After the housesit in Bowral and a couple of weeks at home it was time for our Melbourne adventure. We had a credit to use on Qantas so flew down and booked the sleeper train for the trip home. The flight down arrived only 40 minutes late which seems to count as pretty much on time these days. We made a point of using up things that needed using and we had a couple of Qantas Club lounge passes to use. It took a bit of effort to apply them to the booking but it was, as always, wonderful. We had breakfast, loads of barista coffees and enjoyed the start of our Melbourne adventure immensely (because Melbourne and coffee are synonymous it seems). Especially when the delay was announced and we trundled back to the lounge for another coffee. The flight was good, we had loads of leg room and our luggage turned up on the conveyor - so all good - maybe we didn't fly Qantas afterall? The hotel was outstanding and two nights was just not long enough. We checked in early, before midday and had a 4 pm late checkout on the Monday so two nights actually felt like three full days. Highlights of the stay were afternoon tea with cakes, scones and jam, evening cocktails and wines, cheese and bickies. Breakfast both mornings was great and it was a wonderful mini-escape from reality. We do 'escape' well.

We popped out to meet our host and get keys on Sunday morning (she'd nipped to the local cafe to buy us coffees… Melbourne and coffee!) then headed back to the hotel for more pampering. Once we were finally chiseled out of the hotel on Monday afternoon we cabbed over to East Melbourne for our stay with lovely old soul of a pussycat, Tokyo.

On our first night we ventured out to fix the Mother Hubbard situation in the kitchen. We walked through Yarra Park and past the MCG onto Bridge Road in Richmond - my old stomping ground. I even recognised the name of the street I lived on for about three months at the start of 1995 - amazing what hides in the depths of memory archives. We bought a stack of groceries then lugged them home and it was already 7 pm so stopped en route for a fab Thai dinner at Krua Thai to get us back to the apartment in one piece. Exhausted. Plans for Melbourne - Just to get out and about and explore!

We hit the ground running the following day and ventured to Prahran. Hitting multiple thrift stores for a spot of treasure hunting, found one of the few 'lunch special' joints in Melbourne for a fish and chip lunch, took a look at Prahran Market, one of Melbournes old-school indoor markets. We eventually covered 16,000 steps. If not more. Treasures found? Not as good as Sydney but not bad, some greenstone drop earrings which match a pendant I found in Sydney a couple of months ago, some silver drop earrings which hadn't been spotted and priced up the wazoo. The hunting was OK, the fish and chips great and the weather was stunning - cold but sunny and therefore perfect for walking.

On Wednesday (28 June) we stayed much, much closer to home and ventured into Melbourne's central grid to explore with the 'Laneways of Melbourne' map in hand. We started at Flinders Station, Degraves Street, Block Arcade, Royal Arcade, Panorama Arcade and other little laneways in between. Melbourne certainly showed off with it's European style covered arcades back in its hey day as one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Eventually it rained, which was to be expected - Melbourne and winter and all.

We had a lot of energy and excitement at the beginning of our Melbourne interlude and on Thursday (29 June) we ventured to the edge of the city grid once more and took a ride on the oldest tram in Melbourne. All of the trams in the central grid are in the 'free tram zone' but we were particularly keen to try out the vintage tram - just us and a tsunami of children. Who knew? Not us… school holidays in full swing. We made our way to the Queen Vic market which has always been one of the highlights of Melbourne for us and it was just as good as we remembered. Finally we could buy our fill of inexpensive fruit and veges - the supermarkets here are diabolically expensive compared to Sydney and the quality was wanting. Whilst they weren't on any version of the shopping list we found a stall selling NZ possum goods and discovered he had fingerless possum/merino gloves. I bought a pair and they were so good, by the time we were due to head back to base I'd convinced James to buy a pair as well - they weigh almost nothing, are incredibly warm and so functional - most of the orphan gloves we see in our travels have been lost because someone has removed a glove to do something, tucked it under their arm and then dropped it. A tragedy avoided by having fingerless gloves. And cheaper than in NZ. Go figure.

We are trying to stick to a semblance of a budget whilst in Australia (solely to finance leaving Australia for the hot season), so yes, spending almost a month in Melbourne was an extravagance, but we are cutting back at every turn once we get past actually being here. We buy all our fruit, veges and bread at the Queen Vic Market for instance and we don't use the trams unless we're in the free zone - aside from saving money, it's all about keeping up the fitness and agility.

