Australia Part 9: Exploring the City once more

Hubby's camera was very heavy and I git a bit tired from carrying the tripod the previous day. The photos I have here were taken using just my Cybershot.

I made a beeline to Burke Steet, the shopping mecca of Melbourne.

This is David Jones, their version of Rustan's.



Myer is their version of SM.



I must say, the Australians cannot compete with our malls. It's actually much more fun to shop and go malling in Manila. Greenbelt so far the best mall in terms of shopping, eating and architectural aesthetics.

China Town in Melbourne should be called "China Street" It's just a long street of Chinese Restaurants, drugstores and whatnot. I didn't try any of the restaurants in the area for I wasn't very hungry at that time.



After getting bored traversing the China Street, I decided to enter an eskenita and I ended up on Greek Street. Ok, maybe it should be a street with 2 or 3 greek restaurants, that's it. Where's the opa?!





Both the China and Greek areas were what I expected but then, I spotted...Target! Finally, a real department store, ha ha ha. The egyptian cotton beddings of 1000 count are very cheap (on sale!) but they don't come in King size :-(, darn. There were some cool home stuff there as well. I wasn't sure why I only came out with one item of clothing though..hmmm.....

After browsing through Target, I felt quite hungry and chose to dine at My Thai Food at Swanston St. I had the Sweet Chili Prawns and Pork Dry Noodle which was nice and sweet and refreshing at the same time due to the cilantro. Foe AUD 8.90, not bad. The serving is quite huge and can be shared by two people.

Australia Part 8: The other side of Yarra River and Royal Botanical Gardens

I had the tripod with me that day so I made the best of it by going back to the Yarra river and take some photos, with me in it this time, ha ha ha.







I love walking by the Yarra River beacause of the cool breezes and people pay you no mind. One can just pick a shaded part, sit and contemplate on life :-) I found a few people who seem to be doing just that.

I decided to come and see the Royal Botanic Gardens since it was just a short walk from the Yarra River, or so I was led to belive :-) It was a bit of a hike in and around the many beautiful parks in the area.

I love the lanscaping and the many different areas of the garden. I particularly liked the man made lake and variety of ducks that inhabit it.

The photos below are lopsided because I'm an amateur :-)













The Royal Botanic Gardens is H-U-G-E. I got lost while trying to find a way out. When I finally got out, I couldn't make sense on where I was and walked and walked until I reached the Domain interchange. It felt like miles under the sweltering heat.

I was to tired, irritated and hungry by the time I got to the hotel to meet hubby. Hubby took pity on me and decided to just have dinner accross the street at Roscos' Resto @ Chevron instead of going back to the city.





The Pasta Amtriciana that I ordered was too spicy and the anchovies in hubby's pizza seemed raw... but the waiter was funny and the sous chef was cute though :-)

Australia Part 7: Melbourne Aquarium

Here's the deal when hubby's traveling on business, I am often left alone enjoying the city while he earns my shopping money, ha ha ha :-) Most often than not, he misses a lot of the attractions in country where he's in.

Anyway, I wasn't about to miss a day at the Melbourne Aquarium. Fun, fun, fun. Aquariums are one of my favorite places to visit wherever I am. I lugged the Nikon again and a tripod for this trip. They were heavy but at least there are photos of me :-)

Melbourne Aquarium had a new attraction called Antarctica which features penguins. The penguins are hand raised by humas that's why them come up to you when you stand close to the glass.





Weird and Wonderful



River to Reef






Sharks Alive





For more details, click visit their website at

Going to Melbourne aquarium is totally worth it. You and your kids will enjoy it very much.

Australia Part 6: St. Francis Church

There's a nice little Catholic Church in the corner of Lonsdale and Swanston St. I went there to say a short prayer of thanks for the may blessings that we received.


(I had the Nikon with just the regular lens with me that's why I couldn't pan out to take a full picture of the Church)



Most Pinoys hear mass there every Sunday.

Australia Part 5: Seeing the city in different perspectives

It was hubby's first day at work and I was left to my own devices. I decided to just spend a few hours taking pictures of the city.

Docklands Waterfront City is touted to be Autralia's most exciting retail and entertainment center. It is currently under development. It's greatest attraction is the 120-meter observation wheel. Unfortunately, it wasn't operational yet when we arrived. But it was sight to behold. I can't wait to go up there and check it out.









