25 January 2018, Thursday
It was our last full day in Melbourne and we were feeling the effects of the non-stop action from the past five days. We finally dragged ourselves out of the apartment just before noon and went to Queen Victoria Market to do some last-minute shopping.
A lot of people come to QVM to buy nuts because they’re fresh and cheap. I bought an assortment of macadamia and cashew nuts for A$32.80. I don’t know if it’s considered cheap or not because I don’t usually buy them in Singapore. Anyway, I like eating all kinds of nuts so I was happy to buy some home.
We then browsed the rest of the market to hunt for souvenirs. I also bought a cheese bratwurst with onion and cheese toppings (A$8.80) from Bratwurst Shop & Co. There was a queue at the stall so I assumed it must be good. For the record, it was quite yummy.
At about 2:45pm, we took the tram to Richmond, an inner suburb located 3km southeast of the CBD. Richmond is famous for its factory outlets stores and Little Saigon area along Victoria Street. There are plenty of Asian restaurants here and the vibe is quite different from the city centre. It’s a little bit grittier and less polished. To illustrate this point, we spotted a hobo hanging around the entrance of the restaurant we were about to enter.
YE had chosen this Vietnamese restaurant called Pho Hung Vuong 2. After five days of eating “Western” food, it was time for a change of palate. I ordered a small bowl of beef pho (A$10) but YS and YE ordered the large bowl (A$13) because they were very hungry. The bowl was bigger than their faces, like a basin, and they had trouble finishing it. It was nice to have some soupy Asian food for a change.
After that, we took another tram to Acland Street, which is located at the popular beachside suburb of St Kilda. During my first visit to Melbourne in 2007, I stayed at an apartment near Acland Street. However, the street looked a little different back then, and the record shop where I bought some rare Foo Fighters CD singles is no longer around.
I remember the famous Acland Cake Shop and the beautiful selection of cakes in the window display. I wanted to try some but we were still so full from the huge bowls of pho that we didn’t have any room for cake. As the weather was scorching hot, we decided to have a cold beer instead.
Next, we went over to Luna Park (click here), a historic amusement park that opened on 13 December 1912 – over a century old! The iconic giant mouth of Mr. Moon greets you at the entrance and it’s one of the defining images of Melbourne, along with the colourful bathing boxes at Brighton Beach.
We didn’t intend to take any rides because they cost A$10.95 per ride, but we paid A$2 for park entry only so that we could go in to take a look (as of 6 Feb 2019, it now costs A$5 for park entry). Alternatively, you can pay A$49.95 (Adults) for unlimited rides.
Luna Park is a small amusement park with many old-school rides. The most famous one is The Great Scenic Railway, a wooden rollercoaster that holds the title of being the oldest continually operating wooden rollercoaster in the world. Luna Park is a colourful place that will appeal most to kids.
After the brief sojourn to Luna Park, we walked about 3km to Chapel Street. It was a long walk but ultimately rewarding as we had the most delicious ice-cream ever at Messina (click here). Voted the best gelato in Australia, Messina is famous for making everything that goes into every scoop of gelato that it sells. That means having their own dairy farm to supply the super creamy jersey milk, making their own chocolate using the highest quality single origin Ecuadorian cacao and having their own hazelnut farm.
Each of their stores has a whopping 40 flavours you can choose from, with 35 traditional flavours and 5 rotating weekly specials. Indeed, I was spoilt for choice as I looked at the variety of flavours in front of me, which all looked equally tantalising. I eventually settled on two of the special flavours – Little Bloke (peanut butter gelato with Malt O Milk biscuits and Nutella fudge) and Matcha-maker.com (green tea gelato with chocolate fudge and roasted pistachios – nice pun, by the way). I can confidently say that this was the best ice-cream I have ever eaten in my life!
This Messina outlet was located at Chapel Street, the shopping and entertainment precinct in Melbourne with lots of trendy retailers and eateries. When we were there at 8:15pm, it was full of well-dressed party people. It’s definitely a hip place to see and be seen. We didn’t make it to St Kilda Beach in time for the sunset but we saw beautiful golden streaks across the sky from where we were at Chapel Street.
