Exploring Melbourne on a Rainy Day– Shopping malls, Arcades and the State Library Victoria

10 May 2019

What is the best way to spend some time in Melbourne on a rainy day?

Melbourne has some very beautiful buildings, shopping malls and arcades that is worth at least a walk-through, even though we don’t usually shop or buy stuff when travelling.

After a morning at the Queen Victoria Market, we took Tram No. 57 down to the shopping area in Melbourne’s CBD along Elizabeth Street and Bourke Street.

We actually stood at the uncovered tram stop outside the QVM in intermittent light showers to wait for the tram.

Queen Victoria Market and the Melbourne CBD

What was supposed to be a 5-minutes wait according to Google map, turned out to be a wait of about 30 minutes! The tram was very late. We heard that there was a flood somewhere along the tram’s route outside Melbourne.

We finally made it to Melbourne Central without getting too wet, thanks to our weather proof jackets.

Melbourne Central Mall

Walking into the enormous mall, we were awed by the sight of the Shot Tower. A building within a building.

The 50 m high Shot Tower, originally built in 1889, is housed in an ingenious 20 story high cone-shaped glass dome, a central point in Melbourne Central Mall.

A shot tower is designed for the production of small shot balls by freefall of molten lead, which is then caught in a water basin below the tower. The shots are primarily used to fill the cartridges (ammunition) to be fired from shotguns.

Another interesting thing to see in Melbourne Central Mall is the large stopwatch/clock that comes to life every hour, on the hour. A marionette display drops down from the bottom of the stopwatch, with native Australian birds and two gold plated figures moving to the music of Waltzing Matilda.

The Marionette Watch at Melbourne Central Mall.

State Library of Victoria

Next to Melbourne Central Mall is the State Library of Victoria. I would not normally visit a library while travelling. But this library is definitely worth a visit since we were in the vicinity.

We went to the Dome Reading Room which offers some of the best views of the interior.

View of the Dome Reading Room from above. Besides reading or working on their laptop, library users could also have a game of chess.


The dome roof above the Dome Reading Room.

Another view of the Dome Reading Room as we climbed the stairs up to the top floor.

Emporium Melbourne

After seeing the library, it was back to the shopping malls. The Emporium was linked to Melbourne Central Mall via a covered pedestrian bridge which was great on a rainy day.

Flinders Street Station made up of Lego bricks at Emporium Melbourne store.

Level 4 of Emporium Melbourne is the kids department. There was a large diorama of the Flinders Street Station made up of Lego bricks that is quite impressive.

An animatronic life-size T-Rex could be found at this area too. This dinosaur has sensors to detect our presence and would roar and move when we walked by.

Korean BBQ Dinner at ChangGo Restaurant

There were a few Korean BBQ restaurants in Melbourne that were recommended by friends. We decided to go to the ChangGo, located at 70 Little La Trobe Street, since it is very close to Melbourne Central.

This is a popular restaurant so we were advised to arrive just before it opened at 5.30 PM. Else it would be a long wait for the next sitting.

A queue outside the ChangGo Restaurant just before its opening time.

 
There was already a queue when we arrived. The restaurant opened promptly at 5.30 PM and all those in the queue managed to get a table.

The menu offered a la carte as well as value for money set dinners. We like beef so we ordered the beef dinner set for 2 persons. It included 2 bowls of steamed rice, fresh lettuce, 3 different cuts of thinly sliced marinated beef and a classic kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew). Like almost all Korean restaurants, there is free flow of banchan (side dishes) and mild barley tea.

The circular BBQ stove at the table with a large bronze air suction device above the stove.

The waitress came to help us load the BBQ hotplate with the first plate of beef. Thereafter, we did the grilling of the meat ourselves. Service was pretty attentive. The waitress came to change our BBQ hotplate after we finished cooking each type of marinated beef.

Overall, I find the quality of the meat provided with the beef set to be average. There are better quality meats in the menu but these are not available in the set dinner.

We noted that some diners ordered the pork belly set. It came with pork belly seasoned with 8 different types of marinades. This may be worth a try if I visit again.

Royal Arcade

On Friday, many shops in the CBD and suburban shopping centres remain open until 9:00 PM. We had time to check out the famous Melbourne arcades after dinner.

Our first stop was at the Royal Arcade.

Royal Arcade in Melbourne.

The architecture of this historic arcade is very interesting, with beautiful ceilings and black checked floor tiles. 

A big clock and two large figures called "Gog" and "Magog" could be seen at the end of covered walkway.

7 feet tall carved mythic figures of Gog and Magog in the Royal Arcade.

