Saturday March 16, our last full day in Melbourne
was a summer day again. Sunny, blue sky and a high of 27C. A beautiful day to be walking and exploring a new neighbourhood. We took the free tram as far as we could and then walked into Fitzroy. It was a wonderful neighbourhood of galleries, fashion boutiques (mostly local designers), coffee shops, bars and restaurants.
Our first stop was the Alcaston Gallery, which was celebrating 30 years of existence. It is located in a National Trust building. The building was built on Wurundjeri land in 1891 for Alexander Sturrock. It was the head office of the Victorian Labor Party from 1973-78 and subsequently offices for Aboriginal Legal Aid. The Gallery was established in 1989 and represents contemporary artists from Australia and the Asia Pacific Regions and is known for its representation of the work of Indigenous Australians. One of the current exhibits featured new paintings by Tiger Yaltangki (b. 1973 in Indulkana, South Australia). The exhibit was entitled
Malpa Wiru (Good Friends). The colours were fabulous-- most of the paintings were already sold.
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| Outside of the Alcaston Gallery |
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| Malpa Wiru (Good Friends) 2018 |
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| Malpa Wiru (Good Friends) 2018 |
There were some beautiful Victorian homes with wrought iron work just a bit further down Brunswick Street.
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Victorian homes
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| More |
We then turned onto Gertrude Street, which was full of wonderful shops including ESS Laboratory, which featured the work of two Melbourne designers, Hoshika Oshimi and Tatsuyoshi Kawabata. The husband and wife duo were both raised in Japan and came to Melbourne independently in the early 1990s. They produce everything in Melbourne but import their fabrics from Japan. The store on Gertrude Street opened in 2006. The clothes were wonderful and Hoshika was working in the store when we were there. I bought a wonderful skirt and Alain bought a scarf.
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| Alain at the store |
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| Hoshika wrapping our purchases |
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| The store |
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Outside of store-- ESS stands for Experimental, Surreal, Style
A few doors down was another store featuring designer Alistair Trung. We had been to his store in downtown Melbourne. It was a beautifully designed store with great clothes.
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| Alistair Trung on Gertrude Street, Fitzroy |
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| Lots of graffiti |
We walked up Gertrude Street to Smith Street and then over to Proud Mary Café, a wonderful coffee shop located on Oxford Street, in the adjoining Collingwood neighbourhood. The founder, Nolan Hirte, is recognized as a pioneer of the specialty coffee industry in Australia. The coffee shop was located in the former Foy & Gibson complex, a magnificent 19th and early 20th century complex of factories, warehouses and showrooms which produced a range of goods for Foy & Gibson, Melbourne's earliest department store chain. A number of these buildings had been turned into condos/apartments.
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| Foy & Gibson buildings |
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| This area had been run down until about 10 years ago |
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| The original mills |
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| Alain crossing the street to Proud Mary, located on the corner of this block |
We got to Proud Mary at around 3:30 p.m. They were closing at 4:00 p.m. and weren't serving food anymore. Luckily, there were two vegetarian pitas left that we had, along with some very good coffee. Their packaging had the towers from the old mills on the front.
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| The servers were great |
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| Great packaging (from internet) |
After our late lunch we walked to Rose Street to check out the Saturday Artists Market which featured a number of local artists. It was closing at 5:00 p.m., but we were able to check it out. It was more like an Etsy market, featuring young artists.
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| Sign for the market |
There was a lovely bar/ restaurant next to the market building. I had a blood orange spritz and Alain had a peach iced tea (we forgot to take pictures).
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| More grafitti |
We went around the corner to check out the Industrial Beans flagship store. It was just closing-- a lovely space next to a hipster barber. It was much larger than the coffee shop in downtown Melbourne.
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| Inside of Industrial Beans |
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Industrial Beans located next to a hipster barber
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| One last picture of the Royal Exhibition Building-- oldest surviving from the Great Exhibition era that is still operating as an exhibition hall. - first World Heritage listed building in Australia. |
We took the free tram back to the apartment to rest and then headed out for dinner at Ruyi, a modern Chinese restaurant recommended by the gallerist at the Funaki Gallery, where Alain bought his ring. She went for dinner there the night of the opening of the new jewellery show at the gallery.
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| Inside of Ruyi-- very elegant interiors |
We had a fabulous meal. Spicy noodles with peanuts and greens; salt and pepper soft shell crab with a citrus sauce; Ruyi fried chicken wings, marinated in stock overnight; and mixed vegetables. I had a very nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc and Alain had a glass of Merlot.
In Chinese culture, a ruyi (which translates to "as you wish") is a spiritual object or talisman symbolising good fortune. Sheng Fang's family had their own ruyi, a heirloom passed down the generations until it was taken by the red guards during the Cultural Revolution. The restaurant is their new ruyi.
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| Alain with noodle dish |
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| With soft shell crab |
We walked back to the apartment. It was a beautiful 20C at 8:30 p.m. A lovely day to end our stay in Melbourne. On Sunday March 17, we fly to Hobart, Tasmania.
Melbourne has been one of our favourite stops on our tour so far. Very dynamic city with incredibly bold architecture, great neighbourhoods, lots of style, great coffee and food, and a fabulous arts and cultural scene. What's not to like!! We also had great weather and enjoyed our trips to the Mornington Peninsula and the Great Ocean Road.
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