Last day in Melbourne. For some reason we had been thinking the flight to Singapore was in the morning but it was actually 18:55 so we had a good third day. Started off by walking over to the Queen Victoria Market. This has to be the biggest market we have ever encountered and it was brilliant. We walked up and down every single aisle. It is divided up into nice sensible regions. The biggest part was the main market full of general stalls. This had a row of old-fashioned shops at the end so we recovered a while by sitting down and having another luxury iced coffee. Really getting the taste for these.
Being refreshed, we then did the remaining regions: the meat counters, fish market, deli counters and more fruit and veg. We bought some dates, sweet corn cobs, ciabatta and pastrami and took them back for lunch. We did not need to check out till 12:30, which was great. After lunch in the apartment we took the cases down to reception for storage and then went out for our last afternoon in Melbourne. We started off by visiting the Chill-On bar. This was basically a bar in a big freezer. But beautifully done. Lots of ice-carvings and ice tables and chairs. Fortunately the chairs had fur covers!!
The bar itself was all carved out of ice and the drinks were poured out into ice cups/mugs. It really was a bizarre experience and we only lasted about 10minutes before we had had enough. We were all togged up in big coats with hoods, inner and outer gloves, but at -11degC it was bloomin’ cold. It was great to step outside into the Melbourne heat. Our last day was the hottest. We walked over to the Melbourne Museum and Imax. Decided we would have a restful afternoon so booked tickets for the Imax. This gave us an hour to visit the museum. Once again, a very new building with excellent architecture. Most impressive. The technology inside was also impressive, bringing the exhibits to life with interactive displays. The Imax show was a Dreamworks production called “How to train your dragon”. This was an animated film aimed at kids but also had plenty for grown up kids to enjoy. I love Imax shows. You feel you can just reach out and grab things. Makes you look a bit daft if you do but the temptation is hard to resist.
We then walked back to the hotel to retrieve our cases and wait for the airport shuttle we had booked earlier. Bit of a worry when it didn’t show up and we waited too long before checking up, by which time we were somewhat late so had to fork out for a taxi. Trouble was, rush hour was now well underway so we were stuck in queues of traffic. Our driver decided to use his local knowledge so we took to the back street and did OK. Got to the airport after more queues of traffic but checked in OK. Got down to the gate and more or less boarded straight way. Sat through a seven hour flight that left half an hour late and arrived on time at 11:35pm Singapore time, which was 2:35am for us.
We had booked an airport pickup which was waiting for us. Big relief! Delighted to find when we went outside that the car was a big BMW. All black leather seats and air-con working overtime. It was a hoot when we first went outside. The plane had been quite cool and Singapore airport is a big, modern, fully air-conditioned airport of impressive proportions. So it is just that little moment in time stepping from the airport to the car that you experience the sweaty heat. And we did. Had an easy ride into the city and arrived at the hotel just fine. Checked in OK and found we had a superior room on the 17th floor of the Park Royal Hotel on Kitchener Road. We took ourselves up to our room and a bell-hop brought up the cases for us. Val unpacked to a degree and we crashed out at 1:30am local time, which was 4:30am as far as we were concerned. Slept just fine. Thanks for asking.
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