Exploring Melbourne

We went to bed at 7:30 pm local time. No, we aren't out of our 30s. Yes, that is perhaps a little pathetic. 

We slept like logs until 4 a.m. local time and then we were UP! Instead of fighting it we just got up and enjoyed the view from our room then got up and ready for the day.

I finished our makeshift laundry process by using the hairdryer on my pants that I'd rinsed last night. They weren't exactly clean, but at least they'd been rinsed!

Makeshift laundry

We went out for breakfast at about 6:30. The streets were empty! It was like being in Las Vegas on a Saturday morning. We stopped in at an alleyway cafe right when they opened at 7!

Fabulous coffee and hot cocoa

The BEST hot cocoa I've ever had

 Our breakfast was quite good. We got "scones" (biscuits), a "Mexican omelet" (it has shredded chicken and an avocado creamy salsa so it was unlike anything I'd ever had, but it was good!), eggs & bacon (which was more like a cured ham and which Jackson said he prefers to our bacon).  Everyone complains about how expensive things are here, but there is no requirement to tip (the minimum wage is $17.29AUD per hour) and the USD to AUD conversion is really strong. Our breakfast was about $30 USD. We didn't find that unreasonable at all.

Pretty morning view 

Pretty sure this is Burger King

We came back to the room after breakfast and I fell back to sleep. Whoops. Jackson was kind enough to let me sleep for an hour before we went to catch the free walking tour. The whole deal with the walking tour is that you'll tip the guide as much as you'd pay for a traditional tour. They claim that is around $20- $30 dollars each. I think that is probably a bit high since they're not providing a vehicle, but the tour was really educational and very worth the efforts.

Carlton Park

Exhibition Hall

Park again

Wall art is legal in some parts of town

The Yarra River 

Melbourne

A really pretty city

They love Christmas here!

Petefish.

It was 70 degrees and sunny today so it was a perfect day to explore. We came back to the hotel to the greatest surprise: OUR LUGGAGE ARRIVED!

HOORAY!

We immediately showered and put on clean clothes. It was amazing. Deodorant! Apple watch charger! You name it, it arrived. What a relief!

We hopped out to grab some dinner at Nando's. It is actually a Portuguese/ African food, but there are a few locations in Canada and the Eastern U.S. so we'd been before and LOVE it. It did not disappoint.

Chicken!!!!

We noticed they had a Target near the restaurant so we wandered in to see what it was like. It is like a department store here. It felt more like a Macy's than a Target. It was 3 levels and just fascinating.

A cool version of my favorite candy

We'd stopped in at the Block Arcade during the tour and I wanted to go back to see the floor again. They're hand-laid tile floors from Italy and they're magnificent. 

Gorgeous

The Block Arcade

Another lovely market

Merry Christmas Melbourne

We enjoyed seeing all of the Christmas decor around the city. They are not into the whole "Happy Holidays" deal like we are in America (begrudgingly). It is 100% Christmas wishes everywhere. It is really amazing. The whole city is very nice. It feels a lot like Toronto to us. We'll be turning in early again this evening as we've got a busy day tomorrow doing the Great Ocean Road tour. It should be very similar to California's Big Sur area that we saw last month. If so, it will be amazing!