2nd May Melbourne City

After an exhausting day on the great ocean road yesterday we had a well deserved lie in after a few early starts and late nights! We had breakfast and had a slow walk to the train station where we would get the train into Melbourne. Yes you read that right we got public transport! After the faff we had with the car yesterday and already having a 'Myki' (same as an oyster card) that we got given by backpackers previously we felt we should put them to good use. We wondered on the platform and checked the balance to see if it was negative. Bonus, $14 on each! Well that was us sorted for the day and we happily hopped on 3 minutes later. It took around 40 mins until we got to flinders street station where we would get off. We got to the top of the station to see a information center right I front of us. Easy we popped in there to get a few maps an directions and we were off. Being Melbourne and already knowing it's little England it was drizzling so we chose an indoor activity first. We went to the dreamworks expo at the acmi center in federation square.

We had a ball seeing clay models of characters from films like Madagascar, shrek, chicken run, over the hedge and how to train your dragon. They had projections, original drawings and software for you to draw and play with which Laura enjoyed very much.

All we wished was that we could have had all day playing with the animation drawing  computers! We had an IMAX dragon flight too which was pretty cool! After an hour or so there we headed off in the city.

 We had a wonder around the shops past Collins street where or course Laura had to take a photo! After this the alluring smell of china town found us.. We had a wonder down the lanes in hope of some ramen and if not a Chinese buffet. We walked the length of china town and no ramen was found. This made us sad, we saw the biggest Chinese restaurant we have ever seen and had a look. $33 for a buffet.. Why the heck not?

 We indulged ourselves in a great lunch and stuffed ourselves to the limit! We had sushi, dumplings, currys, prawns and chickens all sort of ways! This was very different to buffet time at home but a nice change. Bit of a posh buffet. We polished our lunch off an rolled ourselves out the door. 

Well no need for dinner tonight! We carried on perusing the shops through all the little lane ways until we found the holy grail! H&M! An English shop had Finally arrived in Australia a few weeks before we came out. Within 2 minutes of being in the boiling hot shop Laura couldn't handle it and left. She then realised how cheap the clothes were in comparison to other Australian shops and realised that's why everyone had h&m bags around town and was SO full of people. After this more wondering around. We found the library and some weird street artist cleaning the floor getting quizzed by a security guard. After this we went to find the markets which were starting to close sadly. Most were closed but Laura found one she was looking for and finally acquired what she had been looking for. A good Australia jumper that she liked! No bargaining as to be had with this stern Asian woman but for 15 bucks we couldn't really complain as it was cheaper than all other tourist shops. We then got hold of billy and he gave us some tram directions when Laura's phone promptly died. Well that buggerd us. We managed to get it going again and let billy know we found the tram stop but never got to where to meet him. We got on the tram when after 20 mins of waiting it arrived and we headed to smith street where he said to jump off. Luckily he was there waiting for us in the bitter cold when we arrived. He took us to a lovely French coffee shop where Laura ordered a hot chocolate to hold. The place was packed so we sat outside under a patio heater. Laura's hot chocolate arrived in a bowl. This was a convenience because she really wanted it to warm up. The patio heater was cranked up and we had a great time sharing stories and Western Australia car woes. Eventually the cold got the best of us and it was time to go our seperate ways. We hopped back on a tram and expertly navigated our way to the train station and then back home. We were shattered and cold after a long day wondering the streets of Melbourne. We had a marmite sandwich or two for dinner and headed to bed exhausted! 

Oh and so you know we finished off our train rides with $1.44 each! Pretty good going if you ask me! 

The next day was the drive home. This was pretty tame and Myles did the whole 8 hours himself and is feeling very proud. So we are back in tahmoor working for the week until Sunday when we fly to Ayres rock! We will see you then!