Have we mentioned how easy it is to wander into really skanky neighbourhoods when traversing from one area to another? No? hmmm… Anyway, by Friday (30 June) we were due for a venture slightly further afield and tootled along the Yarra and into South Melbourne. Once there, Clarendon Street is a fabulous old world high street and we jaunted up and and down it. We visited the South Melbourne Market, another of Melbourne's old covered markets and it was outstanding - we even bought some orzo/risoni from one of the deli shops. The thrift stores of Melbourne have been well and truly picked over by the 'out the back experts' and anything even remotely not rubbish has been found and priced up ridiculously - which just makes it more of a challenge for me. What is it the SAS says? "The difficult we do immediately, the impossible just takes a little longer." I found two pairs of silver and citrine earrings the other day for $8 per pair and a silver cartouche pendant from Egypt for $2 - this in particular brings back good memories of our trip there in 2012, only six months after the revolution and the burgeoning Arab Spring. We were on the verge of dropping from peckishness by the time we reached home but there was zilch in the way of affordable lunch deals in South Melbourne. Surprisingly, the cafes and restaurants were all packed to the rafters - it appears the cost of living crisis is really biting down here too (not!).

We are interspersing our distant days with our city days so by Saturday (1 July) it was time for a trot around the city proper. We had a good leg stretch and then returned through Bourke Street Mall, China Town and the Treasury Gardens. There was a distinct blast from the past in China Town when I recognised the name of pub/hostel I stayed in for a couple of weeks when I first landed up in Melbourne in January 1995 having taken the overnight train down from Sydney. In economy. Sitting up. Brrrr - nightmarish trip, and we've certainly never done that again. We'll be taking a sleeper compartment back to Sydney this time around and can't wait as we are both trainophiles and love a good overnight journey. Bit under par today, managed to drag self to the supermarket in Richmond, we picked up some groceries and hit the Richmond Red Cross on the way back - they are seriously long on jeans at the moment and just endeavouring to get them out the door. Picked up some designer Swedish jeans for $7 that were 'as new'. Retail for $300 odd. Stupid money that some people pay, but don't mind the bargain version.

Sunday (2 July) was an officially gazetted rest day with Netflix and chill being the only thing on the to do list - it has after all been a big week of exploring and gadding about. The weather came to the party as only Melbourne weather can and it was gray, drizzling and generally dark and damp all day. Perfect staying-in weather.

The day off did us both a world of good. It feels like we've been in Melbourne forever, but it's only been a week so far. On Monday (2 July), we stayed relatively close to home and ventured through the Fitzroy Gardens. Quite lovely. The Conservatory was a teeny version of Kew Gardens and the gardens were full of spring bulbs in bloom, statues and gushing fountains. We saw the cottage where Captain Cook grew up in England - quite the achievement one would think, but it was deconstructed (de-structed? destroyed?), transported to Melbourne and reconstructed. Given it was built (originally) in 1755, it is the oldest building in Australia. The next door neighbourhoods of Fitzroy and Collingwood were full of old pubs and both pretty gritty (we are fans of the Jack Irish shows on TV so it was a great stroll). The Collingwood side was our favourite - less in the way of Dalek-styled housing blocks and at the smoother end of the gritty scale.

We're having a great time down in Melbourne - but it's not a patch on our 'hood in Sydney. Complaining… not really, just observing. We have 4 supermarkets within 10 minutes on foot at home - here not so much. My skills as a treasure hunter have been severely challenged down here - far too many backroom staff sorting the wheat from the chaff before I swoop in (and sort the wheat from the chaff) but had a nice find today - a couple of 'not a pair' but close enough 9ct cufflinks for $10. Great find with the price of gold being what it is. Love the hunt more than anything and it gets us out, walking and exploring new areas. Love finding out the history on antique jewellery - one cufflink was made by William Dunkling - a Melbourne jeweller who set up shop in the 1890s and the other, twice the size and half the weight, was by a commercial firm called Britannic.