We then hopped on another tram to take us back to St Kilda Beach. Our objective was to go to the pier to watch the little penguins come home. They were previously called fairy penguins but they are now called little penguins because they are the smallest species of penguin in the world.
There is a colony of over 1,400 penguins that reside at St Kilda, many of them at the breakwater at the end of St Kilda Pier. And just like their counterparts at Phillip Island, they return like clockwork every night to their cubby holes at the breakwater. The breakwater is located at the end of St Kilda Pier. You just need to follow the throng of people and you will end up at the right place.
We arrived at St Kilda Pier at 9pm. The sun was rapidly disappearing over the horizon and it was getting dark. The best time to view the penguins is 30 minutes after sunset, so we were just in time. However, when we reached the breakwater, it was already fully packed with people and we could not get any good spots. You’ll need to go early if you want to get the best spots.
A lot of people come to St Kilda Pier to see the little penguins because it is free. You can get a similar experience at Phillip Island but it is a 2-hour drive away and you’ll need to pay A$26.20 to watch the Penguin Parade. During my first visit in 2007, I did a day trip to Phillip Island where I visited some vineyards, farms and beaches before ending the day with the Penguin Parade.
As a result of its growing popularity, a non-profit group called Earthcare started operating its Penguin Guide services at St Kilda in 2008 to minimise the impact of the public on this wild colony. Another of its objectives is to educate the public by providing information about the penguins. You can easily spot the Earthcare volunteers by their yellow vests. Find out more about Earthcare St Kila by clicking here.
There are some rules that you need to abide when viewing the penguins at St Kilda Pier:
- No handling the penguins (remain 3m away from them)
- No flash photography
- No dogs
- No littering
- No walking on rocks
It wasn’t long before we spotted our first penguin. The little fella was standing on the rocks just above the water, looking a little lost. It was really tiny, only about 30cm tall. We were elated to see the penguin. We then strode around, trying to find a better viewing spot.
The sightings were intermittent, unlike my previous experience at Phillip Island, where the penguins all turned up at the shore at the same time and made their way to the beach. At Phillip Island, there is also a proper seating gallery where you can watch the penguins emerge from the sea. However, you can’t really get close to the penguins there and photography is strictly forbidden, even without using flash.
Eventually, we saw more penguins. The Earthcare volunteers used red light to shine on the penguins because they have sensitive eyes and white light can blind them. You can use red cellophane over the lens of a white torch to create the red light effect.
After a while, I felt bad about the experience because there were so many people congregating in the area. Despite the best efforts of the Earthcare volunteers to control the crowd, they were making quite a bit of noise and being so close to the penguins. Some people also “accidentally” set off their flash when taking photos. The whole scene resembled a carnival and I couldn’t help but feel that the penguins were intimidated by our presence. I feel that it would be better not to continue giving tourists such free access to their natural habitat.
At 10pm, we decided to leave because we had seen enough and it was getting cold. We took a tram back to the city and bought a whole lot of meat from Stalactites Greek restaurant for our late dinner. Back at our apartment, we opened a bottle of red wine to complete the feast and to celebrate the successful end of our trip. What a memorable six days it has been!
26 January 2018, Friday
After all the fun and laughter, it’s time to go home. YE and KL were taking a later SQ flight while YS would be continuing his Australian journey with some other friends. As such, I bade farewell to them as we went our separate ways from here.
At 9:05am, I caught the train and departed Melbourne Central station, arriving at Broadmeadows station at 9:44am. I then took bus 901 from Broadmeadows and arrived at Tullamarine Airport Terminal 2 at 10:12am. The total fare was A$4.30. My 12:15pm Scoot flight was delayed and only departed Melbourne at 1:45pm.
My assigned seat number was 19F. As I took my seat, I saw that the overhead seat indicator said “19 FED”, which was the current number of Grand Slam titles that Federer had. I took it as a good sign that he would make it 20 come Sunday. My wish came true as Roger Federer duly won his record-breaking 20th Grand Slam title at the 2018 Australian Open two days later. A perfect bookend to my trip.
