Kensington, crepes and bus drivers

It was very cold today.  The warmest temperature was 12C and it was windy so it was very very cold for me.  Ate and I were making fun at how we were shaking when we were at the Southern Cross Station.  Ang lamig!

From Kensington Station, I walked with her to Chubb and agreed to meet two hours after at the first coffee shop around the corner. So I headed back to the other end of Macaulay for a stroll. I like the coffee shops scattered along the street.  Para syang sari-sari store, marami at magkakatabi.  And they're all cute and small, each with its own charm.  Nothing intimidating.  It makes you feel like walking into it and having a cup of coffee while killing time would be a very good idea.

 

train station

 

 

 

Aside from coffee shops, they also have these small shops that sell vintage and specialized stuff.  And of course, the dainty bookshops.  More than anything, I love the atmosphere when you are made to feel welcome even if you are just looking around.  Upon entering into one of them, the owner asked me if I needed any help or was just looking. I said I was just looking and was waiting for someone.  She told me to enjoy.  Im sure it would just be fine even if I stayed there for an hour without buying anything.  But kindness is always a win for me, the perfect marketing strategy.  So I impulsively bought two books :) One by Hanif Kureishi and an Australian author.  Good gob, wayward bookstore!

wayward books, 172 bellair st, kensington
image grabbed from the net

image grabbed from the net

After that, I went to one of the cafes to wait for Ate.  It was called Luncheonette.  It was a tiny cafe, and again, a cute one (the cafes there are really endearing).  I had late which I sipped for an hour haha They had all sorts of magazine and one featured remodeled places which were transformed into modern day homes like former bakeries, boathouses, etc.  I really like these concepts, the sort that preserves a part of the heritage of the place and making it comfortable for moden day living.  That's my dream for our old house in the province.

 

view from luncheonette
173 rankins road, kensington

On a side note, the people are very generous with pleasantries. People say hello.  It is a place where buying coffee is not just a business transaction but also a social experience.  It's not just about asking what would you like and how much would that be but also engaging in small talks.  Makes a recipe for a good day.

When we got back to the city, we went to AIX creperie for afternoon tea.  Again, it was a small place.  It could probably accommodate just 6 or 7 couples inside and about 3 outside.  And as always, it has that certain warmth which always appeals to me.  Lots of wood and old stuff.  And they kept on playing Beatles over and over again.  Winner ang place!



aix creperie 24 centre place, melbourne
 

 

 

I had lemon and sugar with feverfew tea while Ate had something sweet (which I forgot) and chai tea latte.  The crepes were soft and chewy, my kind of goodness. I just found the lemon too strong though.  Maybe next time, I'll squeeze the lemon myself so as not to drown the sweetness of the sugar.  When it comes to the tea, it's a different story.  Ate's was fine.  But mine made was another episode of those "sometimes your adventurous spirit doesnt cause you good" moments.  It was too bitter for me! The menu says that feverfew tea is good for headaches and migraines but after drinking it, oh boy, kung hindi lang sayang, itatapon ko kaagad.

 

 

 

 

 

On our way home, we took the bus from Box Hill.  This is not the first time that we had to chase the bus because it was already leaving the exit gate.  But there were two kids who were worse than us.  They chased the bus even after it left the gate.  They kept on running after the bus while it was making its way out of the terminal.  And Im really glad that the driver was so considerate.  He stopped and waited for the kids to board.  Kung dito yun, naku sorry ka na lang.  Makaalis lang ng 1 foot sa bus stop, gola na.  In another instance, my sister and I saw our bus but we were on the opposite side of the road and we were still far from the bus stop.  We waved frantically without expecting that we would still catch it because it already left the stop but to our surprise, he stopped and waited for us even if he was already far from the stop.  Ang galing!

State Library of Victoria, St. Patrick's Cathedral and Brunswick Street

Today, I went to the city on my own.  I was really looking forward to this moment because I have always wanted to try traveling alone. Ok, I was alone in Ho Chi Minh for less than one day and the paranoia from crossing its streets amidst the gazillion motorbikes robbed me of the excitement of wandering alone.  So I made sure that one day, one day, I would wander around somewhere on my own.  And Melbourne seems to be a good start. It doesn't matter that I only have one day :)

random photo: public toilet along the road.
my sister said that she doesnt use this because the door automatically opens
once the 3 minutes wiwi time is up

State Library of Victoria

Even from outside, the library is already a lovely place because of its architecture.  And the fact that it's not only a library but also a meeting and a hang-out place (at least based from what I saw) adds to its appeal.