Tuesday (3 July) must have been cancelled from lack of interest as I have no clear recollection of it. Perhaps we just saved up some energy because on the Wednesday (5 July) we took another massive hike to Prahran / Windsor. What can we say, there are so few 'lunch specials' in Melbourne and they'd been so good the first time, we went back for the awesome fish and chips for lunch. We had a flit up and down the shops on Chapel Street and the ride-share crowd Didi is doing deals constantly, so took a car back - the luxury of door to door service in a motorised vehicle can never be overestimated.

Thursday (6 July) saw us well and truly back onto Shanks's Pony and in the morning we headed across to Collingwood to do some of our grocery shopping - different supermarkets and different deals. The thing with rarely eating out is that eating in requires constant replenishment of supplies. The Collingwood Red Cross is one of our regular haunts and I found a vintage Ojay swing coat on the bargain rack - marked down from $55 to $30 to $10. Much better. We kept up the rage in the afternoon and walked to the supermarket in Richmond for a few more supplies. We dropped in to The Red Cross in Richmond - another of our regular haunts that's on the way to the supermarket (remember - it's all for a good cause). I am a self-confessed hunter of treasures and I have a smile when I spot other hunters in the wild, unwilling to give up space as they rake through the costume jewellery seeking their elusive prey. I left her to it and turned around to the bangles and bracelets section whereupon I found a stunning silver and mother-of-pearl bracelet to add to my collection. Good times indeed.

We probably won't dare to use our latest addition to our homewares given the amount of effort involved in its acquisition - that's right, a non-stick pan from the Coles 'points for purchase' campaign. It has taken the best part of 3 months to acquire enough points for a small non-stick egg pan and the final days of availability are upon us. We ended up visiting 5 supermarkets on foot and even phoning home to our local Coles in Sydney to see if they had any of the small pans left in stock. Wasn't looking good and of course we didn't have enough points for anything else. Sigh… Nice weather, nice walk and god knows, we tried.

Saturday (8 July) dawned super sunny and we had a google of 'markets in Melbourne'. We discovered that one of the particularly trendy ones was not far down the road, The Fitzroy Mill market. It was very funky indeed and chock full of youngsters paying over the odds for vintage threads. Kind of the place where cool people buy second hand stuff after clever people (stall holders) have picked it up at actual op shops. We also saw a Melbourne phenomenon - a 'Lune' queue. This is a super-expensive brand of croissants that it going to open in Sydney shortly (in fact they had a pop up shop at the QVB and people were apparently queued around the block at 6 am. Strange but true). Anyway - we saw an honest to goodness queue of around 100 lining up to be rorted on baked goods. Fascinating in an Sir David Attenborough-esque kind of way - could almost hear him narrating.

Sunday (9 July) was a truly red-letter day for us. Having been taking a crack at the Rocky Horror Show rush tickets online every day this week we finally got a pair of tickets for the Sunday matinee at one of Melbourne's fab theatres. Jason Donovan of long past Neighbours fame was in the lead role and this was his second to last performance. It was awesome! So awesome we were singing show tunes for the rest of the Melbourne stay. We also saw another Lune queue, this time in the city. Getting ridiculous - we looked them up online and found a basic croissant (butter+air+heat) was $7. We are patently missing the point completely.

Tuesday (11 July) saw us trundle into the Queen Vic for a stock-up on fresh food for our final week in Melbourne. Wednesday (12 July) we sensibly reviewed the baggage policy for the train journey home and what with all our shopping, knew there was no way that our 23kg bags on the flight south were going to weigh 20 kg for the train north. Fortunately being in a sleeper compartment we could have 2 x 20 kg bags each - so this necessitated a walk to buy another bag. We thought $5 would be reasonable given we have more than enough spare bags sitting in Sydney. Always good to have a target in mind. With that in mind we headed once more to Clarendon Street in South Melbourne. We were chuffed to find a suitable black sports bag in excellent condition for, you guessed it, $5. Sometimes you just have to put it out there. In the first shop we stopped at we also found a leather jacket for James, brown, solidly made, great style and something we've had our eyes open for for a while and it hadn't even been priced up stupidly - only $60. We were thinking of bags, space and necessity and asked a staff member to put it behind the counter for an hour or so while we had a stroll and a think about it. Hilariously once we returned she said she'd had to fend people away from it - all desperate to see what was in the bag. So that was a hard yes on the jacket and well done us on the bag.