Block Arcade

Exiting from the Royal Arcade and crossing Little Bourke Street, we entered into the Block Arcade.

This is another beautiful arcade that rivals the Royal Arcade. We did not come here to shop. Instead we came to admire the beautifully crafted ceilings and floor.

Block Arcade in Melbourne.


Beautiful mosaic floor tiles in the Block Arcade.

Melbourne’s GPO and the Public Purse

Another interesting building in Melbourne’s CBD is the General Post Office or GPO. We actually walked past it on our way to the Royal Arcade and did not pay much attention to it.

What used to be the GPO is now repurposed into a large clothing store. Like many heritage buildings in our own country, what can’t be torn down for redevelopment is converted into restaurants or shopping malls.

What caught our attention was a giant clamshell purse sitting in the middle of the street.

A large purse in front of the GPO Building, at the junction of Elizabeth Street and Bourke Street Mall.

It was when we were waiting for our tram along Bourke Street that I noticed how beautiful the GPO building is.

Former General Post Office for Victoria. Now a H&M store.

I had time to snap a photo of the nicely lit building before our tram came. This was our last day in Melbourne city. We started our Melbourne road trip the next day, with Phillip Island as our first stop.

Next post: Start of our Melbourne Road Trip.

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Melbourne Road Trip Day 1 – Phillip Island

11 May 2019

After spending several days in Melbourne city, we started our 7-day road trip to visit Phillip Island, Dandenong Ranges, Grampians National Park and the Great Ocean Road.  

We collected our rental car from Avis at the Southern Cross Station. The lady at Avis was kind to advise the best route out from the city, avoiding the dreaded hook-turn only found in Melbourne where you use the left lane to turn right. This hook-turn manoeuvre is not so intuitive for visitors driving in Melbourne city for the first time.

It was a Saturday morning, so traffic in the city was light. Unfortunately, road works forced us to take a detour and I had to do a hook turn in order to get back to our recommended route.

It was a good thing I had done some prior research. The hook-turn was not difficult after all.

It was rainy weather as we drove south towards Phillip Island. It took us about 2 hours to get to San Remo, a lively seaside town located at the gateway to Phillip Island.

We knew about the pelican feeding that takes place on the beach next to the San Remo pier daily at noon. The sky cleared just as we parked our car at San Remo Pier. We could see a couple of wild pelicans already loitering by the beach.

Fish and chips lunch at San Remo Fisherman's Co-op restaurant before the Pelican feeding.

The San Remo Fisherman's Co-op restaurant by the pier serves the best fish and chips in town, featuring fish straight off the boats, as well as healthy grilled options, and even delectable crayfish platters. We had ample time for lunch before the pelican feeding starts at noon.

Pelican Feeding at San Remo Beach

By noon, a crowd had gathered by the beach. Similarly, more wild pelicans had also gathered for the daily snack.

A lady arrived in her truck and started unloading boxes of fish. We could feel the excitement levels rising in both birds and men.

The pelicans behaving like kids in front of the school teacher.

While giving the birds their daily snack, the crowd was also given information about the pelicans, their diet, lifestyle and how we can improve conservation and environmental efforts to protect these and similar species.

The pelicans that came for the feeding are wild birds and able to fish on their own. They are not dependent on the daily feeding to survive. In fact, the amount of food given at the daily feeding is just a tiny snack for them.

We learnt that the male and female birds looked almost exactly alike. We also learnt how experts estimate the age of the birds. The younger bird has whiter eye ring while the older birds tends to have yellowish eye ring.

The pelican has a large pouch on their lower beak. They will always swallow the fish head first. The edge of the upper beak has a sharp and nasty hook!

The pelican feeding is very entertaining, educational and is free to watch.

Hike to Pinnacles Lookout at Cape Woolamai

We drove to Cape Woolamai, located on the south-eastern tip of Phillip Island. Cape Woolamai is the highest point on Phillip Island and has nice walking trails that feature breath-taking panoramic views of cliffs carved by wind and waves.

There are a few walking trails to choose from, namely the Pinnacles walk (4 kilometres), the Old Granite Quarry Walk (6 kilometres) and the Cape Woolamai Beacon Walk (6.6 kilometres).

We parked our car at the Cape Woolamai Lifesaving Club’s car park next to the surfing beach and started on the trail to the Pinnacles Lookout.

The trail to The Pinnacles is approximately 4 kilometres in length with an estimated walking time of 2 hours return.


Getting onto Woolamai Beach from the car park.

The first part of the trail involves walking on the beach. The trail is only accessible during low tides. Woolamai Beach is one of Victoria’s most popular surfing beaches but no surfers were spotted on this day with inclement weather. Or maybe it was low tide.