See what I mean? People hanging out 

Im not at the State Library of Victoria writing on one of the desks inside the La Trobe reading room.  You know that pretty reading area at the center of the building?  Yes, that's where I am.
Im hungry and I can feel the call of nature but I just cant let the opportunity of sitting on one of its chairs and writing on one of its desks pass.  Ang ganda! Im so happy I wanna cry.  This is one of those moments that you just want to freeze :)
I went to the galleries earlier. I have stayed here for 1 hour and 30 minutes already but I have not noticed the time. They have a free exhibit of books.  Old books, wooden tablets, midget books, etc.  Ang saya saya! Ooh, the geek in me is so happy right now!

School kids taking a photo of the beauty infront of them
Like me, they were also gushing

 

La Trobe Reading Room from the second floor

The gallery and the dome

The galleries

The dome

 

Entering the reading room

 

I know I had to sit here

Or maybe here...Yeah, I sat here

The design

Note on the exhibit

Ned Kelly's armour

Replica of Ned Kelly's face - kinda spooky

Can you see the design? Pretty

The Bible...made of wood

Scroll



Midget book which apparently was common during the turn of the 20th century



I wonder what it says inside

Kids on a library tour



Probably

Brunswick Street

My grumbling stomach is the primary reason why Im here, otherwise, I might still have been inside the library by now. Anyway, Im hungry and Im looking for the fish and chips place I read online called Hooked. They say it has one of the best fish and chips in town.  Yes, I know the address and I have a map so finding it should be fine.

Okay, Im now walking along Brunswick St. Where is #384?  Oh, there's a street sign that shows which shops are located in this block...What?  The first block is only until 40?  Uh-oh.  This is going to be a looong walk.

And a long walk indeed it was.  Not to exaggerate but I have walked for an hour and 30 minutes just to get to that place.  Google says the distance from the State Library to Hooked is 2.6 km and walking would take 33 mins.  I guess that's when you know the route.  Well, for me, I got lost but I managed to find my way again. So that's additional meters and walking time.

I did not mind the walk though.  At the 'entrance' of the street, I saw old, rusty, and beautiful Victorian style apartments. And the whole stretch of Brunswick is filled with bookstores, vintage shops, specialty stores and restaurants so I enjoyed the sight.  Para syang isang mahabang Cubao Expo. Whenever I would feel fired, I would just go into one of the bookstores, browse through the books and sit in their couch.  Im now realizing that the more than one hour walk could be due to my many stop over.  My feet was definitely tired but my soul was very very happy :)

 

Victorian houses



Traffic at Brunswick Street

 


Murals



Sidewalk

After the long walk, I finally saw it! Hooked!

From the outside, it looks just a simple restaurant.  The sign even says it's a beer garden.  In Manila, a beer garden would mean a different place. Picture videoke machines, men who want to get drunk and have a 'little fun', smoke-filled air, and ladies in skimpy clothing offering their services.  But when I peeked inside, it's completely different :) It was definitely wholesome.  I didn't manage to take a photo of the interiors because I was shy.

Their fish and chips come on different versions.  They had one where you could have set of grilled fish and salad.  I wanted the 'authentic' Australian fish and chips though so I ordered for the battered and fried fish with chips and tartare sauce.  So, it's what I got.

I was so excited to finally try it.  At last, my precious fish and chips.  So I took a bite of the chips. Pwede!  And then, of the fish.  Eeek! Really?  I walked for more than an hour just for this? Sure, the fish seems fresh.  But it was so tiny that I could hardly taste it!  The fish was more of a fried batter with a little slice of fish inside. Tsk tsk.  So the hungry me ended up still a bit hungry.  I guess I chose the wrong one.  Maybe the grilled one with the salad is better.  I'll try it next time.

#384 Brunswick St, Lygon

Fish and chips

On my way back, I was having an internal debate on which side of the street to walk on.  I still wanted to walk on the side where I walked earlier because I wanted to go back to some of the stores.  But I also wanted to see what the other side has to offer.  Hay.  So I took the 'new' side.

I was not even half of the walk when I felt mother nature calling again. My mother is so kulit talaga. Tawag ng tawag.  The thing is, all of the restaurants in the area are small restaurants.  As in ALL. So it's kind of awkward to just barge into one of them and go straight to the toilet. Then I saw Woolworths!  I was so happy.  I immediately went inside and looked for the toilet sign.  But wait, it was a small Woolworths.  And wait, they don't seem to have a toilet.  So I bought one apple and two pieces of banana and while paying, discreetly asked the cashier where the toilet is.  And she told me the bad news, they had none.  Oh no!  So there, that means I had to go back to the city center.

