Melbourne – Day Three

From the end of the pier looking back at the beach/city.

Looking out to the protected rock area where the penguins live!

Same location as last photo, just looking towards the cafe on the end of the pier.

Actually quite a long walk!

A LOT of kite surfers.

My latin bbq … plenty of meat!

I passed numerous bakeries with windows like this, but….

Beautiful, eh?

They were so good, it was worth reading about.

Most definitely the highlight of the day.

Most definitely the highlight of the day.

Yes, that was the ultimate end to a day. I got up determined to have a beach day. Based on my experience from the previous few days, and from watching the weather forecast on tv, I figured afternoon would be the best option. So, I did my visiting with family (on msn….) and emailing until around noon before venturing out (I even took a towel and wore my bathing suit under my clothes – like I said, determined).

I walked from the hostel through the quaint, quiet neighbourhood streets to the waterfront and walked out to the end of the pier first of all. It took much longer than I thought it would – but I made it all the way, read all the history information boards about the cafe rebuilt after fire and all its various purposes over the last couple hundred years from information centre to housing dancing and now strictly a cafe. I walked past the man-made part into the protected area where penguins live in the rocks! I even saw one huddled in between a few large ones.

I kept on walking along down the beach – nothing but clouds and wind as you can see from the photos – since there was no real ability to settle down with my book and enjoy the heat. After about an hour and a half of walking (from the time I left the hostel) I found some benches with great views of the kite surfers skimming past me all over the place and read my book. I lasted nearly an hour (and even managed to take off my hoodie for a short time!) before my hunger started hinting to me it was time to move. I headed back to Acland street on the sidewalk this time rather than the sand and ended up at a restaurant for a Latin BBQ special – it certainly wasn’t clear what I might end up with by ordering off the menu, so when the man next to me told me his was the special, I went for it. And, boy, was it meaty. There were about four pieces of lettuce and then a variety of meats! SUPER DELICIOUS meats I might add. So, I sat there with my meat and book for another 45 minutes or so – a little disgruntled when I glanced out the window at the sun shining down while I was inside – and headed back out towards the beach RIGHT when the clouds returned. Bugger.

The wind was getting ridiculous, but as I was so determined to get in some beach time, I tried again, walking south down the beach this time. I found a bench (too windy to set a towel on the blowing sand), put on my hat, pulled my hoodie overtop (please note I was also zipped as high as possible, and had the strings pulled tight as well), hands just poking out of my sleeves enough to hold my book, and my legs pulled up to my chest. Needless to say, I got through about half a page before I realized how miserable a beach day it was turning out to be, admitted defeat, and started working my way back home.

I felt I needed something a little special for the evening besides tea and tv – as usual – so detoured past Acland St first and perused a number of the intense bakeries along the way. In the end, I was drawn back into a San Churro (pretty excited after the delight I experienced in the Fitzroy San Churro location!). I splurged and bought a box of four truffles. I could barely contain the anticipation of bliss as I zipped home with renewed energy.

I placed the box of chocolates carefully on a pillow, had a luxuriously …. OOOHHHHHH… the OTHER most BEST part of my day…. let me finish my sentence… had a luxuriously long, hot shower with richly lathering HERBAL ESSENCES shampoo AND conditioner!!! Imagine ten days of the least lathering shampoo and conditioner EVER that seemed to be squeezed from dried up juniper berries or strangely manufactured-yellow shampoo only goop on your hair and the subsequently painful attempts to brush it. Then consider some promo girls tossing you THREE samples of delectably flavoured Herbal Essences shampoo AND conditioner like it’s no big deal. Like I said, luxurious shower like I’ve never experienced (not even the one in Sydney after the plane ride due to the terrible shampoo). After which I brushed my hair (without a snag) over and over and over and over again for the simple pleasure of feeling a brush move through it without being stopped – or my fingers – over… and over… and over… Ok, you get the point. I smelled amazing; felt amazingly fresh and clean.

From that point of happiness, I crawled into bed with a hot cup of tea, my nightly reading, and the first of my truffles. The second, third, and fourth truffles with accompanying cups of tea followed while I did some journalling, more reading, and finally settled in with a movie on TV. I’m on the other side of the world, and my most pleasurable moments of the day come from chocolate, tea, a book, and pretty-smelling, silky smooth hair. My joys seem too simple for me to attempt to be a world traveller! Doesn’t seem to matter where I am, I still want the same things….

Anyway, day three ends with simple pleasures, a solid sleep, and up at 5:30 am the next morning to get ready for my next adventure on a bus tour to Adelaide.

(I’ll catch up to real-time blogging eventually!!!)