We set out for some lunch yesterday and didn't return until just before 6pm. No, we didn't pull a Gustavus Caf and never even leave the restaurant between meals (as I did on more than one occasion in my
college cafeteria), we actually ended up walking more than 5 miles. In combat boots (me, not Peter, for the record. Peter had the sense to at least wear cloth/suede boot/shoe things. Not as hipster as they sound).
Anyway, we had lunch at Roll'd, a self-proclaimed "Vietnamese street food restaurant." I had a chicken salad and Peter had a taco-looking thing and some Pho. Both were really good! The restaurant was conveniently positioned about 20 feet from a macaroon shop called La Belle Miette. Total coincidence. I hadn't been stalking this place or anything since we got here. It was amazing in every way. There were macaroons in every color of the rainbow and it was heaven. We each got two and ate them in approximately 1 second.
Uh, one of each please?
Hardware Lane, where both of these places are located, is one of Melbourne's best laneways, lined with tons of restaurants.
After lunch, since it was nice and sunny, we decided to take the tram to Port Melbourne, a few miles away from downtown. It monsooned on the way, but by the time we got there 15 minutes later it was sunny again. They aren't kidding about the variable weather in Melbourne.
The Spirit of Tasmania is a ship that ferries people to and from Tasmania, which is an island south of Melbourne. I'm not sure exactly how long it takes, but I know it's an overnight excursion. We will definitely be taking this when we visit Tasmania, probably this summer!
A welcome sign for those who enter Melbourne via boat.
Beautiful building on Beach Street. I mean, it's called Beach Street. Of course it's beautiful.
A guy trying to surf, I think? I'm not sure if surfing in the bay is really a thing but he has more guts than I do to be out there when it's 55 degrees!
We walked down Beach Street and then cut over toward Albert Park, which looked close on the map. Spoiler alert: it wasn't. Hence our 5 mile walk. We did see some cute houses on the way, though. This is pretty much the style of all of the inner city houses in Melbourne, which I love. They look so fragile and quaint and dare I say attainable, but I'm sure they cost an arm and a leg. And then another arm.
I just love all the details!
We finally made it to Albert Park, where we proceeded to underestimate the size of the lake (there's a theme emerging here) and attempted to walk around it. Spoiler alert: it's large. So after a few minutes we realised we were making almost zero progress and turned back toward the city.
These birds are like geese on steroids. They were terrifying and looked like they could maul you at any second, but everyone else just ignored them and jogged by so we tried to do the same.
These looked kind of like chickens to me, but they had pretty blue sides with red beaks.
There were parrots all over the park. I was tempted to try to catch and domesticate one, but ended up passing on that idea when I saw how aggressively they used their beaks to peck things out of the ground.
The skyline from Albert Park.
We walked back into the city and stopped at the Shrine of Remembrance, a military memorial, on the way.
There was an observation area you could climb to that provided amazing views of downtown and the ocean.
We ate dinner at MadMex, a favorite of Peter's because it reminds him of Chipotle. Also, it's pretty cheap which is a welcome change.
If it sounds like we eat out a lot, that's because we do. Every. Single. Meal. It's our only option right now. We still have no fridge and no furniture until we are positive our little "bug issue" is resolved. It's kind of a drag to not feel moved-in after living here almost a month. And by kind of a drag I mean a huge inconvenience that is driving us a little bit crazy. I just want to be able to cook (ie make an oven pizza) at home and eat on my nonexistent couch!
I knew adjusting to a new country would take awhile, but I didn't anticipate not being able to really move in to our apartment. It's super frustrating, and I want to decapitate the apartment manager every time she says "no worries" in regard to our complaints. Uh, actually LOTS OF WORRIES lady, I can't bring food into my apartment without attracting vermin. SO MANY WORRIES. So ya, that's our current frustration. That, and every job posting I see that says "permanent residents only apply" which I am learning is quite a few of them. Arggg.
Other than that, it's all good down under! Peter is enjoying his job and settling into a work routine. He might just do a guest post on my blog one of these days :).
The big birds are black swans, the chook-like birds are moor-hens and the parrots are corellas. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteAh thank you!!
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