Victoria - Melbourne: 3rd & 4th Day

Today was a big day for footy as Liverpool were playing Arsenal in the cup. This was a 5:30am start, and Marc was fairly keen to make the effort and found another reds fan to watch the game with. However, Marc came to his sences and decided to sleep (and so did the other guy) which was lucky as the game was called off due to bad fog. Hopefully the replay will be at a better time ;)



We decided to do some Christmas shopping, as we didn’t think there would be anywhere else to shop before the big day & considering it’s already the 20th December we better get a move on ;)

After splitting up for a few hours, Marc managed to come back with lots of goodies but Evelyn was still empty handed. We had to get back to the hostel as we were booked onto the Ramsay Street tour. This was more for Marc’s interest than for Evelyn as he has actually watched the series ;) We were hoping to get a tour of the sets as well, but that costs extra, so we were just looked at the houses down Pin Oak Court (Ramsay St) and used our imagination.

With all the fires happening in Victoria it became a bit smoky and misty round Melbourne, as the wind had picked up and blown the smoke in the city direction. The tour guide originally had a view point to show us which over looked the city, but we missed out as all we could see was smoke!!

We drove by a school very slowly and it took a while before people realized that it was “the Lassidass school” and when arriving at "Ramsay Str” we were given the road sign to pose with.



There was this dodgy looking security guard, that we later found out was actually a female! The security guard was hired as people pinched a few souveniers, and the final straw came when a couple decided to get jiggy on Harold's front lawn!! The residents were a bit shocked to find the rustling in the bushes wasn't in fact a possum ;)

After all this excitement we got dropped off at Brunswick Str for some lunch and we had a peak around the shop called "Totally wierd shit", but held little interest for us - it was too wierd.

We headed down to Queen’s Market for the night market which was way better than the day market. There was loads of food stalls and a band playing. Pretty new age stuff being sold. We purchased some oddities and in the Christmas spirit we bought a Rudolf reindeer that you stick on your window – a little something for the car to give us some Christmas cheer.

We headed down to Lygon Street (Little Italy) for dinner. After declining several waiters' offers of free stuff, we finally managed to negotiate a bottle of free Merlot, bruchetta and we got an extra slice of cheesecake for dessert so all we really paid for was our main meal… bonus. It was really nice food as well ;)

Next Day, it was third time lucky as Ev finally managed to buy Marc some presents, she was getting a bit worried. We then headed down to St Kilda beach and what a day to go down there… it was about 35 degrees and stinking hot.

For lunch, we first tried the recommended Hotel Espe, which has character and a real hit with the locals, but it doesnt serve food;) After ages of searching, we managed to find a place for lunch with a fan, which was down the cute little street lined with cafes, bars and craft shops. We then went for a swim in the sea… this was really weird as it was so hot yet the water was freezing.

When we finally made it back to the city we went to Hard Rock Café for dinner and had some really cool cocktails, though the food was pretty poor in that the burger and chips which is normally so good, was a burger in a bun with chips - no garnish or salad, and wasnt too tasty. Disappointing for Hard Rock fans. Still, the cocktails made ammends.