Victoria trip Saturday 19/1/08
Saturday, 02 February, 2008
This is our last day in Victoria.
We rise quite late and pack. Amazingly it all fits—even with all the spoils of our shopping trips. Anita prepares us eggs and muffins for brunch one last time, and then we hope in the car and drive to Melbourne. She puts on Casting Crowns so I can hear what they sound like.
We drive to Chinatown and manage to find a park on the street. The parking meter is broken, fortunately for us. We walk up and down Little Bourke St looking for a Chinese herbalist but can't find one. It starts to rain. Anita and I get bubble tea at an Easyway-type drink bar (I get black sesame milk tea with coconut fruit. “It's for girls,” says Ben's SMS). We ask in one of the shops and walk a block north to find the herbalist. Liwen buys some Chinese herbs which apparently you can't find in Sydney, and then we are on our way again—now to the Queen Victoria markets.
We wander through the food section and out to the stalls. I buy some Rocky Road for Ben. We wander up and down the rows of stalls selling clothing, shoes, belts, wallets, knick knacks and so on. Unfortunately it's about 2:30 pm by that stage and everyone's packing up as the markets shut at 3 on Saturdays. (I suppose that's fitting since they open at 6). Nevertheless, before they're completely closed, I manage to find a dress I quite like (it was CKM). It's not the perfect summer dress (it's made of polyester) but I like the pattern on it (I don't know how to describe it so here's a photo worth a thousand words):
There were shops in the buildings bordering the markets so we went to have a look in those. I found a fabulous black lace fan in a shop called Madame Pompadour (another blogger has put up some nice pictures so you can see what a pretty shop it was). I also got a present for Liz in another shop.
Back at the car, Anita said we had two options: we could go to Lygon St or visit Smith St where all the factory outlets were. I said I'd never been to Smith St so we decided to go (I hope I'm not coming across as being bossy in this travel narrative!) We found a good park on the street and then spent several hours wandering up and down, poking into various shops (like the goth shop, a bead shop where I bought more silver beads), a shop where everything was $20 ... and that's when I found it: the perfect summer dress. Yes, it was 100% cotton. Yes, it was dark blue (and white. And it had little green bits which I wasn't too keen on but could live with). I was a bit worried about the cut—that the front came down too low—but I discovered after I took it home there's a panel that had gotten folded down which goes across your front. And it was only $20! 
Things were starting to close around 5 so we drove to Lygon St in Carlton. On the way, I asked Anita about the different airports (Melbourne seems to have three) and then we realised that our plane leaves from Avalon, not Tullamarine. Furthermore, Avalon was out near Geelong so it would take longer to get there. I felt bad that I hadn't mentioned that sooner but at least we realised that four hours before the flight rather than at 8:55 when were supposed to take off.
At Lygon St, we went to Koko Black for “coffee”. Anita had their chili hot chocolate and pronunced it better than San Churro's and Max Brenner's:
I had a hot chocolate affogato which was okay (I was trying to be adventurous and try new things as I always seem to just have hot chocolate when I'm at Koko Black):
I also ended up buying more chocolate for people (including a hot chocolate pack for Fish).
Afterwards, we headed up to Readings which is a very good bookstore on Lygon St. It also has music and DVDs—and hard-to-find stuff (like a Region 1 DVD of A Little Night Music with Elizabeth Taylor, Diana Rigg and Len Cariou which I was trying to convince myself not to buy [and I succeeded but mostly because, would you believe it, Amazon is cheaper ... must save for that one one day ...)
It was actually Liwen's birthday (and a significant birthday too) so Anita and I were surreptitiously trying to find Anita a present. Luckily she had a list which she took out at one stage because she was looking for things. Innocently I asked to see it, then dashed away and bought her some of the things on it. I had them gift wrapped at the counter (Readings do gift wrapping for just a gold coin) and wrote her a short card on an F. Scott Fitzgerald bookmark because I didn't really like any of the other cards.
It was getting late and we were running out of time. Instead of going to one of the trendy restaurants, we decided to go to Thesherman's Bakehouse—one of Anita's Uni haunts. It's set up cafeteria-style with tables in the middle and food displays all around the sides, but it had a cozy feeling to it. I ordered lasagne and salad, and even though I shared my salad with Anita, I was so full from Koko Black I couldn't finish everything.
Then we drove to Avalon with TomTom's help, feeling very full. We gave Liwen her presents and sang Happy Birthday to her as we drove over the raised freeway.
At the airport, Anita dropped us off, and we said our goodbyes and thankyous, and hugged one another. Then Liwen and I went to check in (it was all electronic with Jetstar; they had all these terminals where you swipe your credit card and they bring up your booking details). We went to use the amenities and I stubbed my toe on the door because, for some reason, the architect didn't leave much space, so when you open the door of the cubicle, there's no room for you to stand. We went through the x-rays/scanners and into the waiting room. The airport had a fairly decent newsagency/bookshop where Liwen and I had a browse.
Finally it was time to board. I insisted that Liwen have the window seat, then felt really bad because a child had obviously occupied the seat just before her—a child with Pringles—and the floor was completely covered with chip fragments. We walked about work stuff all the way home, me trying to understand what her job entails. And then, about an hour later, we landed in Sydney—probably around the time Anita reached Warragul again.
Ben met us at the luggage carousel and I was so glad to see him. We didn't have to wait too long to retrieve our bags. Ben and I dropped Liwen home and then went home ourselves.
Here endeth the trip.
Blinks:
A way of funding writing in the future: pitch and idea and get people to support it.
Place where you can hire play equipment for parties, etc.
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
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All your photos of wonderful things are reminding me I need to post about some of the things I acquired in December - the vintage pearl collar and the painted Afghan cup and the earrings which look like architectural details off an old Queenslander house.