Not quite in Melbourne yet - another 30 minutes or so.
Arrived on schedule at Melbourne's Southern Cross Station on platform 1 around 7.20 am.
As usual the Overlander on platform 2A is there waiting for its scheduled departure at 8.05 am. However the biggest surprise as soon as we alighted the XPT train - is alongside platform 3 - a restored shiny black steam train also about to depart with is long haul of restored first and second class carriages with a passenger waving out the window from the final carriage as it chuffed its way off. (photos attached).
Destination unknown.
I spent the afternoon instead at the National Gallery Victoria (NGV). I did not intend to stay there long and was only intending to see the Moving Garden then head off to see the Banksy exhibition down the road at the back of Federation Square but instead I stayed at the gallery and saw the Viktor and Rolf Fashion exhibition which just opened. It was a lot cheaper to see then the Banksy exhibition and took the same recommended amount of time to spend at it ie approximately 1 hr. Banksy cost around $30 - $35 just for adult general admission after booking online and paying the booking/agent fee. The Viktor and Rolf exhibition cost $18 for an adult admission over the counter at the gallery. No concession for either exhibitions for YHA or HI members unfortunately.
I spend quite a bit of time at the Viktor and Rolf Exhibition - absolutely a must see for anyone interested in fashion. I rate it a 9/10 - Absolutely love the wall paper in the background but at around $99 per square meter it made me think twice before considering purchasing it! Like the "Fake Food Park" for kids I blogged about recently there was also a kids interactive section at the Viktor and Rolf exhibition where kids could create their own Viktor and Rolf creation made out of paper and then have selfies taken and shared.
Although I didn't create a paper fashion piece myself (makes me want to pull out my old full sized brown cardboard blocks from fashion school!), I did queue up for the intereactive selfies unfortunately a little boy photo bombed all 3 of my selfies so I just selected the middle one to have emailed to me (although I think I should have selected the final one)
Lots of fun (photos attached and a youtube video has been uploaded of a miniture catwalk - dolls are used as models throughout the exhibition)
Oops I just lost the other half of this blog I had been uploading photos and blogging about in the last hour - because my phone crashed. Will start again. Starting again below sorry.
Before leaving the gallery I went to see the original exhibition I came to the gallery to see. The Moving Garden exhibition by Lee Mingwei. The point of the exhibition is to select a single long stem flower from the garden which were brightly coloured and bag it before giving it to a random stranger on the street. Kids could not resist the temptation to pick a bunch of the flowers before being told they could only take one and to place them back in the Garden. I picked a brightly coloured frucia one and had to think who to give it to before leaving the gallery. Kids were also told not to give them away to someone too close to the gallery outside as they may end up back in the gallery. Should I give it to a homeless man or woman?
It was freezing cold and pouring with rain outside the gallery. As I made my way towards Federation Square there were crowds of people from all walks of life. - tourist seeking refuge inside The Tourist Information Centre building from the rain, the princes and princesses of the Spring Racing Carnival leading up to the all important Melbourne Cup all dressed up, the crowds celebrating Ocktober Fest all dressed up as "Heidi" and "Hans" and the bizzare annual Zombi Procession Parade with crowds dressed up in all sorts of Halloween garb some scaring the kids - but wait isn't Halloween at the end of October!?
On my way back to Spencer Street to do some shopping as I had torn my long shirt dress by getting it caught in my suitcase zipper and needed to replace it, I stopped at McDonalds and a little boy in a pram spotted my flower and kept repeating " flower flower flower" I asked him if he would like it and gave it to him explaining to his mother where I got it from and the purpose of it.
At Spencer Street (formerly a DFO) I purchased a black knitted aline long sleeved dress as I could not find a replacement long shirt dress. It was still very wet and cold and I had not packed enough clothes so purchased a pair of black fleece legging to team up with this black knitted dress to wear tomorrow when I go to the Cake, Bake and Sweet Show and home to Sydney (where is will probably be stinking hot!)
Back to Melbourne Central YHA dinner and a good nights sleep in a 3 share female dorm. The YHA is fully booked for the night therefore no extensions on stays or walk in without reservations - Sunday night was almost fully booked to except for private rooms.
Well what can I say? It is always the same at this show - this year a little disappointing no celebrity pastry chefs from overseas (not any I have heard of anyway) and the show seemed a little smaller and very similar to the Cake Bake and Sweet Show in Sydney earlier this year. It has now become very obvious where the budget was spent this year and it was definitely not at this show. Some stands were smaller then previous years and there were quite a few non baking related stands such as tumeric drink and an under garment stand.
I think the major thing that drew everyone to this show was the annual Loyal Cake Decorating Competition. I often wonder how the judges award their prizes. Some cakes people thought were amazing and look like a lot of effort and creativity has gone into them are overlooked whereas some that do win prizes are far from eye catching. ( photos attached including one cake which has started to fall apart) .
