Melbourne was for sleeping in.
After our daily routine (to take our utensiles, walk the hall to the bathroom and put on tons of sun protection afterwards), we walked all the way to Fitzroy through parks and streets.
We planned on having breakfast there, but the café that we had chosen was not there anymore. So we landed at the Newton Specialty Coffee shop, a small café with very nice staff. They roast, the coffee they serve, themselves in the back of the café. The coffee and our food was great, so of course I bought some of their coffee – but no soap so far.
I had a chat with one of the employees. He used to live in Berlin.
From there we walked the little streets of Fitzroy, did a little shopping and stopped now and then for a lemonade. I managed to find a place that sells the gin I was looking for. They had so much gin from Australia, that I would have loved to buy some more, but it was lunchtime and I needed to carry that bag all day long.
Fitzroy reminded me of a mix of Brooklyn and Dunedin. I liked it from the start. The people seemed relaxed, just like the people in St. Kilda.
We walked all day and it was very hot, but as we both prefer to stroll around and watch people, instead of visit the sights, this was perfect. If not my bottle of gin, sunscreen, bottle of water and Lonely Planet slowly made my tote cut off my right arm. Meeh.. why do I always do that?
There was one thing that we both wanted to see though. It was the Abbotsford convent. We got there after some time walking meanders through the neighbourhoods. First we sat in the garden in the shade, but got curious when several people left and came back with plates and bowls full of food. It was way after lunch time and we were hungry. When we walked around the corner, we found the „Lentil as Anything“, a social enterprise and vegan restaurant, that was run as part of the convent, where you pay what you can afford or donate some extra. There was an amazing buffet with all kinds of salads and warm vegan food. It was very yummy!
The place was so calm that we decided to hang there a little longer and have a coffee in the shade under the trees.
At some point we walked on and ended up behind the convent that looked like the countryside of Brandenburg. There were little buildings with stables, gardens, grasing horses and sheep. We walked back along the river and took the tram only for the last three stops.
The hostel had a rooftop area that we wanted to check out, before we would need to leave the next morning. It was nice up there, but we soon realised that we were hungry. Camilla went to get us some sushi and after eating it, we felt the need for a bottle of beer to watch the sunset over the city.
I ran off to the next bottle shop, that was ten minutes away and took some nice IPAs with me. We sat and watched the citylights and fortunately noticed the strict alcohol ban, after finishing our beers.
