Melbourne in winter

We arrived back yesterday from our holiday in Melbourne. We had a lovely time, but were quite surprised at how cold it was. We tend to think of Australia as always being hotter than New Zealand (except for Tasmania), but it was really cold in Melbourne while we were there.  Some days it only got to 9C (48F) and it rained a few days too.

Anyway, we put on our trusty black puffer jackets and got out and about. We covered most of the central city on foot and by tram.  We all went on a tour of the Melbourne Park Tennis Centre. I love watching the Australian Open each January, but I know it would be too hot for me to sit and watch court side. It's often between 30C and 35C (86F to 95F) when the Open is on, but it can even reach 40C (104F) some days.

I said "Hello" to all my favourites

We saw all the trophies in the cabinets, and saw in the mens' locker room too. There was a false floor laid on top of the playing surface in Rod Laver Arena. They use it for concerts in the off season. The arena has a retractable roof and holds 14,000 people.

On Sunday we went for a walk beside the Yarra River. There are lovely wide walk ways, and lots of tempting restaurants and street entertainers beside the river.

Sorry that these photos aren't the best, but I didn't want to lug my camera around.

Of course I did manage to visit a few fabric shops too.  First up was Amitie Textiles which Jen Kingwell owns. They had beautiful fabrics - mainly lighter colours and florals.  I was very restrained and didn't buy very much because I had ordered a mixed pack from them a few weeks earlier. The fabrics on the right are fat 16ths, yes, just very small pieces, but that's what Jen uses in a lot of her quilts. I saw beautifully hand quilted quilts in the shop. They use Perle 8 like I do, but they take very small stitches, where I tend to do bigger stitches. I think I'll try for smaller stitches in my next quilt.

 

On the way back from Amitie I went to L'Uccello, which is a real treasure trove for lovers of Liberty and French General.  I'm probably the only person who has ever walked out of there with such a bright collection of wool felt and Kaffe Fassett.

The third shop I went to was GJ's Discount Fabrics in Fairfield. It was quite a way out of the city, but we made it there via a combination of trams and buses.  Once again, my choices were quite bright, but I also got some useful black and white fabrics. Yes, I bought 10 fat quarters of Art Gallery Oval Elements.

There are many beautiful arcades in Melbourne too, with so many tiny shops to explore.  Here's one of them. We spent a fair bit of time in Emporium Melbourne, but couldn't afford most of what was offer there.

Those who follow football will know that Real Madrid are currently in Melbourne to play some exhibition matches. My husband and one son went to see them on Saturday night and loved the football and the experience at the MCG.