Melbourne 2016 Day 4: South Melbourne Market, DFO South Wharf, Brighton Beach & St Kilda

DAY 4: 3 DEC 2016

Brighton Beach Bath Boxes

The weekends are here!

Despite having only four places on our list today, we ended our day really late.

Awesome day it was.

As we arrived back past midnight, we decided to sleep in a little and left for

South Melbourne market at 10am today.

In order to get to the market which was located across the river,

we had to take tram no. 96 from Bourke Street.

Since we were going out of the free tram zone, we had to get a Myki card,

Melbourne's very own ezlink card.

I made a mistake here by purchasing a regular card from 7-eleven instead of

purchasing the Myki visitor value pack which offered a discount for Puffing Billy :(

By the way. transportation in Melbourne is expensive.

It costs at least AUD$3 each time you tap.

They do have the 2-hour fare and daily cap scheme so we made the most out

of it for our trip.

The daily cap for weekends is AUD$6 and AUD$7.80 for weekdays.

Anyway, the tram took us right to South Melbourne market and tram officers were

on standby to check if you have tapped your Myki card.

So do remember to tap in and out when you are travelling outside of the free tram zone.

Heaps of fresh fruits and vegetables

There were lots to see at the market.

Food. Groceries. Clothings.

All in one place.

We bought two mangoes for AUD$4 and half a kilo of macadamias for AUD$18!

 

salted Oyster Bay oysters

If you love oysters, you have to try them here.

They were going at AUD$1.50/1.70 per oyster and the oysters were so fresh.

And they were so cheap!

We tried the breakfast burrito from Paco Y Lola which costs AUD$12.

I can't remember what was in the burrito but it was really good.

If you would like a quick bite, do try this stall which is located on the outside of the market.

Donuts from La Lapa

We spent a good 2 hours at South Melbourne Market before we headed off to our

next destination: DFO South Wharf.

Unlike the Queen Victoria Market which opens every day except Monday,

the South Melbourne Market only opens on Wed, Fri, Sat and Sun.

So make sure you fit this market into your itinerary, or else you might regret!

Tram station at South Melbourne Market

Casino/MCEC tram station

We took tram 96 back to the city and alighted at the Casino/MCEC stop to

get to DFO South Wharf.

It was a nice 10 minutes stroll along the Yarra river and found the place by

following the crowds. 

If Myers and David Jones are not to your likings,

DFO South Wharf might be the place for you.

This mall is actually an outlet mall which means things here are sold at discounted prices.

There were many major international brands such as Adidas, Forever New as well as

Coach and Michael Kors.

Our first shop was Adidas and there were discounts and further 40% off for women's apparels.

I managed to get a sleeveless dry-fit top and a pair of running shorts for AUD$35 only.

Havaianas was having a really good deal too as we managed to get a pair of

classic slippers for AUD$10.

There was so much to see that we spent 3.5 hours there and we only covered the

basement and ground level.

It was already 4pm and we had to get to Brighton beach.

So we bid goodbye to the lovely mall and headed home to put our shopping loots.

We walked to Flinders Street station and boarded the train towards Sandringham.

The trains depart every 20 minutes so it would be good to plan your schedule,

or else you will just have to wait.

After a 25 minutes ride, we arrived at Brighton Beach station.

It was a long walk to the bathing boxes, 25 minutes actually, 

but there were signs throughout our entire walk to the bathing boxes 

which made it easy to get there even without GPS.

Brighton Beach

 The bathing boxes were so vibrant in colour and each of them had its own uniqueness.

The walk from end to end was really nice despite the swarms of flies that frequently

pestered me (I wasn't smelly by the way), the crowd and the junk left on the beach.

 

 Since we were in Australia, we had to get a photo of the bathing box with the

Australian flag!

Thereafter, we took a 10 minutes walk through a residential estate to take a bus to St Kilda.

There weren't many options to get to St Kilda and we were really lucky to

catch bus 923 even with its limited service.

So, do plan out your time wisely at Brighton beach if you want to head to St Kilda next.

The bus took us through many residential estates and finally we arrived in St Kilda.

The vibe of St Kilda was somewhat similar to the coastal cities in Croatia. 

Iconic Luna Theme Park

For dinner, we headed to Lentils As Anything which is a donation-based restaurant.

This restaurant is one of the places where the homeless or poor could have a proper meal

which they could afford since it is donation-based.

And I really liked this concept a lot.

So do come and support them if you happen to be in St Kilda!

Lasagna with sun-dried tomatoes

Fresh Vegetable Wrap

 The lasagna fell short but the wrap was good.

The other item on the dinner menu was the green curry and it seemed popular

among the patrons that night.

They had desserts too but we chose to try out one of the cake shops along the promenade instead.

 Total regret :(

Unappetising and a waste of calories.

I guess we just chose the wrong cakes given that the place was rather packed.

Since we were at St Kilda, we decided to take a walk by the beach and look for

some penguins by the breakwaters at the end of the pier.

Sunset at St Kilda beach

As I have mentioned in my previous post, you do not need to make a trip to 

Phillip Island just for penguins.

Just walk towards the pier and get to the end of the pier where you can see the breakwaters.

After sunset every day, the little penguins will come up shore.

And you can get really close to them!

Volunteers are equipped with a torchlight which shines out red light to reduce the

discomfort in the penguins' eyes.

 

We spent at least 30 minutes there trying to spot every single penguin.

I really enjoyed myself and the people were very considerate as they made

sure their camera flash wasn't turned on.

It was time to go home and we headed to the tram stop to take tram no. 3 home (: