Melbourne.....late but here it is

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ok it's my turn again, these come around so quick.

We arrived in Melbourne mid morning on a cool cloudy day.
Whilst John was booking into our hotel i was speaking to the receptions who suggested that we visited the Victoria Market which was just across the road from our hotel, so it was down with the suitcases and out to the market which covered 17 acres and had in excess of 1000 stalls selling every sort of produce from fruit to fish etc.
Having whipped around the market it was off to the city center to get a feel for the place, to help us with this we caught the free city loop tram complete with a commentary.
The following day we were up early as usual on with the walking boots and off for another full day exploring,
this time the south bank and the up and coming Docklands.
Melbourne-----Beautiful Victorian buildings, lovely walks by the river Yarra, good Botantic gardens, loads of shops(although we didn't visit these) and the maddest night market we have ever been to.

The Victoria market opens on a Wednesday Evening at 5.30 so we thought we would go and buy some fruit for our travels the next day----WRONG. The night market has music stages, bars and food stalls with cuisine from all around the world, the most popular being the croc, emu, and roo skewers. We have never been to such a boisterous and lively market(even in the far east) and we even managed to eat there although not at the Aussie stall.
I started out not liking Melbourne but i finished thinking it was a really cool city.

Part of the fun of traveling we think is meeting fellow travelers and we have met loads of interesting people, especially a young French Family with a girl 10 and a boy 7 who have been traveling since September.
I also walk off the Glacier with a young backpacker who was returning to Edinburgh, i happen to say he hadn't got much of a Scottish accent to which he replied "I'm Irish".
John was walking in front with his arms in the air shaking his head, but i was cracked up and still giggle about it now.

Charl the book exchange is great and easy just like you said.

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