Straight after work and on my way down to Melbourne again.
TBC....
Seat B40 - an asile seat in First class my first train trip paid from my Discovery Pass. Remember these 1980s XPT trains have no charging stations or WiFi so I keep my phone usage to a minimum until I arrive on Saturday morning in Melbourne.
I haven't used my phone at all overnight and woke this morning to find it is down to 58%. How could that be? The train seems to zap my phone of it's power everytime I travel on this service!
Beautiful scenery as we approach Melbourne. Love the thick layer of mist and fog that hovers and floats above the paddocks.
Nearly 7 am and the sun is out - a beautiful warm day ahead in contrast to Sydney's weather last night of cold and wet upon departure.
An announcement is made that the train is running 10 minutes late - no surprise this service is almost always late! and there was a signal problem - again no surprise there!
TBC........
Saturday September 2018
Finally arrived at Southern Cross Station however not 10 minutes late but 1 hour late! Gee if I was connecting with the Overlander to Adelaide on the next platform I would have missed it completely!
There was a special Victorian Heritage steam train 2 platforms across and it was also departing at 8.36 am. Imagine if I had booked for that train too - too late it would have just departed by the time I got to that platform!
This steam train departed Southern Cross Station quicker then the XPT took to arrive at Southern Cross Station!
First thing breakfast from Woolworths. I did want something hot but not much was open and no Hungry Jacks after an incident with my breakfast there last year!
Pastries ( pastries that we don't ever get at the Woolworths in Sydney) and an orange juice. Despite doing an online checkin and almost 9 am, I can't check in yet so stored my suitcase in the pay lockers for an initial $4 cash then have my breakfast, pay bills online and book my day trip to Lake Mountain with Wildlife Tours for tomorrow before a shower and brushing my teeth.
TBC......
After my slightly longer shower I take the free city circle tram to Flinders Street and walk down to the NGV. Now lining up for tickets to see MoMA. I have been in the line for over half an hour now and it is past 11am. I hope I still have enough time for the QV Markets this afternoon as they close at 3 pm today!
11.10 am and finally I am inside the exhibition.
TBC......
Ok I'm unsure about this exhibition. So was it worth the $28 entry fee I paid ? Not 100%. There were pieces I loved and pieces I didn't but that's art. Rating : 7/10 - not my fvourite exhibition @ the NGV but not the worst paid art exhibition I have been to either.
photos attached of MoMA and video has been uploaded onto YouTube.
Entrance of NGV MoMA exhibition
A favourite art installation near the exit of Part 2 of the MoMA exhibition was this room where you can have your height name and date recorded in writing on the walls of the room
What I did love was again the kids activity area. "New York New York" it sure was with amazing projections on all the walls of the New York city scape and the lights and building blocks that kids can play with to create their own city.
photos attached
After my visit to MoMA it was a quick purchase of an Emoji bag then off by tram to the Queen Victoria Markets to buy some groceries ie seafood and fruit and veg before the market closed at 3 pm. I arrived at the markets around 2 pm ( the tram did a detour onto La Trobe rather then continue onto Docklands) but was surprised to see that some sections of the markets were already starting to pack up.
I ended up buying some seafood fruit and vegetables as well as a burek filled with apple.
I didn't know which tram to catch back to the hostel so walked and stopped off at 3 Woolworths Expresses and finally a Coles to buy extra general groceries.
Back to the hostel to retrieve my suitcase and check in. Very annoying as I didn't get a bottom bunk yet again!
I was put in a 4 share female dorm. Mystery 4th person who has a reserved bottom bunk still has not turned up and it is past 8 pm. Post Script : 4th mystery person showed up really late during the night when we were all asleep. One of the roommates accused me of snoring which was not actually possible because I spent most of the night awake as my other roommate was the snorer and the mystery 4th roommate's arrival woke me up. The roommate who accused me of snoring didn't even hear the mystery 4th roomates arrival therefore how did she know it was me snoring. It was actually her bunkmate above her!
OK early start tomorrow time to finish my blog . Done now I just have to upload my photos.
