Cafe Giraffe - Melbourne

For the first day in Melbourne City, PP and i had a simple, but sweet little lunch at Cafe Giraffe...of course, arranged by our travel planner again :) im sure most people in melbourne who like quaint little cafes would have heard of this place. I love the informal setting, the random but purposeful placement of quirky decor pieces, and how every single nook and cranny seems to have a giraffe, hehe.

 

the food, however, was quite a disappointment to us. i guess after being stranded in the plane for hours, we were hoping for something a little more!

 

 

 

however, the food is considerably cheap and the atmosphere is really nice to chill out in. if i were living in melbourne city, this would probably be a place i would frequent :)

 

Address:

302 little lonsdale st 3000Melbourne, 3000

 

 

Queen Victoria Market

 

Queen Victoria Market - a place of many colours, sights and sounds. My suggestion? Don't check out the long stretch of stores selling non-food items. they are mostly repeats and several of them are probably owned by the same person. the prices are the same, and so are the discounts. if you are looking for cheap souvenirs in large quantities, just go to the first stall you see ;)

 

on the other hand, THE FOOD is definitely worth checking out!! :) don't go too early. 7am, the suggested "opening hour", is unearthly. we found ourselves in a dead market. hehe. as it got to 8-9am, stalls started to open up and that, was when we really enjoyed taking in the sights and sounds :)

 

fresh groceries in radiant colours make for lovely pictures! :)

 

Queen Victoria Market was the place we had our.most.awesome.breakfast.EVER.

 

i can't really pinpoint what was so wonderful about it, but sitting in the cold wind and tucking into cheese-laden meaty hotdogs, pies and chicken wings was euphoric. PP says it was because of the atmosphere but i think the food definitely had a part to play!

 

 

the juicy beef pie:

Ferguson Plarre

Shop 77/80, Dairy Hall

the hot dog (not so sure of the shop, think it's this one)

The Bratwurst Shop

Shop 99/100

Dairy Produce Hall

the chicken wings (must try!!!)

The Corner Chicken Shop

Shop 87/89

Dairy Produce Hall

 

 

the second time we went back, we had hot chocolate from Koko Black.

 

looks can be deceiving. i have had several cups of hot chocolate in melbourne but nothing packs a punch like this!

 

we also had the awesomest pancakes!!

 

each dollop of pancake will burst in your mouth like a pancake bomb! YUM!!  this is also a must try :)

Pancakes: Cafe Verona

77 Victoria Street (Vic Market Place)

 

i really enjoyed my time there. there was so much to take in, in many ways. i suppose only a tourist would find a market "interesting". i can't say im a fan of our local markets -_-''

 

a little bird watched us as we ate our breakfast... :)

recounting our time there makes me smile. thank God for such opportunities to travel and see more of what He has created and blessed :)

harvest farm breakfast

the next day, we had breakfast at the town area of Yarra Valley, which isn't very large to begin with. however, it surprisingly has some quirky stores and we ended up buying quite a few things!

 

our day started in Harvest Cafe before we went to explore the place. many ideas we picked up that we could use for *wink wink wink*!

Address: 256 Maroondah Highway, Healesville VIC Australia 3777

 

 

the food was awesome! mmmm...

 

 

we decided to walk around and to my pleasant surprise, we found a few stores i liked very much!

 

one of them was Morris Brown, which sold vintage/handmade items that are rather "one-of-a-kind".

 

Address: 264 Maroondah Highway, Healesville Main Street, VIC 377

 

we ended up spending such a long time exploring the shops that we missed the picnic our travel planner had planned for us! She actually arranged for us to go to Mud Factory, rent two bikes, cycle to a nearby creek and have a picnic lunch. We eventually dropped by at the place but due to time constraint, we did not cycle out. but we still had to pay for the rental of the bikes. hmm :(

 

in any case, it was a very very memorable time!

our melbourne honeymoon

our honeymoon travel planner was none other than my dearest, fabulous, absolutely talented sister! she also did our programme sheets, but i'll leave that for another time.

 

seriously, there is no way one can find a better travel planner. this sweet one has got personal little notes for us everyday, with a certain theme, sharing from God's word, and little presents to accompany them! For example, a the trip to Great Ocean Road came with a customised song CD so we could listen to it on the way. Our supposed horse-riding trip (which did not come to fruition) came with sunblock lotion. Add more of such thoughtful tokens to many days in Melbourne and you get a very happy us! :)

 

well, not EXACTLY...which was a pity, hehe. we arrived at this absolutely GORGEOUS place in Yarra Valley but had a little tiff over the minutest of things, and so, we were not really able to soak up the lovely atmosphere. i want to go back, hehe....

 

This place is called Harvest Farm, and our travel planner made the perfect choice of booking the Dairy House.

credits for photos with green borders: harvest farm website

 

this quaint little cottage is pretty much a place i would like to live in! in terms of the warmth, the decor, the environment. the bedroom (there were 2, we chose the one above) had a door that opened to the backyard, and this little bird tapped on it in the morning to give us a morning call! we walked out and there were chickens, cows...horses....just like a little farm :)

 

 

the kitchen was fully equipped with everything we needed.. but nah, we did not cook anything although there was the option of cooking our own breakfast.

loving the idea of hanging crockery from a ladder!

 

we walked out to the field...

and saw two beautiful horses!

 

however...there was big big obstacle...a large part of the grass was poop-laden...hmmm...

 

eventually, PP piggy-backed me so we could capture some close-ups of the horses.. :)

 

beautiful place, but as usual, in summer, you get the problem of flies, flies, flies!

peace

Philippians 4:7: And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

 

may God's peace be with you even when everything does not seem to go right. trust in His perfect plan. He is God.