Day 8 - Melbourne

The weather was supposed to be nice today so we headed into the city centre to do a few self guided walking tours with the leaflets we picked up from the visitor centre last week. We arrived around lunchtime so we made our way to Centre Place laneway where we found our $5 baguettes last time. We managed to find some delicious looking wraps and coffee deal for $8 each so I opted for a spicy lamb wrap and Blake, a falafel souvlaki type roll. We wandered over to Federation Square to eat our lunch when we stumbled across a short queue in front of a giant purple box. It turned out to be a promotional vending style machine that required you to smile at the camera for a set time in return for some free sunbite crisps. We must have really cracked a good smile as 4 bags popped out the drawer for us! I was pretty impressed with how this all worked although Blake seems to think there was just a person inside with a box of treats and a lever.

With the clouds looking a bit grey and threatening to drizzle we decided to start with the arcades and laneways tour as they are mostly covered. We had already visited a few on our walking tour however our leaflet pointed out more of the history of the buildings. I decided that I would be the guide and read the leaflet in a funny voice pointing out all of the attractions. The tours all start and end at Federation Square so with plenty more time on our hands we decided to walk the 'On the waterfront' tour. This one took us along the Docklands and past Polly Woodside, Melbourne's equivalent to our SS Great Britain. The Web Bridge designed to look like koorie fishing traps, drums and baskets marked the end of the walk and the perfect time for the heavens to open! We made a run for a shopping centre which we had a quick look around and bought me some new shoes as mine were starting to fall apart. We managed to make our way back into town not getting too wet and on a tram back to Richmond.Read more