Exploring

Lindsey has pointed out that the last time she and I spent a lot of  time together messing about in Melbourne was when we were teenagers at school in South Yarra. We usually caught the train into the city and then trammed out to school. We would sometimes go shopping or wandering about on our way home. That, as she said, was a long time ago.

I lived in Parkville, North Carlton, Fitzroy as a young adult and was familiar with the city centre then.

But then I moved up country, then to England, then back to Ballarat. The city has changed quite a bit during that time. In my youth the major national communities were the Italians and the Greeks. Now they have been joined by the Vietnamese, Koreans, Chinese, Japanese. People from all over the world.

Melbourne is a great place to live!

On Thursday, Lindsey and I joined Freyja for lunch, next to her work place in the Queen Victoria Centre. When I left home it was quite dry. It started raining as I walked to the tram stop. By the time I got on the tram it was pouring and I was soaked

My jacket definitely wasn't waterproof!

I might have bought a properly waterproof jacket in the gift shop at Freyja's work place.

We had lunch in a Japanese place next to the gift shop, then Freyja went back to work and Lindsey and I went to the Daiso in the shopping complex then wandered to Melbourne Central, then back down to Collins Street and came back to my place on the tram.

On Friday, I went to work

My view, while I was waiting
for the tram

On Saturday I went out in search of a Japanese and Korean supermarket which I had run across on the internet. It's called Tokyo Hometown and it turns out it isn't all that far from the Queen Victoria Centre. I had a great time in there. 

I foolishly had a chicken fillet sandwich in an American style diner for lunch. I should have gone to the Malaysian restaurant next door. The chicken fillet was ok but the overall experience was very sweet and everything for some reason was covered in dried rosemary.

Sunday was the first Sunday of the month which is the Sunday that the Docklands Farmers' Market happens.  During spring it is held just inside the Marvel Stadium, which is a mere two minutes walk from the building that my flat is in. It is a small market but the only thing it didn't have that I would have wanted was vegetables. I suspect that it usually does. There are pictures of vegetables on their Facebook page. It had everything else that I wanted though, including some fancy potatoes, fish, Turkish bread, gyoza, mushrooms. I enjoyed it. Freyja and Simon I think also enjoyed it although it probably isn't big enough for them to add it to their regular market calendar.

Docklands is supposed to be very, very quiet on Saturdays and Sundays. Allow me to inform you that it definitely was not quiet yesterday afternoon. I went round to The District for a wander around, to visit the East West Asian supermarket and to top up my meagre vegetable supplies. There were people everywhere. There was a queue for the checkouts in the Asian supermarket. The trams were full. There were people playing table tennis, children chasing each other around, other people wandering along the promenade. It was all a bit disconcerting. I was expecting the abandoned windswept wasteland that Docklands is reputed to be (Spoiler: it really isn't - although it was very windy). But no. Not abandoned at all.

Not a deserted shopping complex

I came back on the City Circle tram (Yes, I could have walked but it was very windy and my shopping trolley was full). The only reason that this tram was almost empty was because everyone had crammed onto the tram that had left two minutes ahead of it.

The city circle trams are old W class trams.
They're really intended for tourists but everyone uses
them to get around.
They were free to use, even before the Free Tram Zone
came into being

The harbour is also busy at weekends. There are lots of people, restaurants and events on the Newquay Promenade. There are party boats on the harbour. There is quite a lot of activity

Night view from my place on Saturday evening