Didn't feel like making dinner with the groceries I purchased so straight to bed it was but not without my swipe card failing to open the bathroom door to brush my teeth therefore I had to walk all the way down with my toothpaste toothbrush and glass to reception to get it reactivated and go all the wy back up again. I hope it does not happen tomorrow!
Sunday 9th September 2018
I woke at 5 am and the alarm went off but slept in until 5.30 am when one of my other roomate woke up and her alarm went off. I took my things I had packed the night before and had shower. Then recharged my phone made an inquiry to Lake Mountain in regards to snowshoeing guide/cross country skiing lesson ( there is no downhill skiing @ this resort) . Then retrieved my packed lunch from the fridge downstairs before walking up to the Immigration Museum corner of Market and Flinders Streets to meet the Wildlife Tours Bus @ 7.45 am for the day trip to Lake Mountain.
There were quite a few unmarked buses parked outside the Immigration Museum bound for different day trip destintions.
Found the right bus and lucky I wasn't the only person going on the Lake Mountain day trip. Everyone else seemed to be heading to The Great Ocean Road.
First stop Healesville and a 30 minute stop off at the famous Beechworth Bakery for morning tea. Not going overboard I purchased some Anzac biscuits - great for a travelling snack as the biscuits are hardy.
Onto our next stop Steavenson Falls ( I hope I have spelt this correctly). About 20 minutes enough time to walk to the falls and back. The driver advised us he usually takes tourists to this attraction before heading up to Lake Mountain so we can get acclimated to the cold. Yes it was cold and getting a little wet as well but not pouring with rain just a fine mist was in the air.
Onto Lake Mountain arriving at 11.20 am for approximately 3 hours of time in the snow and yes it was cold and wet up on the mountain with very poor visibility but there was snow which was quite heavy and slushy but still almost top to bottom! Here you can cross country ski ( no downhill), snowshoe like I did, toboggan, tubing or just stay inside and eat. Unfortunately when I reached Melbourne Lookout fter doing a few km of other trails and taking some photos, I could not see a thing as visibility was very poor. Other activities include kids learn to snowboard or flying fox ( only open when conditions are good)
Everyone was back at the bus almost on time departing 2.20 pm ( there is always 1 person who holds the bus up!)
Final stop of the day for the 15 of us on this Lake Mountain day trip was a stop off at the extremely busy Yarra Valley Chocolaterie! The driver asks how long should we stop her 30 minutes or 45 minutes - in the end I suggested 45 minutes as there were long queues inside for chocolates and outside for ice cream and so 45 minutes it was. I didnt muck around and was so overwhelmed by all the varieties of chocolate chocolate products and other products and flavours of chocolate I again didn't go overboard and just picked a single small bar of finger lime chocolate after having a spoonful of dark and milk chocolate buds which were help yourself free samples.
After walking round the beautiful property, I was the first back on board the bus. I was so tired by now I wanted to fall asleep! One more thing before arriving bck in Melbourne - we were asked to complete a survey on the bus. Back in Melbourne around 6 pm. End of another day. Rating 7/10 consistant with the survey I completed. Not the best bus driver who didn't know what snowshoeing was. Was complaini ng he had to drop me back off at the Immigration Museum where he did a big u turn so he coulld drop the last passenger off down near Edihad Stadium. Well I got picked up at The Immigration Museum so I should get dropped back off there. The other 2 girls decided not to get back off at the Immigration Museum but got off at St Paul's Cathedral. Cost $125 but my last minute phone booking got me a discount so I paid $110.
Photos attached.
Beechworth Bakery Healesville
Steavenson Falls Marysville - spot the real one!
Snow shoeing Lake Mountain
Above photos self explanatory!
