NICE TO BE BACK

Day 11-12,  May 6&7, 2022

Melbourne

With rain predicted for the next few days we decided to stay in Melbourne and visit some galleries. We are a week too late for the Coco Chanel exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria and a few weeks too early for the Picasso. Well only one of us was disappointed about Coco Chanel exhibition being over. 

We worked out that it has been nearly 15 years since we’ve stayed in Melbourne despite passing through a couple of times.

Saturday dawned into a fine sunny day. We are staying near Pricess Park, home of the Carlton Football Club.  We walked into town being passed by early morning joggers from the nearby Melbourne University Colleges.  The air was crispy and cold but the sunshine made everything feel so clean and sparkling.
We visited Queen Victoria Markets, a fresh food market for over 140 years right on the doorsteps of the city.  Wonderful to wander the isles of amazing diversity of fresh produce.  The city skyline is dotted with interesting high rise architecture.  

The  wintery feeling was confirmed later when we walked through Carlton Gardens. Leaf colours seemed to have skipped autumn and gone straight to winter.

We sought refuge from the cold wind by  visiting the controversial NGV wing at Federation Square and the original on the other side of the river.
Great to see so many people out and about enjoying the freedom of movement after the severe Covid restrictions this city experienced over the past two years.

The next day it rained in the morning and a bitterly cold wind was blowing again.  The weather prediction got today right.  When the rain eased we walked the foreshore  south from St Kilda  stopping at the colourful Brighton Beach bathing boxes. Such a strange hangover from the Victorian era. The bright and colourful timber sheds are now a tourist attraction.

The wind blowing off Port Phillip Bay  was so cold and unpleasant  we were hoping to find a local hotel with a fireplace to take refuge for a bit. No luck with the fireplace but the Sandringham Hotel – The Sandy was a nice spot to stop at,  have some lunch and escape the wind. 

Over the two days we have walked about 40 km of the city streets, parklands,  foreshore and surrounds.    

Snow has arrived in the high country of Victoria. We are heading off to to Grampians National Park for what should be a few cold but clear days.