019t vary much in width and there were occasional rowing boats \u2013 the 8-person \u2018hurry yourself up\u2019 kind, not the \u2018row, stop, glass of wine and \u2018will you marry me\u2019\u2019 kind.\u00a0 The running surface changed from bitumen to fine gravel but it was solid enough to still run happily on and eventually we could see another bridge in the distance.\u00a0 I decided that I would make it to there and then take a breather.\u00a0 We were both very proud of me indeed.\u00a0 We walked over this bridge as the traffic was starting to build up \u2013 being decorous grandparents tee hee!\u00a0 But once back down to the river side, over the bridge, we began to jog again.\u00a0 This time we alternated jogging and walking for the return journey.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll pop this photo of a bridge in here \u2013 it\u2019s out of order from when I took it, but it doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 I just like the angles and the arches.<\/p>\n

\"Under

Under a Yarra River Bridge<\/p><\/div>\n

We jogged along on a little tow path with a grass slope to our left and then came upon the storage area for all of the rowing boats that we\u2019d seen. \u00a0David looked into the first shed and could not believe his eyes on how many boats were in there.\u00a0 Then there was another shed, and another, and then a 2-storey social building and I think more sheds (2 more?).\u00a0 Soon after that we went under the arches of a bridge and came out at the eastern end of Southgate Shops.\u00a0 We continued to jog along here, looking again at the restaurants along the frontage as we went, and then in no time at all we were crossing the bridge back to Market Street and our room for a shower.<\/p>\n

If the requested maintenance man had come to look at the shower he didn\u2019t appear to have done anything.\u00a0 The water still dripped out more like a leak than a fully turned tap, and the temperature took longer to adjust than the shower and hairwash combined afterwards.<\/p>\n

Once we were fresh again, and it was getting dark outside, we went down Market Street once more but turned right before crossing the bridge and chose our spot to take photos of the Fireball Show.<\/p>\n

\"Crown

Crown Casino Gas Light Show<\/p><\/div>\n

And then we went to bed early so that we could awake fresh for tomorrow\u2019s adventures.<\/p>\n

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Monday 19th We slept well again.\u00a0 This really was a comfy bed, which was so nice.\u00a0 In fact the hotel room was very nice too and our little kitchenette with its fridge, kettle, toaster and crockery and cutlery was wonderful.\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2126,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2178","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2178"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3924,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2178\/revisions\/3924"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mayl.id.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}