Melbourne (Shopping – Queen Victoria Market and DFO, Spencer St) :: Day 8

This morning, I was looking for a post office. I had asked numerous people from various convenience stores, but most did not know how much it was to send a postcard back home. The map I had showed one relatively near my hotel and so I went out early morning to hunt it down. Unfortunately, it was merely a post box.

Eventually, on the way to Queen Victoria Market, went to the post office on Collins Street and William Street and sent out the post cards. Also had breakfast ate a basement deli (owned by a Vietnamese).

Eggs and bacon on Toast (Simply cannot be compared to the one I had at Richmond)

Queen Victoria Market opens only on selective days. They are closed on Monday and Wednesday. They are open till 2 pm on Tuesday and on Thursday, 6 pm on Fridays, closed at 3 pm on Saturday and 4 pm on Sundays. Therefore, to catch the market, we had to get up early.

We bought the daily tram ticket for $6.10 (I found out later on that the cashier at IGA Express gave us a wrong ticket. We got a Daily 5 pack instead of the daily ticket. This ticket was supposed to be a set of 5 which a passenger could use 1 on each day.

QVM was a huge market and my mum was looking for a leather handbag. The search took about 2 hours and included many little other buys such as Gold plated souvenir plates, wallets, fruits, etc … by which time, my hands and shoulders were aching from carrying the barang barang. Ouch!

Had to go back to the hotel, as my hands were filled.

I ate donuts from Krispy Kreme (a very popular chain of donuts in Melbourne).

Rasberry Filled Donut and Apple filled, Cinnamon Donut

After the quick meal of donuts and fruits, we went out to the nearby DFO on Spencer Street.

Shopping … my mum bought a number of T-shirts, which had quite good cutting. I tried to get some shirts, but found the cut very unflattering. Either they did not have sizes small enough, or they cuts were broader than the typical Asian cuts, making me look exceptionally broad. =( I also saw an Aldo shop which had everything on 50% discount. A pair of sandals cost $59.95 (SGD$78) and shoes cost $79 (SGD$98) and was quite tempted to buy, but I figured that I wasn’t working yet, and I did not want to spend so much, especially when I was spending my mum’s money. I’ll get those when I start work soon. =)

Bought a pair of berms though. It was relatively cheap something which would cost almost double in SIN.

On the way back from the DFO, I saw this beautiful glass panel of the Southern Cross Station, and simply had to get a picture of it.

We had dinner at the DFO, I had my subway and my mum had her Japanese Fried Rice.

After dinner, I went to Explorer’s Hotel to go online again. I found out that they had wireless internet connection at the cheapest rate around me. ($6/hr). Went to check mail, check in on my flight and let my mum track her stocks.

After that, I wanted to go to Dizzy’s Jazz Club, which was supposed to be on Swan Street, occupying the original post office building. We were on Swan Street, a dark little street, where most of the shops were already closed. After we got off the Tram (No. 70), I was trying to locate the correct number. Asked a shop keeper but to no avail. The 2nd shop keeper actually knew there was a jazz club opposite the road, but said it was closed down for about 6 months already. Sighs!

Ex-Dizzy’s Jazz Club

So, decided to take the tram back … back to Swanston Street and went into Young and Jackson Hotel to look at Chloe, my mum said no music don’t want to sit there, because we would not be chit chatting. So, went to walk around Federation square and ended up in a cafe for late night supper (I get really fat with my mum).