Got up early this morning had a shower cooked breakfast stored my luggage then checked out before heading to to the Fine Food Australia exhibition 2018 @ Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre
Photos attached
3 pm and I had had enough of Fine Food Australia 2018. I had done the entire circuit of the show - So much food to sample however I restrained myself after feeling sick after eating just a small sample of melted Callebaut chocolate, a slice of freshly made real Italian pizza topped with cheese fresh rocket mushrooms some sort of protein ( the best pizza I have ever tasted) and some pasta ( which was very oversalted) . I didn't go to the show to sample as many free food and drink products as I could, I was there to look at baking products and ingredients, to watch the baking and culinary competitions as well as chocolate demonstrations and the cake decorating competition, sugar art and chocolate art competitions. There were some interesting products I spotted but too much chocolate, cakes, biscuits, pastries, breads an other baked treats on show both sweet and savoury. Then there was the frozen desserts - You will never see as much ice cream anywhere else in one place - every man and his dog was producing some sort of ice cream, sorbet, gelato, soft serve or other types of frozen dessert! So many flavours too and the colours - real and artifical. I skipped the Chinese section of the show altogether which saved me a bit of time.
There were also a few celebrity chefs there like Darren Purchase who was promoting his new cook book - preorder to get pre signed. He was working with one of the hospitality equipment companies and had produced some rather large but totally awesome peanut cookies covered in chocolate so I grabbed one and wrapped it in a servette provided but did not eat it , instead placing it in one of my takeaway containers I had with me ( they do come in handy sometimes) and ended up taking it all the way back to Sydney with me. At work tge next day it was yum for morning tea) Also Luke the health nut from I think MKR was there with his stand selling his I guess healthy food products. Then there was Adriano Zumbo and Kirsten Tibbells ( the Queen of Chocolate) - I think both have done every single sweet related show this year! Kirsten is usually at Good Food and Wine Show and was at The Smooth FM Chocolate Festival and Adriano Zumbo was at The Sweet Expo and The Smoith FM Chocolate Festival - now both are doing Fine Food Australia 2018!
3 pm back to Melbourne Central YHA to retrieve my suitcase from the pay locker thn a walk to Southern Cross Station to board the next Skybus to Tullamarine Airport to catch the 6.15 pm Jetstar flight back to Sydney from gate 49. I arrived early checked my bag in automatically - bag tag and boarding pass printout at kiosk no problem but when it came for automatic bag drop it took me a few attempts for my bags to move forward on the conveyer belt! ( hey look I'm approximately 2 kg under the 20 kg check in luggage limit!) Through security then time to recharge my phone. It was too early for the gate mumber to appear for my for my Jetstar flight on the departures board - it kept saying relax 60 minutes until gate appears and counted down. My phone recharged to 100% and I waited until the indicator board counted down to 1 minute and as soon as the gate number appeared up on the departure board for my flight I walked quickly to gate 49 which was a good 10 minutes away - just in time as boarding was about to commence at 5.45pm and my boarding pass indicated to be at the gate before 5.45 pm to board. I arrived at 5.40 pm and was near the front of the boarding queue however everyone's carry on bags had to be weighed and checked for dimensions. There were a few passengers pulled aside for oversized or overweight carry ons. Mine was over the 7 kg limit - my 750 ml drink bottle was full of water and weighted quite a bit - I was allowed to take it out of my backpack not to be included as weight as I am going to drink it on the plane but I was still over - final weight 7.4 kg - it still passed as I only had that one backpack to take on board as carry on. No time to waste boarding was commencing - a window seat was allocated to me ( I hate window seats!). I just hate flying! - all the restrictions. At least on a train I can bring everything onboard and have access to it when needed. I had forgotten how squeezy it was too on a plane. I could hardly fit my backpack under the seat in front of me! No way was it going above in the overhead lockers!!!!! No room anyway. And 3 people crammed and seated next to me instead of just 2 on a train (even in economy class) was a little too much to bare! Just as well I wasn't feeling sick or needed to use the rest room! I would have to climb over the other 2 passengers seated next to me - yep very accurate description on the information section when booking a Jetstar flight "less then average leg room".
6.15 pm Melbourne -> 7.30 pm Sydney
Take off 6.15 pm Melbourne landed Sydney 7.30 pm. Train to Central Station recharging my Opal card on my way then change trains to Chatswood Station follows by another bus home. Back home by 9 pm. Meal and lunch prep for work tomorrow. Wash and hang dirty clothes. Done now sleep.
Work again tomorrow. If I didn't have to work on a Tuesday I would have taken the overnight train back to Sydney on Monday night. Did not want to risk another hour train delay.
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