Stuffed full of fabulous (and relatively cheap) food at the moment, so this may be short so I can sleep it off. This morning, our last full day before we return home to Sydney, we took a $25/person gamble on the "Foodies Dream Tour" at Melbourne's Queen Victoria Markets. We visited the summer-only night market there last Wednesday night, and while the stalls were interesting and we did have ourselves a crocodile burger1 we weren't sure how far our $25 was going to go on a tour of the place.
Well, as it turns out, less than a quarter of the market was even open for the night market, which draws an almost entirely different crowd of both customers2 and vendors than the regular market. On our arrival today, the markets looked like an entirely different place from the one we visited last week. And the $25 tour... we'll just say that between the tastings of fresh produce, handmade dips, fresh-baked bread, homemade sausages, spiced oils, artisan cheeses, and sweets and coffee on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the hands-on advice about how to shop for and buy meat, cheese, organics, and most importantly for us, fresh seafood, it was well worth the money spent. In fact, we might recommend it as the #1 experience to have if you're visiting Melbourne and you like to eat.3
So, for lunch we bought ourselves a baguette, some farmhouse butter, handmade cheddar, fresh pesto, and sausage, then cashed in our voucher for a free coffee that came with the tour,4 sat ourselves down in the market's open-air food court, and wished that we were living in Melbourne instead of Sydney.5 We spent less than $20 on these ingredients, and there was enough left over for dinner, too. We'll have to find one of these closer to home.
Home will be nice, although this past week has been packed full of adventures: exploring Melbourne, touring the famous highway on Victoria's southern coast called the Great Ocean Road,6 bushwalking with koalas and kangaroos. For D at least, the wildlife viewing was a definite highlight. Two years ago on D's first visit to Sydney, she got to see and even pet kangaroos and koalas and wallabies in zoos and wildlife orphanages. This time, we got to see them in their natural habitats. The biggest thrill was when D got within 20 feet of two kangaroos in the wild. Though they are considered pests in much the same way deer are in the US, they are still gentle and strikingly beautiful creatures. We've always known, for example, how kangaroos hop... but when we actually saw them hopping away, we realized that we had never really known how they hop.
Of course, we could easily spend weeks in Melbourne and never see or experience the whole city. We didn't get to see a cricket game, we didn't get to see "Aussie rules" footy, we barely scratched the surface of the restaurants and eateries for which Melbourne is famous. The trips out of town to the west (Great Ocean Road) and to the east (Wilson's Promontory National Park) were only a tiny fraction of the natural beauty of this area of Australia. But, we have to leave something to do in the future, don't we? For now, it's time to head back, time to dig in our heels and end our oddly-timed yet accurately-named summer vacation.
PS: coming next week... the answers and winners of the "Pretend to Be an Australian" contest! (I haven't forgotten about it, I just haven't been by my computer...)
;)
- D
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NOTES
1This meal was chosen over the kangaroo burger and the emu burger, both of which were also available at the stall. One of the more amusing facts that Aussies like to cite about themselves is that they are one of the only countries in the world that eats their coats of arms. (Which, for those of you who have never seen it and don't know how to look it up on the web, features both a kangaroo and an emu.)
2With the obvious exception of customers like us, who were drawn to both the night market and the regular one, more from ignorance than as a matter of taste
3Which we do.
4Did I mention that we also got a green cloth shopping bag for going on the tour?
5Actually, Chad had been lamenting this for some time, to which D politely told him that next time he should get the Fulbright instead. Truth be told, D's lamenting at this point in time was more of a passing, slightly wistful thought rather than an actual lament.
6Our two-day trip along the Great Ocean Road was sponsored (unwittingly) by our parents, who gave each of us Christmas and/or birthday money to spend in Australia. This is where it was spent, even though our birthdays aren't until next week. Thanks Mom and Dad!
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