I took a tram to the center and got off at the first stop where I saw a big building.  It was the Old Treasury building.  Inside, there was a group of tourists with their guide explaining the history of the building.  I didn't know if the tour inside is free or not. So I initially pretended to be one of them. Yes, con artist, that's me!  After a few minutes, I couldn't contain it any longer, so I asked the information desk where the toilet is.  And she pointed me to an area under the stairs.  Sigh. Ive never been so happy seeing a toilet.

After doing my business, I was thinking if I'd still go back to Brunswick or just stay in the area.  I was going to meet my high school classmate that afternoon so I decided to just stay in the area.  I went to see the mini museum in the building.

Old Treasury Building

Women prisoners

Their mug shots were bad ass..they could pass as profile pics now

St. Patrick's Cathedral

I went to St. Patrick after.  Im not very good with adjectives so I'll just let the photos do the talking.

I was so happy that day and also as to how my vacation has been progressing so I stayed inside the church for a long time to say my thanks.  I like the feel of some churches.  And I like how this church felt.  I might have stayed there for an hour and was about to leave for Flinders but the rain just started so I decided to stay a bit longer.

There was no mass that time so the church was empty.  When I went in, there was one guy saying his prayers.  Occasionally, there would be tourists coming in, taking photos of the altar, of the statues and of themselves.

St Patrick's Cathedral

After staying for more than an hour, I decided it was time to go.  It was still raining but I braved it!  And I realized that it's too strong for me so I went back haha I might have stayed there for an additional 30 minutes before finally leaving.  It was still raining but I was already late for my appointment so I just walked under the rain.  My jacket was water repellant and I had my wool hat and gloves on so I didn't get soaked but I was still sooo cold. I was playing with my breath while walking.  When I couldn't take it anymore, I stopped by Pie Face to buy a cup of coffee.  Normally, I wouldn't drink coffee at night but this is a special case.  I was really cold! And the coffee helped.

I met my friend at McDonalds near Flinders.  He and his wife has migrated here and they have been here for 6 months.  We catched up while waiting for his wife.  We then transferred to a Japanese restaurant along Swanston  for some ramen and more catching up.

Life is good.

Checking out the neighborhood

Today was a lazy day.  I woke up with swollen tonsils and the weather forecast says it's going to rain in the afternoon again so we decided to just stay put. This doesn't mean though that we have to stay inside the house all day long, do we?

So after dropping Eric at Kindy, we took a stroll around the neighborhood. It was a quiet place. While walking, my sister and I were imagining what our mother would say, "Asan ang mga kapitbahay?  Wala ka man lang makita! Wala ka man lang makakwentuhan!"  Yes, you couldn't see anyone.

The houses were a mix of new and old, bungalow and double storey structures.  Almost all had gardens and lawns.  I was like a kid who couldn't contain her excitement seeing unfamiliar trees like lemon, grapefruit and olives.  Yes, Im used to seeing guava, mango and narra trees but not the aforementioned ones :) There were also Sakura which were in bloom, but the majority only had buds.

Sakura tree in bloom

Red Sakura

Neighbor's grapefruit tree

Neighbor's lemon tree

 

Pretty red-necked birds

Random pmushroom patch along the sidewalk

The best discovery for me that day was the paper tree.  It is a tall tree with a huge trunk but when you look closely at the trunk, it looks like an interwoven ream of paper.  Im sorry environmentalists but I even tried tearing out the "leaves of paper" one by one to see how far I could go.  It's amazing :)

 

Paper tree from afar

Taking a closer look

Tearing off the 'paper'

Just like in Singapore, we passed by tons of "junk" thrown out of people's houses.  I guess that's how it is in wealthier countries, when things get broken, people just throw it away.  They don't fix it. They just buy a replacement.  In one of the houses, Ate saw a keyboard but it was no longer working.  In another house, I saw a bicycle, complete with helmets and gloves.  The tires were flat but the break was working.  So I took it haha Bote, dyaryo, garapa ang peg!  On a more sosyal note, come on, let's reduce, reuse and recycle! Im doing my bit in saving mother earth!

 

Me with my loot

Ate trying out the keyboard

An old lady saw me and she said I just need to go to the petrol station to infuse air into the tires.  She was pushing a grocery cart and seems like she's also on the lookout for thrown but still useful things.  I don't know if she's homeless but I was thinking, siya siguro ang version ng magkakariton dun.  I had a short chat with her and she bid me good day after.  Hay, people in that place seem so pleasant.