Day #26 & 27 – In which nothing goes to plan

Our last days in Melbourne have flown by. I’m so excited to go to New Zealand but so sad to leave Australia; it feels like we barely scratched the surface of doing and seeing everything we wanted to.

At least we made sure the time we was here was the most fun. Yesterday we had big plans to brave the creepy moonface entrance and actually go in to Luna Park. Since we left so late, we went to find lunch first before the rides (that’s the way to do it, right?! Eat before rollercoasters?) I had read a good review of a place on the other side of St. Kilda, so we walked (hobbled on Saf’s part) up Fitzroy Road to find the Supernormal Canteen. Annoyingly, when we got there at 12.45ish, we were told it didn’t open till 5pm. Not to be deterred from our lunch date, we hopped down two doors to Milk the Cow, not actually knowing what it served, but seeing people sat outside with plates was good enough for us. Hurrah of all hurrahs, it turned out to be a cheese and wine bar!!

We finally arrived at Luna Park, probably three stone heavier, ready to be amused. The rides were probably super tame for anyone who goes on rollercoasters more than, say, once a decade, but I’ve never been a theme park girl, so they were wild enough for me. I won’t mention the parts where Saf did a little screaming.

By about 4ish, the skies were clouding over and we were getting chilly, so we headed back to our beach bar haunt for a drink before dinner.

This morning we headed out for breakfast before walking along the beach to find Queen Victoria Market. We intended to go to the coffee shop we’ve been going to all week (the owner was v. impressed by my order of Earl Grey tea on the first day, so we’re pals now), but it was closed on Sundays, so we crossed over the road to another cafe. I can’t quite articulate the enormity of the plates we were presented with. Do the pictures do it justice? I’m not even sure. Either way, we were definitely carbed up and ready for the day by 11am.

Okay, so. Queen Victoria Market. Here’s the thing. On the OFFICIAL tourist map of Melboune, QVM is marked as being just off the beach about 20 minutes past St. Kilda Pier. Saf can confirm this. HOWEVER. We walked for probably close to an hour and found nothing. When we found the road that we were anticipating the market being on, and found no market, we gave in and searched google maps. Ugh. Apparently the market was 6km away in the centre of Melbourne. I put my trust in the paper map and I was betrayed.

The one thing I will give to him is that Saf took the absence of any discernible market in his stride, and happily turned heel and walked back along the beach to return to where we had come from. There was a row of stalls along the beach front 10 minutes from our apartment, so I left Saf sitting with a beer in the sun while I wandered along this mini-market and told myself it was just as good as Queen Vics. You know what, it was probably better.

I decided that we’d go out of Melbourne with a bang, so I had booked a table for us at George Calombaris’ Hellenic Republic. Any Mediterranean food is alright by me, and this was among the best Greek food I’ve ever eaten. The fried zucchini (umm, I mean courgette) was such a highlight, I could have eaten that, along with saganki and figs for the rest of my life and be very happy with it.