Melbourne 2016 Day 7: Parliament House, St Patrick's Cathedral & Hopetoun Tea Rooms

DAY 7: 6 DEC 2016

Hopetoun Tea Rooms

Sadly, this was our last day in Melbourne.

We checked out early this morning as we wanted to go for the Parliament house tour

at 9.30am.

The only thing I could pick on about my hotel is that we had to rent luggage lockers

for a fee of AUD$5 for 6 hours.

At least it was cheap...

The Parliament house organises free public tours every day and the timings vary

when there is a sitting.

So do check the timings before visiting the Parliament, and arrive early for the afternoon tours.

Queen's Hall

 The first room we stepped into was the Queen's Hall, which is used

for public events sometimes.

Photos of the past Premiers of Melbourne were hung up all around the hall and

a statue of Queen Victoria can be seen at the centre of the hall.

We moved on to the chambers where parliament sittings take place.

There was a gold rush in Australia during the nineteenth century and

the gold was actually used in the interior of the chambers.

  

Our tour guide was really informative and we learnt a lot about the government

in Melbourne and how the people who were involved in sittings as well as how they were seated.

 We then moved on to the library and we got a chance to tour the chamber floor too.

The entire tour took 45 minutes and I would definitely recommend you to

take the public tour to learn more about the city you are visiting.

It makes the visit more fruitful and enriching.

St Patrick's Cathedral

From the Parliament house, we moved on to St Patrick's Cathedral which

was just round the corner.

Unlike St Paul's Cathedral, you could take photos of the interior of the cathedral for free.

 

This cathedral is really huge and I loved the many pillars and arches too which

added to the grandness of the cathedral.

  

 We headed to Queen Victoria Market for the last time to fill our tummies.

We took the city circle tram and upon arriving at the market,

I spotted the doughnut van which was frequently mentioned in Melbourne travel blogs.

 The sugar coated doughnuts were going at 5 for AUD$5.50.

They were piping hot when we bought it and they were really good!

We were too full to have oysters the other time and we had to have them this time round.

We bought half a dozen of oysters from one of the stalls for AUD$1.50 per oyster.

We wandered around the market for some time before we bid goodbye to this lovely market.

We bought some strawberries and kiwis to bring home too.

We took tram no. 59 to Collins street to have some cakes and tea.

When you are in Melbourne, you have to try Hopetoun Tea Rooms!

Located in the Block Arcade, you will instantly recognise the place with many

staring at the beautiful cake window.

 

The place is really crowded but we were lucky to get a seat after 15 minutes in line.

 They didn't have a menu for cakes so just head over to the cake display window

for the available cakes that day.

Lemon tart and Passionfruit tart

 We ordered a slice of lemon tart and passionfruit tart as well as

a pot of lemon myrtle tea and green tea with pear.

The pots of tea costs around AUD$6.50 and the tarts were around AUD$8-10.

It is slightly more expensive compared to the ones in Singapore,

but they were so good!

And for the ambience, it was definitely worth paying a little more.

It was finally time to head back to the hotel to get our bags.

We booked the skybus hotel transfer at 3pm and we arrived at the airport at around 4.15pm

due to a jam on the way to the airport.

But we were still early for our flight which departs at 6.45pm.

When we arrived at the check in counter, the lady offered us a free upgrade to business class!!

Probably because the flight was overbooked.

I swear we were grinning from ear to ear (:

We couldn't contain our excitement because it was our first time on business class.

Meals on business class

Free flow of champagne and wine and a personal mini bar.

A huge screen for entertainment and an ipad right beside you.

Meals served on plates at intervals: appetiser, main and dessert.

A flat bed for your comfort.

Awesomeness (:

This is the first time I didn't feel queasy on a flight even though I had alcohol.

Loved every bit of my flight.

What a nice way to end our trip <3