By this time next week we'll be back in our apartment in Sydney… quite looking forward to it actually. On Thursday (13 July) we took a stroll to Collingwood and Fitzroy and back. Now that our immediate 'too much stuff' problem has been solved it was easy to buy a pure linen long sleeve T for $5 and also picked up a Thomas Sabo silver charm in the shape of a caviar tin for $3 in a countertop junk tray. These charms are not my cup of tea but people pay $140+ for them brand new - so that will go into my 'eventual Ebay shop' bag along with a couple of other strays. Sometimes I see something I like on my travels but don't bother with it as I try to stick to silver and upwards. On Friday we had to revisit a shop as I'd seen a necklace the previous day that was a very stylish piece although not silver. Having done a bit of research I discovered a brand from Paris called 'Agatha'. Apparently very well known just not by me and quite collectable. If (and it's a big if) I get bored with it, it will certainly do well on eBay. We find we see and experience so much when out on foot that folks in cars miss out on completely. We heard a phenomenal noise in the air on our return walk and three vintage planes roared overhead and released coloured smoke - one was a bi-plane - incredible sight and we watched the impromptu show for at least 5 minutes. Roulettes or similar perhaps.

It was definitely time to bite the bullet by Saturday (15 July) and yep, it was packing time. Yay! Packing time. Seriously, can't the fairies just do this when we're not looking? We made a fair crack at it, had lunch and then went for a Bridge Road stroll. Didn't fancy a long walk today - so barely managed 8000 steps. We admit to finding the walking much harder here than in Sydney. It was grey and drizzly - so standard Melbourne weather. We visited one of our favourite thrift stores and went on a veritable spending spree - a brand new sun umbrella, a silver and garnet ring, the first paperweight of what I have no doubt will become a collection - only $1 - I've been resisting paperweights for years due to price and weight - but gave in on this one. That's it - another collection started. A pretty Chinese cloisonné and brass box (turns out it was made in the early 1900s), a Thermos for the forthcoming sleeper train voyage and assorted other bits and useful bobs - an extravaganza of fossicking. Given the weather we think we did well to be out at all. As we were returning home we heard the unmistakeable whistle of a steam train. Not a common sound in these parts even with a train line nearby. Then some sort of vintage train/Puffing Billy puffed past at the end of the street. Wow. Bit of a Planes, Trains and Automobiles couple of days.

The end of our Melbourne interlude was finally upon us. We like to leave a spotless fridge and freezer when we leave a housesit so try to use up and allocate whatever food/fruit/veges we have for the last few days and meals. In order to not have too much, sometimes we end up running low. On the Sunday we headed into the Queen Victoria Market and had a final stock up on lovely fresh goodies. Lugged it all home and spent the afternoon catching up on laundry. Monday was a similar day - crisp in the morning - starting out at 4 degrees and blazing sunshine. Apparently it was 23 degrees in Sydney on Saturday. In winter. Hmmmm. We'll be wearing summer clothes by next week. We took a final stroll through Collingwood and had an impulse trip into the only Coles supermarket we hadn't actually checked and 'lo and behold, they had the last 2 small frying pans (we think) in Australia - so happy! Of course having a frying pan meant having another crack at the packing. Lucky we bought that extra bag.

Wednesday was cleaning day and it was great to not be leaving the apartment until 6.30 pm or so… doing the cleaning on the final day is not usually an option for us. We got a car to the station and were on the train and settled shortly after 7 pm, dinner ordered, exploring done and in for the evening. The trains are certainly showing their age and the 'beds' were hard enough to give Vietnam trains a run for their money, but the highlight for us was the shower/loo room shared between two compartments. It was fabulous to have a steaming hot shower, PJs on and under the quilt for the rocking and rolling ride up the coast to Sydney.

Must admit to being tired by the time we reached Sydney and we lurched onto the train to Kings Cross and home and fell into bed for a few hours sleep. And 30 minutes later, just as we were dead to the world, the fire alarms went off and just, didn't, stop. We tried to ignore it as long as we could and then the fire trucks turned up and we figured we had to drag on clothes and go out. Surprise, surprise, it was not actually a false alarm and there was real smoke in the hallways, albeit only of the burned toast variety. Honestly. Stayed up the rest of the morning and pottered about the neighbourhood. We had a superb Thai lunch special for a treat after the hideous expense and lack of Thai food in Melbourne and then, finally, went back to bed. Home Sweet Home.