Sunny on one side of the beach looking southwards….

…dark clouds and rain on the other view looking northwards.

It was good to see the sun shining as we started our walk along the beach but there are forbidding looking grey clouds looming in the distance and also behind us. We were not deterred since we came with weather-proof clothing.

After following the beach for approximately five hundred metres, there was wooden stairs leading up to the cliffs above.

The next section of the walk to the Pinnacles would be along the cliffs above. There were not many hikers on this day. We met a couple of hikers on their way back to the beach.

“As changeable as the weather”…as the saying goes. The dark clouds we saw in the distance were soon above us.

Looking back, we could see the entire length of Woolamai Beach.

It started to rain just before we arrived at the Pinnacles Lookout. Accompanying the rain was some strong wind. Thankfully, there was no lightning as we were quite exposed on top of the coastal cliffs.

The rain stopped just as we arrived at the Pinnacles. The Pinnacles are formed by years and years of volcanic activity and erosion.

The Pinnacles at Cape Woolamai.

Information Board at the Pinnacles Lookout Point.


More rain clouds were heading our way, so it was not wise to linger at the lookout point. Anyway, the rock formations were not too impressive.

Just as we were leaving, a couple with a toddler showed up proving this trail is not too difficult even for family with young children.

The sun came out again as we were on our way back to the beach.

On our way back, we spotted many tiny snails emerging from the sandy trail, probably attracted by the water that seeped into the sand.

Overall, the hike to the Pinnacle Lookout in Cape Woolamai took about 2 hours and was not difficult. My only disappointment was that we did not manage to spot any wild wallabies along the way.

Evening walk at the Nobbies

After checking into the Seahorse Motel at Cowes, we headed out to the Nobbies, located at the westernmost end of Phillip Island and just 5 minutes from the Penguin Parade.

As we drove along the road to the Nobbies car park, we spotted some small red brown kangaroos on the side of the road. We did not stop since the road was quite narrow.
Also located at this area is the Nobbies Antarctic Centre but we were more interested to just walk the scenic trail on the Nobbies Boardwalk instead.

Map of the Nobbies Boardwalk.


Nobbies Boardwalk with Antarctic Centre in the back.


Seal Rocks.

The walk begins next to the Nobbies Antarctic Centre. The boardwalk offers some spectacular coastal views. Offshore from The Nobbies are Seal Rocks, home to some Australian fur seals. Coin operated binoculars are provided for those who wish to spot them.

We could see waves crashing on the rocks below. We paused for many minutes at the Nobbies Blowhole, hoping to video the jet spray from the horizontal blowhole entrance without success. However, the fine misty ocean spray, backlit by the sun low on the horizontal, was quite dramatic.

Spray coming out from the Nobbies Blowhole on the right of photo.

A sign along the boardwalk explains how the blowhole works:

1. A large wave enters the blowhole.
2. The wave fills the tunnel from floor to ceiling, compressing air against the rear wall.
3. The wave hits the near wall and rebounds, its speed increased by the explosive force of the compressed air. This creates a jet spray from the tunnel entrance.

There are also fairy penguins nesting on the ground beneath the boardwalk. We managed to see a couple of them.

Boardwalk leading to the South Coast Lookout.


View from the South Coast Lookout.

The South Coast Lookout is the furthest point along the boardwalk. From there, we backtracked to the starting point with views of the sun low over the horizon.

Penguin Parade

Most people came to Phillip Island just to see the Penguin Parade. We came to the island for the same reason too.

Nay. We actually skipped the Penguin Parade!

We had already seen lots of fairy penguins at St Kilda Pier earlier during our trip. We figured it was better to save the entrance fees to the Penguin Parade (AUD 26.60 per person!) and used the money to buy ourselves a nice dinner at Cowes instead.

Dinner at Fig and Olive Restaurant in Cowes

This steak and seafood restaurant was recommended by the kind gentleman at the Seahorse Motel who checked us in. It is located in Cowes, a few minutes by car from our motel.

Grilled Lamb Rack and Eye Fillet Steak for dinner at Fig and Olive.

Where we stayed in Phillip Island

We stayed at the Seahorse Motel, a clean and well maintained motel located in Cowes. The air-conditioned guest rooms are equipped with electric blankets (a must during the colder autumn and winter months!), a fridge and cable TV. 

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Melbourne Road Trip Day 2 – Dandenong Range National Park

12 May 2019

Day 2 of road trip started with an easy 120 km drive to the Dandenong Range National Park from Phillip Island.

