Monday is one of our last designated tourist days – the day is ours until a dinner booking later. To be honest we feel like we’ve mostly run out of the obvious touristy stuff to do in Melbourne now though; makes sense I suppose, we ticked a bunch of stuff off when we were here a couple of years ago a well. Next trip to Australia we’ll probably cut the Melbourne time down to just catching up with people and go explore somewhere else with the extra time.

Anyway! It’s a nice day, not so hot as yesterday, perfect for getting out and about. We end up in a small park just outside the CBD, Fitzroy Gardens. It’s quite nice, pretty quiet, has some bits to take pictures of.

We found a weird little model Tudor village set up as well; apparently it was gifted to the City of Melbourne by Lambeth in London just after the war as a thanks for gifts of food.

Tree carving.

Statues on one of the gates.

“Cook’s Cottage” was also in the gardens; it’s the oldest building in Australia. despite the name it has nothing to do with Captain Cook at all, except for being representative of what a homestead would have been like back then. (OK that’s not actually true, more accurate below!)

It has a weird back-story: for Melbourne’s centennial celebration back in the 30s some guy decided to literally transplant this cottage piece by numbered piece – right down to the plaster on the walls! – from Yorkshire in England. The cottage was originally built by Captain Cook’s parents so he presumably lived in it for a while. Reminded me a little bit of an American guy who did the same with a castle, I think.

Random other bits in the gardens before we left:

From there we walked to, and along Southbank; guess which side of the river that is guys! We crossed the Yarra over the Sandridge Bridge, which has a permanent display all along it celebrating the history of immigration to Australia as well as some bits on indigenous peoples. I found the Irish section, a bit hard to see fully with the glass and background though.

We were aiming to visit the Polly Woodside, a historic tallship that is now a museum-like attraction. Unfortunately, and a bit weirdly, it’s only open on weekends outside of school holidays. Took some photos anyway though.

We felt that was enough wandering for one day, and the early afternoon was getting pretty hot and sticky now, so we aimed ourselves back towards the hotel. On the way I felt the need for something cake-like so we went on a bit of a quest. It was surprisingly difficult to find the kind of cafe I was looking for – most of them were much more focused on bready and savoury stuff and I feel we’d have had an easier time of it in London – but our perseverance was rewarded in the end. Apple slice and lamington!

The fifteen minute walk back to the hotel was enough for Erin, but I, like the awesome husband that I (of course!) am, offered to go on another quest – this time to a Baker’s Delight shop about a km away to try to find a “proper” custard scroll. They’re something that she regularly reminisces about and I knew she’d be disappointed if she missed out on one this trip; plus I wanted a bit more walking. I took some random scenery pics on the way:

I found what I was looking for and Erin was pretty happy with it. I forgot to get a photo before she ate it (and it disappeared pretty quickly too!) but I did get a picture in the shop – they’re the things in the middle on the right.

Remember the nespresso machine in the hotel room? Apparently it can make tea as well! I know, right? Mind, blown.

After the delicious cup of tea I decided some whisky was the answer (the question isn’t relevant), not sure that a wine glass is really the implement of choice but I made do. The hardships, they’re killing me!

Relax-and-reading time for a bit.

We head out for a 7pm dinner booking with one of Erin’s old friends who I’d met on the last trip as well. I forgot to get a pic of the two of them together but, Hi Chris!
The restaurant was Greek and reasonably nice. The starter sharing platter and dips were really nice but I was probably just a little disappointed with the lamb cutlets I got for my main. They were definitely very tasty but I regretted afterwards not getting the bit-of-each-of-the-specials offer they had going. But oh well, can’t complain too much! Erin’s moussaka was the biggest I’ve ever seen, and very nice.
Unfortunately service was a bit dodgy; mains plates came out as we were still eating the starters, which always really annoys me. It’s fine if they’re clear that stuff will come out when it’s ready, but even then they should just ask when we’re OK with them starting to cook it. Anyway, not a big deal, just an irk.
Dessert was quite a nice crème brulé, but alas I forgot to picture it until too late!

By eating with Chris we had skipped out on another dinner get-together with the other current-and-former Londoners. As we were leaving the restaurant, though, I spotted a Facebook location update from someone and it turned out they were now at a gin cocktail bar only a couple of blocks from where we were. Gatecrash time! We spent a while there, enjoyed a delicious orange-flavoured martini. Quite pricey even for London fancy-cocktail standards, but that’s just the way things are.

Oh, and those were anchovy-stuffed olives! They were amazing!

We said our goodbyes to Chris and then it was the short walk back to the hotel. Time’s ticking away now, only 6 days left of the holiday!