Woke up late this morning around 9.30 am. It is a lazy Sunday and I let my mum sleep in a bit more as she wasn’t too well. It was Easter today, on hindsight, should have went on the final tour of the Yarra Valley, which we were going tomorrow, today. Most of the shops in the city were closed for Easter.

Tram in Melbourne

We headed down to Bridge Road, taking the Tram No. 48 there. As it was a Sunday, there was a all-day-Sunday tram ticket which cost $2.50 for unlimited usage on all trams in all zones. Very value for money.

We dropped off at Bridge Road, which was a long road, and made our first stop at Richmond Cheese and larder for a late breakfast. The place was packed with people. The menu looked divine. I had “The Lot”, which was eggs, any style, bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes. My mum had the eggs scrambled with parsley and bacon. The Coffee Flat was good too.

After our very satisfying (and fattening) meal, we headed to check out the shops that were open. My mum went into a ladies shop and spent close to 2 hours browsing the bargain sections of clothes ranging from $10 – 20. It was a long wait for her.

Finally, we left that shop and walked on down Bridge Road. That walk took us almost to the end of the road, and I could not find the factory outlet that I was looking for. We headed backwards on a Tram, as my mum was really tired. We got off earlier up the road. Went shopping in a Cotton On shop, and we all came out with something. It wasn’t like dirt cheap, but it was decent clothes at reasonable prices.

After all that walking and shopping, we got on our tram and headed back towards Melbourne CBD. Stop at Kings Street and hopped onto another tram 55 to bring us to Victoria Market. There was this very nice lady that we talked to and she showed us the place to get off. Queen Victoria Market for the second time was closing when we arrived. Apparently, it closes at 4 pm. We were an hour over time. (Gosh, life is too relaxed here, everything closes so early.) We managed to get some fruits (grapes and strawberries).

We went back to our hotel after that. Dropped off our things, which was quite a lot considering we did not shop very much. After resting for a bit, we headed down to Swanston Street for dinner. Was going to find a place called Chilipadi, that served good Asian Food, but it was closed. Ended up around Chinatown area and we had Cantonese Claypot rice. My mum was sick, so supposed to eat noodle soup, but she was tempted by the rice and so she had her way. Very filling pot of rice! We also had chickens feet, which tasted like there was an overdose of red wine in it. Weird taste!

So, after more souvenir hunting we headed back to our hotel. (My mum just keeps looking and lamenting what to get her boss and all, but never decides what to buy. Why? Souvenirs are never worth it. So, she feels it’s EXpensive. I agree, but if you want to get souvenirs, they are called “Tourist Shops” for a reason, right?

Federation Square by night

Flinder’s Street Station by night

Ok, tomorrow is my last day tour with APT, and we are going to sit on the Puffing Billy Steam Train and visit the Yarra Valley Wineries.=)