While there are numerous attractions within the park, we planned to visit the William Ricketts Sanctuary, do some walking in the gardens and quaint mountain villages.

Sassafras and Miss Maple’s Tearoom

Our first stop was the small village of Sassafras in the Dandenong Range National Park.

  

Autumn foliage in forest at Sassafras, Dandenong Range.

While the drive to the village was easy, finding a space to park on a Sunday morning was not. Especially on the Mother’s Day weekend. To add to the misery, there was a slight drizzle on this overcast day. After circling the village a couple of times, we managed to find a space.

Sassafras has a few cafes and many antique, art, craft and speciality shops. One of the most popular cafes is the Miss Marple’s Tearoom, famous for the scones.

We had planned to arrive just before opening time, to avoid the queue. This cafe usually opened at 11 AM, but being the Mother’s Day weekend, it opened earlier at 10 AM.

Miss Marple’s Tearoom at Sassafras, Mount Dandenong.

A crowd of waiting customers was already outside as we went in to get a queue number. We got a queue number and was informed that we would probably have to wait about 45 minutes.

The best thing to do next was to explore the small quaint shops along the main street while waiting for our turn. Especially interesting was Geppetto's Workshop with its puppets and toys and Tea Leaves with tea from all over the world and beautiful sets of teapot and cups.

Tea Leaves – shop in Sassafras selling tea from all over the whole and beautiful sets of teapot and cups.

We were also invited into the Cream at Sassafras by the friendly owner who showed us his gourmet organic products and natural remedies that was sourced from all over Australia.

We finally got our table in Miss Marple’s Tearoom ahead of schedule. The deco is English and inspired by the character in Agatha Christie’s novels. Miss Marple memorabilia and teapots line the walls of the restaurant. This tearoom definitely reminded me of the cafes we visited during our road trip through the Cotswolds in England.


Square shaped scones, beef cottage pie ad tea at Miss Marple’s Tearoom.

We ordered 2 of the famous scones (AUD12.50), a beef cottage pie (AUD17.50) and a pot of tea (AUD 5 per person). The scones were served with one of freshest home-made raspberry jam I ever tasted and very light whipped cream. Yum. However, the beef pie with peas, carrot and topped with mash potato tasted a little bland after eating the scones with the sweet raspberry jam and cream.

William Ricketts Sanctuary

The William Ricketts Sanctuary is a short drive from Sassafras, along the winding Mount Dandenong Tourist Road.  Unlike Sassafras, there is ample parking at the free public car park just across the road from the entrance.

Entry to the garden is free too. The creator of this garden was William Ricketts, a potter and sculptor of the arts and crafts who had spent much time in 1949 to 1960 living with aboriginal communities in central Australia. He believed that all Australians should adopt Aboriginal philosophies, respecting the spirituality of the mother earth and all things in the natural world.

Layout of the William Ricketts Sanctuary.

Along a paved 500m forest trail, there are 92 clay sculptures. These sculptures are made in the on-site kiln and placed in the forest scene.
Upon entry, the first thing that struck me was the lush greenery, peace and tranquillity of this amazing place.

Equally amazing and interesting were the clay sculptures that seemed to merge with the natural trees and forest landscape. We took many photos of the sculptures.

Sculpture of Aboriginal children.



Mountain Ash trees provide a canopy above us. Many species of native ferns lined the forest trail.

We went to the original log cabin residence watch the video “Forest of Love”, a short documentary of William.

William Ricketts died in 1993, aged 94. He left a wonderful legacy of the sanctuary with its clay sculptures.

Dandenong Ranges Botanical Garden at Olinda

There are a few notable gardens within Dandenong such as the Alfred Nicholas Gardens, George Tindale Memorial Gardens and the Dandenong Ranges Botanical Garden. We only had time to visit one, so we chose to go to the Dandenong Ranges Botanical Garden at Olinda.

Red Rhododendron flowers.

Formerly known as The National Rhododendron Gardens, this garden is a Dandenong Ranges landmark.

May is a good time to visit. We could see the autumn foliage on some of the trees. There are also plenty of rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias blooms to enjoy.

Rhododendron Rarilepidotum flowers.

The first Kookaburra we saw on this trip.

This amazing beautiful flower is the Protea.

Red maple leaves.

Yellow leaves of the gingko tree.

Kid dressed as Superman. Faster than a speeding bullet! 

Romantic moment for a couple.

Where we stayed

Nightcap at Ferntree Gully Hotel Motel, located along Burwood Highway, is a 2-minutes drive from the Dandenong Ranges National Park. This is a convenient place for an overnight stay for visitors to the park. There are eateries onsite and within 5-minutes drive from the hotel.

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