Melbourne - Day 2

Today's weather is cold and wet - more like winter than yesterday's sunny and 28 degrees.

Kirrily had a day's leave to spend with her visitors. Mid morning we searched out some jackets and umbrellas and made our way to the Queen Victoria Markets. Melbourne has free tram travel within the CBD and this extends as far as the Markets. But when we arrived we found that the Market is closed on Mondays and Wednesdays, so we had a coffee and made our way back to the City. We had an early lunch at Olio in one of Melbourne's many lane-ways. As the purpose of our trip to the Market was to get the ingredients for dinner, we resorted to plan B and made our way to the David Jones Food Hall. Salmon fillets with skin on, salad items, and a selection of cheeses.

Later in the afternoon we walked down Flinders Street to the Immigration Museum which is located in the old Customs House Building. The Museum documents the various waves of immigrants coming to Victoria, and showed the change from a mainly white settlement to today's multicultural society. We learned that more than 9 million immigrants have come to Australia from overseas since 1788, and that 25% of the present population were born overseas. Although Victoria was not settled by Europeans until 1835, there was a large influx of immigrants following the discovery of gold in 1851.

Later in the evening we braved the elements to cook our salmon on the barbeque which was located out on the deck. Although the rain had stopped there was still a cold wind blowing that made the process more difficult. The salmon ended up perfectly cooked and we had an excellent dinner.