Melbourne - Day 1 (Part 3) Brighton Beach & St Kilda

After refreshing ourselves from our lane ways exploration back at the hostel, we headed back to the Block Arcade so that Mariya could buy a slice of cake from the fancy tea room we saw there. Honestly, we actually stood there for probably too long just staring at the cake display because it was so pretty and so many to choose from. Unfortunately I can't get any of the cakes because I was not sure the cakes were muslim friendly or not. Huhuh..

Cake display at the tea house

 We hunted down a 7eleven near our hostel to buy a Myki card so that we can use public transportation easier. We started out our journey to Brighton Beach Bathing Box by train at Flinders Street Station and get off at Middle Brighton. The walk from Middle Brighton Station to the bathing box took us almost half an hour because the station was far from the beach. Along the way we saw big houses and Brighton town. It was a quiet suburban area and not many people on the street compared to Melbourne CBD.

Flinders Street Station

We passed Windsor Station

Brighton Beach

Before we arrived at the bathing boxes, we decide to just sit at a bench on the beach to catch our breath from the tiring long walk and eat. I still got my uneaten vegan burger from earlier and Mariya got her cake from the tea room. It was my first time eating vegan food and I so shocked that it tasted so good !!! After 20 minutes of quiet and enjoying the sea breeze we finally continue to walk to the bathing boxes. Once we arrived there we immediately took pictures of the iconic Australia flag bathing house and made our way to the other colored bathing boxes on the beach. 

I can't believe vegan burger tasted so good!!

No wonder it was such a comfy bench =D

The never ending of walking =p

Brighton Beach Bathing Box

Bathing Box madness =p

After tiring ourselves by taking pictures, we headed to the Brighton Beach Station. We were trying to get to a different station that took another 30 minutes walk so that we can went to another route. We took a train to Balaclava Station and got into a tram to Luna Park/ The Esplanade. Balaclava Station was probably my favorite public transport interchange because the place was so beautiful and had a hipster vibe to it. The interchange was so easy and the tram station was directly under the train station.  The Luna Park is one of the oldest amusement parks in Australia. It was quite small and had the old school vibe to it. We wondered around for couple of minutes and took pictures while waiting for sunset.

A very tired face waiting for the train =p

Balaclava Station

My excitement over a 7e coffee =p

My first experience with Australian 7e coffee

Almost sunset at Luna Park Station

Luna Park!!

 Once we got out, I found a docking bay for Melbourne Bike Sharing. Feeling excited (because I learned about in uni) Mariya and I decided to rent the bicycles. We planned to watch sunset at St Kilda pier so we took our bicycles on the pier and enjoyed the sunset there.

Melbourne Bike Sharing

Sunset at St Kilda pier

One of the reasons that we went to St Kilda pier was to see penguins. After a couple of minutes of standing in the dark with crowd, the staff there finally alerted us of the penguin sightings. They were such a cute creature!!  This was my first time seeing penguins outside of a zoo. We were not a allowed to use any flash from our cameras because the penguin had sensitive eyes.The temperature dropped pretty fast especially with the sea breeze. So we cycled for about an hour along St Kilda beach and almost cycled to the CBD (because we can't find empty space at the docking) before finally docked our bicycles and when back to Luna Park so that Mariya could ride a carousel. The entrance to Luna Park was almost too eerie at night and very different than the one during daylight. 

The penguin!!

It felt like walking into a horror park 

What I call young at heart <3

We rode a tram from Luna Park to Batman Park and found our way to Flinders Street. Once we were in Melbourne CBD, we were basically starving and lucky for us I found a halal Indian restaurant near our hostel. While we were eating, a group of guys came into the restaurant and sit at the table next to us. A couple of minutes in, we realized that those guys were staring at the both of us. I’m not sure why they did that but they blatantly were staring at us while ignore them and a few minutes later they walk out the restaurant without ordering anything. Once those guys were gone, Mariya whispered to me ‘It is just me or those guys earlier blatantly stared at us?’ I was like ‘I know right?’. So that remained as mystery of that day. Once we finished eating half the portion, we took the rest in containers for breakfast we took a walk around the block and returned to the hostel to rest because we got to be up early the next morning.

Can I have Wonder Woman Park instead?

Just what I starved person need <3