week in melbourne

We have had a week in Melbourne, me for a conference and B to go to the Flower Show and as a tag-a-long.

The conference was great, I attended with 2 workmates and it was very worthwhile. The weather was brilliant, better than Sydney, although I was not really prepared for this, and neither would it seem were the cabbies who don't seem to know what airconditioning is. My trip to the airport in the taxi before flying home was unbearable, and apparently my workmates had a similar experience a couple of days before.

This time in Melbourne I discovered the whole 'laneway' shopping experience thanx to one of the conference people. We were staying on Flinders St and just behind us in Flinders lane was a great little shopping and eating area. We ate dinner here nearly every night, and discovered some great shops including Alice Euphemia (I bought a gorgeous brooch here by Melbourne based designer Iggy and Lou Lou) and one that my dad would like 'Il Papiro', which had beautifully bound books and papers.

Il Papiro

We also managed shopping experiences on both Brunswick Street, and Bridge Rd, my favourite shop on Bridge Rd was Havana Blue (Banana Blue labelled clothing) discovered 5 minutes before we needed to catch a tram back to the hotel to check-out, although I still managed to buy a funky peachy pink cardigan.

On Brunswick St, I bought a pair of rose gold ethnic looking earrings from a store whose name may have been KoKo and a couple of hair accessories from the Alannah Hill factory outlet. Other shops I liked were Harem Melbourne (fashion and homewares, 248 Brunswick St), Mazi (Brunswick St, Bridge Rd and Melbourne Central, I visited all three and bought a fabulous little bird hair adornment at the Melbourne Central store, I mean you need to spread the spending around), A Jewellery Store Named Desire (Brunswick St), Douglas and Hope (Brunswick St and Melbourne Central). B also found Bridge Rd quite satisfying, adding to his wardrobe at PO Box. If only we had more time.

We also visited the Queen Victoria Markets, which are a bigger, cleaner version of Paddy's or Parklea markets but not somewhere I'd be going back to in a hurry, although if you lived in Melbourne the fresh produce and deli section looked pretty good.

We also managed a couple of open house/units (and the auction for one of them) on the last day. Both places were in Bible House on Flinders Lane, and we were sooooooooo tempted to make a bid. It was a great 3rd floor apartment, but only one bedroom and really no place for our little family, especially Macc the greyhound.