ONE DOLLAR!!

Last night after my post we decided to hit the town and see what the Saturday night scene was like in Melbourne. We took the tram a bit down to King street and started our search there. I was initially surprised because it didn't seem like there were as many people out as the night before. But we wandered around for quite awhile without really finding a place that we wanted to go and that we fit the dress code (it never even occurred to me before we went out that there might be a dress code). We ended up at a Rock n Roll club that Matt had read about so we thought we'd give that a chance. We paid the cover fee and went in and instantly knew that was not our kind of place. So we turned right back around and left. We were feeling a bit disheartened so we started to walk home until we walked by a bar that sounded like it was playing some fun music. We asked if they had a cover and they said no! So we decided to check it out. It was a cool place; it was several stories and each floor had a different feel. The first floor was more of a chill bar area, the second floor had a dance floor and a small outside balcony, and the top floor was on the roof and had music. So we hung out there for a bit and had a drink. We went home feeling a little better about the evening.

This morning we made a hot breakfast for the first time- eggs and bacon! Yum. Then we got moving and did a self-walking tour around Melbourne. It was called the Melbourne Arcade and Lane walk. An arcade here is not like a bunch of games but more of a shopping area in historic buildings. So we got to see some cool things, then we ended in Federation Square and watched a street performer juggle knives while bouncing on one stilt. Here's a picture from our walk (although I don't remember exactly where it was taken):

Then we caught the tram back to the apartment and made some lunch. The guys made kangaroo for lunch. Personally I couldn't stand the thought of eating kangaroo so I had instant noodles, but the guys said it was really good. Matt described it as "similar to venison but perhaps less game-y tasting". I wish I had tried it so I could give you a first-hand description, but at the time it turned my stomach.

After lunch we decided to walk down to Queen Victoria's Market. This was a really fun experience. It was this huge market space with different areas. The first area we walked through was the baked goods area. There were tons of different breads and cheese and treats. I even found a cookie with Darth Vader on it which I know my little cousin would've loved!

Then we went through the seafood/meat area. They had HUGE lobster tails, and crab legs, and every kind of fish and seafood I could think of. And it was loud; everyone was shouting about prices. We moved through that and found the red-meats; the lamb, cow, pork, and whatever else they had.

We found our way through the produce section which had some really good looking fruits and vegetables. We didn't buy anything at the time but we'll come back to this.

Then came the miscellaneous, non-food sections. I mean, there was everything you could think of. Clothes, toys, socks, underwear, magnets, steering wheel covers, electronic accessories, paintings, posters... you get the point. Matt bought a magnet and I debated buying a merino wool sweater, but didn't make the jump.

At this point we were getting ready to leave since the market was closing for the day when we stumbled upon another produce section. Since the market was closing and it's not open tomorrow (Mondays are the only days it's closed), all of the producers were trying to sell their stuff for cheap. At first everyone was shouting "Two dollars"! For pretty much everything. After a couple of minutes it was all "One dollar! One dollar! One dollar per kilo!" Everyone was shouting. The prices were so good we just really couldn't walk away from it. We bought 5 huge apples for about 80 cents, total. And Jack bought a quarter of a watermelon for about 90 cents. There were so many other things we wanted to buy but we already had so much fruit! We already had grapes, bananas, and raspberries back home. But Matt and I almost decided to buy 2 pineapples for 75 cents! Can you believe that!? I also bought a brownie and Jack bought sugar cane juice which was really interesting to try.

We walked home with our goods and started eating our fruit. We worked on that for some time while we started on some travel planning. Then we took a break and made dinner; salads and spaghetti tonight. After cleaning up from dinner we resumed the travel planning. We got quite a bit of the rest of our Australia time booked, so that's good. One of the hard parts of traveling for an extended period of time is that we're constantly needing to book the next step but also trying to enjoy where we currently are. So tonight was our planning night which should last for a bit anyway.