Melbourne (Day 69): Queen Vic, Graffiti and Pub Food

May 8, 2016

After such a beautiful day on Saturday, we woke up to grey skies and rain. We took our time getting ready this morning and I had vegemite on toast for the first time. I wasn’t a fan of it. After doing a load of laundry and throwing the clothes in the dryer (so nice to be able to use a dryer again), we headed into town.

Our first stop was Queen Victoria Market, the largest open air market in the Southern Hemisphere. The market is quite large with different areas: seafood, meat, deli, produce, clothing & gifts, and a food court area. We did a quick loop around the different areas and went towards the food court and food trucks in the back. There weren’t as many food vendors to choose from for lunch as I had imagined. We decided to try Sri Lankan food and shared a roti and chicken plate. The dish had a lot of good flavours and was very satisfying.

Outside Queen Victoria Market
Outside Queen Victoria Market
Deli area was full of deli meats, cheese and olives
Deli area was full of deli meats, cheese, and olives
Clothing and knick knack vendors. Lots of leather goods.
Clothing and knick knack vendors. Lots of leather goods.
Sri Lankan lunch
Sri Lankan lunch
Sri Lankan food
Sri Lankan food. We ordered the Devilled Chicken (like a chicken tandoori stir fry)
Devilled chicken with roti for $12 AUD ($11.45 CAD)
Devilled chicken with roti for $12 AUD ($11.45 CAD)

I read that the doughnut truck at Queen Vic was good, so we lined up for doughnuts. They come in bags of 5, and you can either get raspberry jelly filled or plain. Since they have such high turnover, the doughnuts were super fresh and delicious.

Doughnut Truck at Queen Vic Market
American Doughnut Kitchen truck at Queen Vic Market
5 jelly filled doughnuts for $5.50 AUD = $5.25 CAD
5 jelly filled doughnuts for $5.50 AUD = $5.25 CAD
Produce part of the market. Pretty fair prices for fruits and vegetables
Produce part of the market.
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Pretty reasonable prices for fruits and vegetables

Since we got to the market fairly late in the day (the market closes at 4), many vendors were pushing their meats and produce pretty hard. You can get some good deals at the market on Sundays at 3pm. Queen Vic closes on Mondays, so it makes sense that they’re trying to sell off all their inventory for the week.

Australian soda drink. 7-eleven here is really expensive (like $4.90 for a bottle of coke), so we went to a Vietnamese grocery store and this was only $2.75 AUD ($2.60 CAD)
Australian soda drink. 7-eleven here is really expensive (like $4.90 for a bottle of coke), so we went to a Vietnamese grocery store by the market and this was only $2.70 AUD ($2.57 CAD)
Hot Star and Gong Cha. Just like Taipei except obviously more than double the prices.
Hot Star and Gong Cha. Just like Taipei except obviously more than double the prices.

After the market, we walked around some of the streets and side streets in the main shopping area. There are a lot of side streets and alleys in Melbourne that have a lot of personality. There’s a lot of graffiti art in the city… it’s a hipster’s Instagram’s photoshoot’s dream.

Alleys around Melbourne, reminds me of Gastown
Alleys around Melbourne, reminds me of Gastown
A pretty nice H&M
A pretty nice H&M
Myer, a department store in Melbourne
Myer, a department store in Melbourne
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Graffiti art around Melbourne’s lanes and alleys
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Not wearing the right outfit for this graffiti photoshoot
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And neither is Tim
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Union Lane in downtown Melbourne
My attempt at being artsy
My attempt at being artsy

We eventually made our way down to Federation Square, which was broadcasting an AFC (Australian Football League) Australian rules football game. It’s an interesting sport that we don’t quite understand (Tim: I’m pretty sure I understand it, I just think it’s a wacky sport). Tim describes it best when he says they are basically playing quidditch (like in Harry Potter) without the brooms.

Flinder's Station
Flinders Station
Flinder's Street Station
Flinders Street Station
Federal Square
Federation Square
AFC playing on the big screen
AFC playing on the big screen
Federation Square with St. Paul's Cathedral in the background
Federation Square with St. Paul’s Cathedral in the background
Macca's (McDonald's in Australia)
Macca’s (McDonald’s in Australia)
Sushi in Melbourne. Instead of cones they have 3/4 length roll sushi
Sushi in Melbourne. Instead of cones they have 3/4 length roll sushi

We took the tram back to the apartment and rested up a little before dinner with Chloe and Alex. We were meeting them in an area fairly close by called Fitzroy. Apparently Fitzroy is the most hipster area in Melbourne. We’ll have to walk around the area during the day time to check it out.

We met at the Napier Hotel, which is a restaurant and pub (I learned that pubs here are called hotels). It’s nice to be able to visit with Chloe while in Melbourne and for Tim to finally meet her. Since she and her boyfriend have been living abroad for two years, I’ve never actually met her boyfriend, Alex, yet. Marcus also came for dinner, which was good because he’s such a nice guy.

Napier Hotel (Pub)
Napier Hotel (Pub)

Apparently pubs in Victoria serve chicken parma (chicken parmigianas) and its a very popular dish. I tried one with kangaroo meat instead of ham and Tim had the kangaroo pie. Both dishes were pretty tasty and since the kangaroo meat on mine was covered in tomato sauce and cheese, I could hardly tell it was any different than beef. The portions here were quite large. We haven’t had portions this big since Seoul.

Chicken parma with a layer of smoked kangaroo ($25 AUD = $23.80 CAD)
Chicken parma with a layer of smoked kangaroo ($25 AUD = $23.80 CAD)
Kangaroo pie ($18 AUD = $17.15 CAD)
Kangaroo pie ($18 AUD = $17.15 CAD)
Us with Alex and Chloe. I think you could tell who lives in Melbourne and who doesn't
Us with Alex and Chloe. I think you could tell who lives in Melbourne and who doesn’t

We sat and chatted for a while and then were told the pub closes at 10pm so we got up and left. Restaurants and stores in Australia close really early. We learned from Chloe that there’s weekend wages in retail, so they get paid time and a half on the weekend and even more on Sundays – no wonder they close early.

Marcus dropped Chloe and Alex off at their place and we headed back to the apartment to have an earlier night. We’ll probably see them again before we leave Melbourne.

Steps today: 10,000