On Sunday we walked to the Queen Victoria Marke from Kensington where my son and his family live. It's about an hour and a half's drive that we've been trying to do more often because of the little addition to the family, Ned, who is now five months old. Usually we just sit around and chat so it was good to stretch our legs on this hot day.
The route takes about 45 minutes, but it's very lovely as Melbourne is full of big old gums, pepper tree and Europeon trees that shade the way. We took the pram for Ned but of course he won't sleep in it as he prefers to be snuggled - a fact no one really minds. Of course me and Ella went ahead and chatted as woman do and the boys walked a little slower behind us. I really love my daughter in law - she's been around as my son's friend since they were fourteen so I've known her a long time and feel grateful that it's her he chose to be with.
Anyway, emotional stuff aside, we finally reached the market. It was crowded as it was a Saturday and already 10.30 by the time we arrived, but I like the hustle of Melbourne after the quiet of country life.
Although prices have gone up due to inflation, they're still a bit cheaper at the Queen Vic and the diversity is there too. Tomatoes and peppers are in season and look so colourful arranged in the stalls.
I was after beetroot and found a huge bunch I made some palak paneer with (more later in the week about this - I guarantee it's amazing). I bought my son a mango as it's a bit of a thing with us - since he was about two I've always said 'I love you more than mangoes' which is a lot indeed.
I have no idea why but Jamie went and asked the egg guy if he had any coloured eggs. There is century eggs, duck eggs and even ostrich eggs, but no blue or green eggs. We have eggs at home so it was a wierd question. Anyway, husbands, amirite?
We all had a cheese and spinach borek, which I love, but these toasties look amazing - caramel fig, cheddar, camembert and pistachio! We picked up some applewood smoked cheddar which I miss from England and Jamie got a blue as well.
On the way back we stopped in a shop that sold English clothes like Harrington jackets. I love this picture of Grandpa Jamie with little Ned.
There's a lot of street art in Melbourne - we walked past this one.
We also went into Easy Street which isn't far from their apartment. It's a collection of eateries in a big building - lots of different food from burgers to Korean bbq, Italian and mussells and so on. You order from a QR code and pick it up when you get the text. It's usually busy on weekends and last time we went there was a DJ but it was fairly quiet today.
I had some lovely Taiwanese dumplings with chilli sauce - I can't go past them. Jamie had the nasi lemak chicken burger and fries. I popped a pin on Pimapple for Easy Street as I think I've pinned The Queen Vic before! If you're new to Melbourne, this is Melbourne's oldest running market and is a quick tram ride up from the main station in the city, and you'll find all kinds of fresh food and global delights here. Melbourne's awesome for a multi cultural experience that's for sure!
On the way back down the highway we managed to dodge the traffic for the air show but what was really cool was setting three planes fly low over the highway - super loud and fast! Of course I couldn't quite capture them with the phone but you can just see one in this photo here. Pretty cool. Alot of people were parked up along the highway to take photos as they went over.