My friend was off work today so we spent the day exploring Melbourne. We started off with breakfast at a cool cafe called Las Chicas. The food there was great! There is a real cafe culture in Melbourne. Strangely, there are no chains around unlike London where you see Starbucks, Costa and Caffe Nero everywhere, just lots of cool independent places, some of which are hidden away in unsuspecting buildings, only frequented by those ‘in the know’! My friend explained that they were real coffee snobs and that new cafés spring up all the time, but they only have around a week to make a good impression. In that time, word will spread about whether the coffee is good or bad and the place will either instantly become popular or will be avoided! It sounded very cut-throat! I do really like the cafe culture though, it is pretty relaxing just sitting in a cafe reading and journaling when there is nowhere to rush to, especially on a day like today when it was very rainy. It seems the 37 degree heat I had arrived to had given me unrealistic expectations. Today was cold, windy and rainy. Almost like being back in London! Over breakfast, we planned how we could spend the day given the bad weather. My friend offered to take me to see Ramsay Street, where the soap Neighbours is based which sounded cool. We drove there after breakfast and it was pretty cool. The street is actually called Pin Oak Road, and people actually live in the houses, but they leave whenever there are any outside scenes to be shot for the show. I tried to take some photos, but it was raining pretty badly so I couldn’t get any good shots.

After that, we headed to an area called Fitzroy which is the ‘alternative’ area in Melbourne, full of funky shops and street art. Here are a few pictures:

We hung out there for a while and then headed to South Melbourne market followed by Hosier Lane – famous for the some of the best grafitti that the city has to offer:

After a short break, we headed out to the night market at Queen Victoria market. We had planned to get dinner at the market, and I didn’t realise how much of a challenge that would be. There were so many food options available from so many countries!! It was impossible to decide. There were stalls selling Spanish, French, Sri Lankan, Afghan, Jamaican, Texan, Argentinian, Nepalese, Polish, Filipino, and Vietnamese food, as well as Australian – kangaroo burgers, crocodile burgers, and ostrich burgers! Despite overeating due to being unable to decide on just 1 option, it was a very good day!