My half century

When Graham asked me what I'd like to do for my birthday, of course it had to be something Louka would enjoy too. So I thought back to something I'd found very exciting when I was young - sleeping in a train. This quickly expanded to a whole weekend in Melbourne, travelling there by train (with sleeping compartment) on Friday night, staying Saturday night in a nice hotel, and coming home by train again on Sunday night.

Louka and I took a taxi to Manly and the ferry to the city to meet Graham at Central. Then we went in search of dinner since the train was not scheduled to leave till 8:40pm. We found a hostel café just near the station and had fish and chips for dinner

There was no hurry to get to the station, but we couldn't hang around at the café for ever, so we went to see if the train had arrived yet so we could settle into our compartment. It hadn't. In fact, it was delayed till after 9 o'clock. The play board in the waiting room kept Louka amused for a short while. She also did her reading homework..

Then we tried walking (or in Louka's case running) to the end of the station to see if the train was in sight. Eventually it did arrive and Louka had great fun exploring the fold-away tables, bunk-beds and bathroom and all the objects in the little toiletries case provided.

Louka, of course, wanted to sleep in the top bunk. So I shared with her and Graham got the bottom bunk to himself. I don't think the beds are as wide as standard singles, but I did manage to stay up there, and slept ok. Woke next morning in Melbourne for raisin toast and tea for breakfast (hot chocolate for Louka). Then off to find our hotel.

We left our suitcase there and headed off for a ride on the free city circle tram - an oldish (1936) model.
That was fun for a while. We got out at the closest stop to Melbourne Museum and walked across the park. Louka enjoyed climbing on the carved stone blocks from a demolished building and running through a helical  bike rack.


We finally enticed her into the museum, and explored the outdoor rainforest exhibit. That was fun to look through, going along paths and through tunnels to see the plants and animals.
But unfortunately she was rather tired and soon got bored, only wanting to find a children's play area. Eventually we found a table where kids were making bee masks and let her make one too. Then we figured we'd had enough of the museum.

While searching for dinner we'd seen a few horse-drawn carriages waiting in a city street, so after dinner we thought we'd give them a try. It was a fun way to see the city, at a good pace and with the soothing rhythm of the horses' hooves.

Next morning we wandered round till we found a nice café for breakfast. The one in the Block Arcade had the added advantage of paper tablecloths where Louka could draw till the food was ready. Louka and I had pancakes with berries, cream and maple syrup, while Graham had waffles with poached pears, ice-cream and chocolate. Pretty decadent...

Then we took the free tram to near Victoria Markets. What I remembered was the delicatessen stalls, but there were lots and lots of cheap clothes stalls too, just like Paddy's Markets. However, we found a nice Mexican/Argentinian/Brazilian food stall for lunch, where I splashed out by having a sangria with my fried potatoes and rice. We did end up checking out the deli stalls, but with no-where to cook and no need for meals, all we bought was a chocolate each.

By then, there wasn't much time left for further activities, and we'd been on our feet a long while, so we sat in a park and rested before wandering off to dinner at the same café where we'd had breakfast. It was about halfway between the park we'd been sitting in and the station, so it seemed like a good idea. Louka drew on the tablecloth again. Then we wandered onward to the station, where the train was again delayed. They blamed the floods in Wagga Wagga.

We arrived in Sydney one and a half hours after the scheduled time, and I managed to get Louka to school one and a half hours late. The woman in the office was impressed with our reason for being late, and put an exclamation mark on Louka's late note!