I spent the early afternoon at the Yarra River which traverses within Melbourne. It's a nice place to spend an hour walking within its banks enjoying the cool breeze.

I also went to Southbank. A commercial area, just beside the Arts Precinct with plenty of restaurants, condominiums. It's a nice walk as well. It's tree-lined sidewalk is very pleasant and New York-y :-)



There three blokes asked to have their pictures taken, if you know them, send me an email :-)



Later that day when hubby gor off from work, I took him to Southbank to see the river. It's nice taking a walk there since the wind is cool and the leaves have started to turn orange color (it's after all Autumn).



After hubby's ice cream (I'll have a post dedicated to hubby's ice cream adventures later) proceeded to go to Eureka Skydeck. It's an 88-storey residential building that provides a spectacular view of Melbourne. We came up during sunset and stayed until all the lights were on at the city. I suggest you do the same so that you can capture magnificent images.







The fog came in very quickly while were up there and it got very cold. It was the first time that I saw fog roll up so quickly blanketing the whole city. What a spectacular sight.



Here's also a picture taken by hubby, Melbourne at night. The Yarra River flows right through it. On the left is Southbank. Home to restaurants, condominiums and the Art Priscint. On the right is the Central Business District. Pretty isn't it.

Autralia Part 4: What the????!!!

After getting 40 winks (okay, maybe 60 or so, he he he). We took the tram back to the city to get some grub. We saw a brochure that says that there's a pancake place in Docklands that closes late. So off to Docklands we go. We consulted our map and saw that we have to go back to Flinder's and take the no 48 tram to Docklands. Lo and behold, the whole commercial area is deserted. It was only 8pm! We were told that most stores close at 5:00 p.m. on a Sunday.





We had to wait half an hour more to get another tram. Hubby was a bit pissed and very hungry. We ended up eating at a 24-hour pizza place along Elizabeth Street. The pizzas were ordinary and they sell for AUD2 per slice.



After that, we went for some doughnuts at Walker's doughnuts. The doughnuts were nice. Not too sweet.



Hubby had his second ice cream for the day. The server was surprised that he wanted ice cream when the temperature outside was 13 degrees centigrade :-)

I said, "That's because it's not cold enough outside, *laughter*"

Melbourne, Australia Part 3: The Queen Victoria Market

After getting a general feel of the Flinder's area, hubby and I decided to go to the Zoo and see some kangaroos and koalas. Afterall, what's an Autralian trip without these animals, right?

We make our way to a tram station thinking that we thought would pass by the zoo directly. Long story short, we got lost in a suburb somewhere. But it was fun getting lost, we saw some really nice cottages along the way, some stores and other interesting buildings. We didn't mind getting lost. If you do get lost, just hop on to the tram the goes the other way and retrace your steps.



As we were re-tracing our route, we came across Queen Victoria Market. I've read about it and it was part of our itinerary for the day anyway so we hopped off the tram and explored it. The market is a happy combination of food shops, meat shops, clothing shops and souvenir shops rolled into one big area. We arrived there during a Turkish Festival so the area was packed and very lively.

















I had a grand time exploring the food, fish and meat kiosks. The cheese selection alone is worth the trip. Every imaginable cheese is there.

Queen Victoria Market, essentially, is a sosyal version of their Palengke. What a great way to shop for fresh food and produce. Libre tikim :-)

The Market opens at 9:00am to 5:00 pm daily except Mondays and Wednesdays.



After the Market, we trudged our way back to Williams street where the tram that goes to the zoo passes by. Little did we know that the same tram passes behind Queen Victoria Market as well. Oh well...

When we managed to ge to the Melbourne Zoo, it was almost closing so we decided to go there so other time. Shops and attractions close early in Australia because labor cost is high.

With dragged our sleep deprived, middle-aged bodies back to the hotel to recharge, freshen up and rest.

Before reaching our hotel, hubby wanted something warm to eat, we had some burgers at Burger Edge, just across from our hotel. They were giant burgers with Autralian Beef grilled to your liking and the buns are freshly baked daily.



I had the Greek Burger with Feta Cheese, pesto and pine nuts. It was nothing spectacular. Hubby had the cheeseburger. I didn't think he was up for any experimentation. The burgers were huge and we managed to eat only the burger and half the bun.