7th April:
Our last day in Melbourne. To market to market. Melbourne has a number of markets on weekends, but we were lucky that the Victoria Market operated on Tuesday and Thursdays as well. Besides, it was right behind our hotel. So fortified with a good breakfast and with an empty backpack, we headed on over there. As soon we entered the covered market area, I knew we were in trouble. All kinds of lovely goodies and local arts and crafts all over the place. Great food, awesome organic produce - it was like a farmers market, a flea market, a crafts bazaar and a huge garage sale all rolled into one. Aboriginal craft products jostled with Australian kangaroo belt buckles, lavender and ylang ylang soaps with hot massage pads and leather goods! It was a great place to wrap up all of our gift shopping. I bought some lovely carved aboriginal dolls and a painting, Raga bought a similarly carved painted boomerang.
Some more knick knacks and after about 2 hrs there we came back to the hotel, deposited our purchases and took off for the Eureka skydeck, the highest viewpoint in the southern hemisphere. To get there, we had to walk a bit along the Yarra river. It was a lovely afternoon and all of Melbourne was there eating lunch on the grass by the riverside. The skydeck on the 88th floor is not unlike the Seattle Space needle or the Auckland tower. Its a great place to get a fabulous view of the city and beyond. There was a little glass cube jutting out of the tower where for a price you can go and get a heart attack, cos you are out there, meters above the ground totally surrounded by glass including a glass floor! I didn’t go anywhere near it. Took some nice panoramic shots, wandered around a bit more and left.
Outside we bought some falafel wraps and joined the lunch eating crowd by the river. Then a long leisurely stroll all along the Yarra river for an hour till we hopped on the bus to get back. On the way our tram stopped at a light across the Parliament building, so on a whim we hoped off and decided to see if they offered tours. We asked the guard outside and he said “Sorry, no tours today, Parliament is in session. But if you want you can go into the gallery and watch the proceedings”. Wow! What a stroke of luck! So we went thru security etc and went into a gallery overlooking the floor below where the Premier was talking. The Premier was accusing the Opposition of making political capital and there was a lot of noise and ruckus! Not too many were really paying attention, some were sleeping, some text messaging, a lady was filing her nails and so on. One very loud and vociferous guy kept making comments and got 2 warnings from the Speaker. Finally he got thrown out, at which he bowed gracefully, and left, still muttering to himself. If a civilized state like Victoria could have such a rambunctious Parliament session, I can understand why they throw shoes and chairs in India!!!!
It lasted about 20 minutes, after which we got on the tram, headed back to the hotel for an afternoon siesta!
At 6.30 pm we left again to go to Federation Square, the happening place in Melbourne, for an evening free outdoor musical concert. We decided to walk the 10 or so blocks to get there while I snapped some shots of Melbourne in the evening....
and found the music show in full swing. Not our style...too much rapping and heavy metal stuff, but we hung around, people watched, had some bubble tea and ambled towards dinner. Thought we would give Indonesian a try today, but when we went in, it didn’t look too appetizing...so guess where we went??? You're right...Your Thai! But it was as enjoyable as ever.
Back to hotel at 8.30 to pack for the next day.
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