Melbourne (Dandenong)

Sunday, 23rd July.

We left Marlo on Thursday for an uneventful drive to Traralgon where we booked into a holiday park for the night.  While Mike had a snooze, I went for a walk but we were on the outskirts of town and there was little of interest about, though it was good to get some fresh air and exercise.  I managed to get back to camp just as the rain began to fall.

It was a late departure on Friday morning and we headed for Melbourne in bright sunshine, soon to be lost in misty grey skies.  We pulled off the freeway at Darnum for coffee and delicious carrot cake at The Stump Tea Rooms then continued on to Springvale where we hoped to stay for a few nights but, there was no room at the inn, so we backtracked to Dandenong and were easily able to book in and are about to spend our third night here.

Yesterday, we drove to Carrum and using our Myki travel cards, caught the train from Frankston into Melbourne.  We were well rugged up against the bitingly cold wind and for a couple of hours  roamed around the Queen Victoria Markets before hopping on a tram to Docklands, where we bought tickets to watch the Essendon/North Melbourne game at Etihad Stadium.  As it was our first time there, we decided we'd buy the best seats available but were informed that only single seats were available on level 2, so we bought general admission tickets on level 3.  As the game progressed, we could see that there were many unoccupied seats on level 2 so wondered why we were unable to purchase a couple of them....however, we had a very good view from where we sat, were very impressed with the stadium and were very happy with the Essendon win.  After the game had finished, we crammed onto a crowded tram to Flinders Street station and squeezed onto a crowded train for the trip back to Carrum.  The first stop was Richmond where hordes of football fans from the MCG game managed to somehow squeeze themselves onto the already packed train!  As most of the passengers appeared to be either Essendon or Melbourne fans (both teams had won their games), the atmosphere was friendly, so even though we stood for much of the fifty minute journey, we didn't mind too much.

We had thoughts of going to the MCG today to watch another football match but as the weather was unfavourable we had a slow morning, then drove to St Kilda using the Dandenong and Dingly bypasses...an easy drive...left the car in an undercover carpark and once again using our Myki cards, caught a tram into the city.  A short walk from Collins Street took us to the Causeway, one of many laneways in Melbourne where food is to be found, and we chose Gordon's Cafe to have some lunch, a choice which turned out to be a very good one.  Good food, good service from our French waitress and the cafe manager, not cheap but reasonably priced and somewhere we would happily revisit.  It rained for most of the time we spent in the city but we managed to stay dry by staying under cover as much as possible, roaming through other laneways and arcades, watching an excellent Japanese one man blues band and people cramming into trams to Docklands for today's game, then caught a tram back to St Kilda where we had coffee and f.a. cream cakes in an Acland Street cafe.  Back to the car park then and the drive to Dandenong, happy with our afternoon's outing. 

We're more cheerful and both feeling much better though still far from 100%...tomorrow we will leave Melbourne to take the most direct route home, hoping to return sometime as I have a soft spot for the city where I lived and worked for a year or so of my younger life and which Mike also enjoys visiting.