We’ve been in Melbourne for over a week and will be here until the weekend. It’s been lovely staying with my husbands family and the kids have enjoyed all of the extra special grandparent attention.

We spent a couple of days in the city centre and I was a crazy, snap happy tourist.

Queen Victoria Markets – oh how I love you.

The smells and the noise in this old building are amazing.

I think if I lived close to a market like this, I’d visit it regularly to buy my weekly fruit, vegetables and meat.

 

We stayed at the Sofitel on Collins Street in Melbourne for a couple of days. We were up on the 40th floor, so the view of the city below, was stunning.

 

 

I got a great “Mystery Deal” through wotif.com and we really enjoyed our stay at this hotel. It’s central to everything we wanted in the city and it is easy to get to via the tram network.

The view was spectacular, but the inside of the hotel is quite lovely too. This is the view looking down into the atrium from our floor.

 

 

Beautiful use of fabrics in the decorating.

There are a couple of huge tapestries hanging in the hotel foyer / entrance. They’re not really to my taste, but I really just loved the fact that a couple of wool tapestries – hand crafts - were displayed in the foyer of a five star hotel.

 

 

Handmade has it’s place – everywhere!

 

We went to Melbourne Central – a large shopping centre – which is quite special. Not so much the shops, it’s the actual building I loved.

 

 

 

 

An indoor vertical garden adds a little bit of freshness to this retail centre.

 

 

Jumping on a tram is part of the Melbourne experience. Coming from a city that is lacking in good public transport, we really enjoy just being able to hop from one to the next, to get where we want to go.

 

 

South Bank is Melbourne’s version of Darling Harbour in Sydney… well sort of…

A lovely river to walk along, shopping, restaurants and the casino. Always something to do.

 

 

Have you heard of the flame show? 

The flames flare up every hour out of giant Bic Lighters (well not really Bic lighters, but you get my drift). Being the tourist, I stood out there with the other tourists, camera poised, ready to capture the moment.

 

 

The buildings in this city are beautiful and quirky. Old structures standing proudly beside new shiny glass buildings.

 

 

 

 

One week down and another week to come. A visit to the Aquarium is on the agenda this afternoon. There will be penguins. Yes, penguins! A visit to Ballarat and Geelong are also planned later this week.

Oh, and did I mention it’s MY BIRTHDAY on Friday? Wonder what Melbourne extravaganza we’ll get upto on my day.