Kitchen Aid Mini dominated the show - this new stand mixer was everywhere at the show. A little too over promoted I thought. (Photos attached). Everywhere you walked there was a Kitchen Aid stand mixer! Although I learnt a few tips and tricks with using the Kitchen Aid at the kitchen Aid stand - almost everyone won the Kitchen Therapy book except me and I have a Kitchen Aid but don't use it - far too bulky a machine! As the demontrations went on between the Empire Red and Blue Kitchen Aid Minis - I have to admit making pasta dough, cookie dough and short crust pastry all seemed to merge into one except for the addition of 3 bags of chocolate bits into the cookie dough mixture - nothing else stood out in each of the demos - it was all beat the same 4 ingredients "sugar" "flour" "butter"and "eggs" in different proportions speeds and order each time. It was very much a touch but don't taste stand as well ie we were allowed to feel and touch the doughs produced including the cookie dough produced but we did not get to taste any of the cooked finished products.
As usual I never win any of the prizes at any of these shows but I always go on the final day of these shows and stay until it is closing time as that is when companys start giving away things. Today I managed to get a packet of Coles caramel and pretzel cookies, a bag of mixed lollies , vanilla flavoured equal sweetener and a jar of CSR golden syrup which will come in handy next time I bake a brownie. I wanted some Bakels butter cream in a large tub or some fondant but they did not actually have a stand at the show this year opting for probably the cheaper option of sponsoring the Coles stand. Coles was pretty generous leaving whole frosted rainbow cakes for people to take - I did not take one as I am not a fan of frosted rainbow cake. I'm sure there were other give aways but I did not hang around to get them.
For the first time I went to the Queens stand and tried my hand at cupcake decorating a free hands on activity - all other cookie and cupcake decorating classes were booked out at the Queens stand by the time I arrived. The result of my cupcake decorating and also later my donut decorating skills from the Coles stand at the show can only be described as "cake wreck!" Yes I ate them both after making them and photographing them for my blog - they made me feel sick - so much sugar!
(Photos attached)
I did buy some special cake decorating tips and picked up some cake decorating tips though at the show.
I felt so sick by the end of the show - too much sugar and artifical stuff! Luckily I had packed my Contigo full of hot tea and a ham spinch tomato and cheese sandwich to have for lunch.
Rating 7/10 too much of the same same. I think Sydney did it slightly better then Melbourne this year. May decide not to go to both Cake Bake & Sweet Shows next year.
Killing 2 birds with 1 stone - actually killing 3 birds in this case with 1 stone as there was actually 3 exhibitions on at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre at the same time, I started off with having a look at the so called "Shopping Festival" wedged in between the "Cake Bake and Sweet Show"and the "Travel Expo." It was boring - all the stuff on sale was rubbish - products dumped because they could not be sold. I rate this Shopping Festival exhibition a 2/10 and spent all of 15 minutes there before the Cake Bake and Sweet Show. In the last 15 to 20 minutes of the Cake Bake and Sweet Show, I left the show to go and have a very quick look at the Travel Expo which was at the far end of the exhibition and convention centre. Basically it was sponsored by Flight Centre. There were some good products there but all the stands were products only sold through Flight Centre. There was a Flight Centre rep from every branch in Melbourne with computer terminals side by side along 3 of the 4 walls in the Travel Expo exhibition halls. I asked quite a few question but could find the answers I needed to my travel questions. I came out with just an empty calico bag. Rating 7/10
Exhausted I head back to Melbourne Central YHA to charge my phone and retrieve my luggage from the pay locker.
I am just about to relax for a few hours before heading off to southern Cross tstion for the 7.50 pm XPT train back to Sydney whenbI receive a text message from NSW trains advising a 2 hour plus delay on the train service due to a freight train problem at Galong.
I decide to have some dinner after checking with the NSW trains office as to the status of the delayed service. Estimated time of departure is about 9.30 or 19.15 pm - I hope it will be 9.30 pm but it ended up being around 10.15 pm in the end.
I had a zen hen burger without the herbed mayo from Grilled Burgers - it was the first time I have had a Grilled Burger and was wondering why it was called a "heakthy burger" - it was a sour dough bun and extremely lean but still juicey. It was quite yummy actually.
After dinner I went where everyone else on the delayed fully booked Melbourne to Sydney XPT service did - cram into the warm Travellers Aid waiting room - every seat in this tiny waiting room was taken. I took a seat at the computer desk which was the only one available. We talked and people read knitted ate and drank - non alcoholic of course. It was 9.15 pm and the attendant at Travellers Aid makes an announcement that it will be closing at 9.30 pm ie kicking us all out. Travellers Aid is a place to have a shower and possible get a few hours rest in private resting rooms. These rooms are rented out at $10 an hour with a minimum of 2 hrs. I was advising people that I had checked the YHA if there were any spare beds available after hearing about the train delay - they only had private rooms left therefore I still had somewhere to stay. But for $40 you could get a nights stay at the YHA so renting a resting room @$10 an hour not including a shower and only until 9.30 pm is not time or cost effective.
The XPT finally arrives after 10 pm. It is going to be a long journey home. Compensation - free beverages on board all night but it does not make up for anyone missing their flight - NSW Transport advised passengers to alight at Campbelltown and take the airport line train saving 45 minutes. The only service held was the train due to depart at 9.30 am to Moree waiting at Central Station.
Arrive at Central Station Sydney 9.40 am almost 3 hours behind schedule.
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