Melbourne Highlights Part 1
I’m going to space this post out over two parts, since even after culling our photos, there’s still so much to share. I hope you enjoy our glimpse into Melbourne life via these posts. I left photos of things like the transport we took and the hotel out to stop the post from being too long. Although, we loved our accommodation, the hotel near station pier melbourne was wonderful!
Family Time is Precious
What a fabulous time we had in Melbourne last weekend! I couldn’t wait to get my photos sorted and show you some of the beautiful places we went, including a couple of lovely antique stores.
Our reason for going down was family related. Do you remember I posted about my mum’s health about 18 months ago when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor? If you’re new to following my blog and want to check out that story, you can read about it HERE.
Well, the best news is, that after medical treatment, combined with the care of a naturopath, intensive prayer and a positive attitude, Mum’s latest MRI results came back with a line that stated: “there are no active cancer cells”! I mean, it was time for the biggest happy dance! She was given the all clear to fly anywhere she wanted to, so my brother suggested that we pack our bags, and take a trip as a family somewhere – just us siblings, our spouses and mum & dad. Melbourne seemed like a great destination and in part, due to the fact that our 2nd son has moved there, we would get to see him, too.
Mum thoroughly enjoyed being surrounded by her kids and is still revelling in the aftermath of our amazing time together, a week later.
City Exploring & Café Frequenting
We had fun exploring the city, which some of us had been to before for work or other related things, but this weekend we played “tourists” – or some may say we more likely played “coffee connoisseurs”. The Beanhunter app was probably the most used app on certain people’s iphones, whose names shall remain anonymous.
I have to admit to loving the trendy hipster cafés we ended up in, and some of their amazing decorating styles.
Like these chairs that filled the ceiling of Brother Baba Budan on Little Bourke Street.
And check out this amazing pallet/crate wall at the adorable Raw Trader cafe!
As a part of mum’s new healthy eating plan, we enjoyed finding this niche cafes, and Raw Trader was a winner! You should have heard mum’s delight that she could choose from a range of “sweets” that were gluten free, dairy free AND sugar free! And they were truly delicious …
Yes, you heard me right. In fact, there’s a sign at the door announcing that this cafe is a completely GF, DF zone, politely requesting that people respect that and refrain from bringing other foods into their premises. I mean, look at this awesomeness:
I loved the beautiful old buildings and seeing the old city trams.
We took a ride on one of the old trams that also included a historical commentary on the sites around Melbourne city. It did a loop of the main city centre – and the bonus was, it was free!
And it’s not every city that you get to ride a tram along side general traffic AND a horse and cart!
I must say that we all really enjoyed the food places, the little cafés and managed to stay warm, despite the much cooler temperatures down south, than we were used to up in Queensland.
Queen Victoria Markets
This was the place to be on the weekends, for shopping, specialty and whole food supplies. Victoria Markets was just a bit of a walk and tram ride from where we were staying.
Pallet art (below) in Queen Victoria Markets. Now there’s another pallet idea to add to your Pinterest boards!
These strings of lightbulbs would be a sight to see at the night markets, I’m sure:
A little lunch break from Market shopping, where most of the market vendors don’t allow you to photograph their wares. This vibrant coloured Paella dish drew us in! Can you smell it? It was delicious!
Antique Store on Mount Dandenong
Sunday afternoon we took a drive up to find a lookout at Mount Dandenong and grab a bite to eat at a local restaurant. As fate would have it (haha) there was an antique store in the same row of shops! So guess who scoffed down her tucker as quick as she could to go scout out the land before the family bus departed for the next destination?
Butler’s Vintage Depot is located along Mount Dandenong Tourist Road, Olinda.
This store is a beautiful collection of vintage and antique merchants whose collective homewares and collectables, blend so well all together in a rustic farmhouse kind of way.
Here are some pics from inside:
Even Marty found a little blokey treasure trove in the Iron Tree Furniture booth with all their vintage tools:
And I was really close to taking home some treasures myself. I loved this beautiful blue checkered linen.
At the risk of overdosing you all at once on my trip photos, I’ll save some more for a “Part 2” post – including our trip to the beautiful coloured beach huts along Brighton Beach; our search for the tiny penguins as their colony heads to the St. Kilda pier rocks on dusk at this time of year; and another Antique store not to be missed. I mean if there were a prize for the most organized Antique store – this one would take the trophy!
I can’t wait to show you more, so stay tuned. Part 2 here.
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