Melbourne
Day #1
After arriving on our first day, we set out from the hotel to funky Desgraves Street. It was a very short walk from the hotel; less than 5 minutes.
We plunked ourselves down for a coffee and Avocado Smash with a poached egg, lime, feta and mint over a toasted bagel. We had this outside al fresco under winter patio heaters. Before long, there wasn’t a seat to be had on the deck as it filled up with coffee and breakfast lovers.
After breakfast snacks, we wandered up to the Centreway Lane, a charming pedestrian area with a light urban grit to it. It was somewhat reminiscent of Hong Kong, without the searing humidity or the Asian and British population
And over to the Block Arcade where there were some intriguing spice shops and tea parlours that were just getting going for the day.
While MrsWT73 looked into clothing stores, I looked in to the graffiti’ed Union Lane, one of the many graffiti artist scenes around Melbourne. Checking out the graffiti'ed lanes would form part of the entertainment during our stay in Melbourne.
After the brief shopping inspection, the sun started to come out for the day. We ended up wandering down through the urban landscapes of Melbourne to the Yarra River. The Yarra River is just south of downtown, and walking the south bank, where there were a lot of cafes and restaurants that were just getting going for the day.
On the south side of the river, the view of downtown makes for a nice skyline. The south side was a newer part of Melbourne with a more contemporary feel to it.
We ended up stopping at the Pony Fish Island, a wine bar immediately under the bridge for a small glass. Melbourne still has enough of a contemporary feel to it that it isn’t sewn up boring. Thankfully there were heaters on the patio as the sun had disappeared and the clouds were pretty menacing.
It was back to the hotel then a well earned sleep for day number one.