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For our last full day in Melbourne, it was actually fairly uneventful.\u00a0 We began with breakfast across the road, where I ordered what looked like a small meal (omelette with cheese, mushroom and spinach), but turned out enormous \u2013 they must have used about 10 eggs in the thing!\u00a0 It was lovely, even if I could only get through half of it.\nHaving become excited by the markets the other day, we had promised Marcus we would come to his house and cook dinner for him and his two flatmates using only market produce.\u00a0 We began by searching for a specialty spice store, where I proceeded to buy spices in 100g lots \u2013smoked paprika, turmeric, fennel seeds, whole star anise, cinnamon quills, whole cloves and whole black peppercorns.\u00a0 All of this came to only $11!\u00a0 One of those, with about 25g in it, would have cost close to that in Fitzroy Crossing alone.
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With the spices covered (I was making Pork loins with a Chinese Five Spice and paprika rub), we wandered around the city before falling upon the Eureka Sky Deck.\u00a0 It proclaimed to be the highest public viewing platform in the Southern Hemisphere (which we actually thought the Auckland one had proclaimed as well when we were there\u2026 we must have been mistaken).\u00a0 Upon reaching the top, having parted with $30 for the privilege to travel up the 88 floors at over 9 metres per second, we found a stunning view of Melbourne, Geelong and most of Port Phillip Bay.\u00a0 We were a long way up \u2013 I was convinced it was no higher than Auckland, but a great view nonetheless (later research showed the Melbourne version is a mere 60m higher).\u00a0 There was also an outdoor section, where you could wistfully pine through the wire mesh across the city.\n
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Although we weren\u2019t prepared to fork out the extra $12 each to go on THE EDGE \u2013 an extra platform that has a glass bottom (even with our savings on the spices!), we were satisfied that the Sky Deck is worth visiting, even just to get that \u201cbig picture\u201d of the city.\u00a0 The Edge claimed to be for the hard-core people, but for us, the hard-core people were the ones at Auckland Skytower who actually paid to BUNGEE JUMP from the top.\u00a0 Scary stuff.\nFrom here, we ate at a non-descript little caf\u00e9 that served up a stunning little chicken and mushroom filo for no price at all, before venturing to the markets again to see what values we could find.
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Getting there with only half-an-hour till closing time was a buzz \u2013 the butchers were screaming, and throwing ridiculous specials around \u2013 like a 10kg platter of scotch fillet steaks for $25.\u00a0 I wandered around six butchers before settling on 5 pork loins from local stock for nearly nothing.\u00a0 Wandering out to the fruit and vege place, we picked up some spuds perfect for mashing, sweet potato and green leaves (weeds, I\u2019m sure) for a simple salad.\nMarcus is living on a serious budget.\u00a0 He\u2019s studying Social Work at Melbourne Uni, and does relief teaching when he gets the chance \u2013 but in a couple of weeks he begins a fulltime, unpaid 15-week prac.\u00a0 I suggest he shops at the markets, because the grand total for our meal for five was less than $16, and less than $27 if you count the spices which would last for months anyway.
\nDinner went smoothly, and Marcus provided a lovely dessert (as he always did in Fitzroy Crossing).\u00a0 We passed the evening away chatting, and making promises to catch up again soon.
\nSee \u2013 told you it was a lazy day today!\u00a0 Bring on Sydney tomorrow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"