My Loot from Melbourne

So, I culminated my total loot from Melbourne and what I see was shocking!  LOL.  Even though shopping wasn't the major activity in my agenda, it somehow still seemed extensive when everything was put together.

Most of the items I bought are beverage and confectioneries such as candies, chocolates, nougats, macadamia nuts, wine and tea.  Guess these make practical gifts for family members and colleagues.   I love buying gourmet and locally-made products when overseas as these can hardly be found in Singapore and are very expensive.  It's also great to savour the unique products made locally.

Being an avid vintage collector, I should be hunting for local vintage collectibles but surprising, I didn't buy anything during the trip.  Reason being I was on a budget trip and there's simply no space for more vintage collectibles at home!  I did find a very nice pink vintage dress for myself though!

Other things I've bought were shirts, jeans and shoes I found at the factory outlets.  Not forgetting home fragrance products such as handmade soaps, diffuser and candle.

 

My best purchases were of cause the exclusive Les Miz merchandise I bought, which included the tee, cap, keychain and souvenir programmes.  These are not cheap and cost me 100aud but I guess it's special to me because I came specially to catch the musical, so I had to buy them home as mementos. 

The other good find has to be the Australian Homespun magazine, which featured my handmade goose earrings!  How timely for my item to be featured in the July issue, as I managed to grab a copy at the airport before I flew home to Singapore.  Love reading these craft magazines as they contain many creative projects which are so inspiring that I could work on.

 

Melbourne Day 3 - 29 June 2014

I was looking forward to today's itinerary as we are driving up Mt Dandenongs. Unfortunately, the weather forecast for today wasn't ideal as rain is expected the entire day :(. 

Joyce came to pick us up about 8.30am for Mt Dandenongs. The road trip was expected to take about an hour. On our way to Dandenongs, we passed by Carribean Market and decided to stop over for a look. The market was huge with lots of goods and groceries being sold such as fruits, vegetables, clothes, shoes and homewares.  Love visiting markets as they are so different from the markets in Singapore, and there are so much to see and do. 

On the left of the market, I was pleasantly surprised to see a lake with ducklings swimming and other local birds waddling among the green pasture. 

We reached Dandenongs about 11am and utterly disappointed to see that the rain has gotten heavier. We went straight to Mrs Marples, the famous tearoom for tea and waffles. My heart skipped a bit before I even entered it, as this quaint country-style tearoom looked so inviting even from the outside! I couldn't stop clicking my camera inside as I love all its country decor, from photo frames on the wall, to teapots and cups on the display shelves! There's even a real fireplace inside the tearoom!

We ordered their famous fish and chips, scones, cheese toast & waffles for lunch. So fulfilling! Lunching here makes me feel like I'm in a cosy country cottage in England in the 18th century!

After our yummy and "sinful" lunch, we went shopping at Sassafras and Olinda villages, two very charming and vintage villages on Dandenongs. Seeing all these country vintage shops drove me crazy and kept me occupied for the entire afternoon. 

We first entered a shop known as Tea Leaves. Oh my! They had shelves after shelves of pretty and vintage teapots and I wished I could buy over the entire shop! In addition, they had the widest variety of tea leaves I've ever seen, from black tea, to Japanese sencha to herbal teas and more. My damage at this shop was huge!  Ended up buying a teapot, tea bag holder, tea canister and many packets of loose tea leaves!

Other shops we visited included a candle shop, candy shop, gift shops and other shops selling vintage homewares.  Bought a few jars of candies and soap as gifts. 

We had earlier planned to visit the beautiful gardens, rainforests and Sky High Mount Dandenong. Unfortunately the heavy rain made all these impossible. :( We went to The Pie Shop at Olinda Village for hot beverage before going for more shopping and left for Melbourne City thereafter. 

The weather forecast for the next few days show good weather...praise God! Hope it stays this way for the whole of my vacation!  Will be visiting the museums and Carlton Garden tomorrow.