Down Under...Again!

In September, we stopped over in Melbourne for a few days before heading to Rarotonga, Cook Islands for some sun and sand. 

After checking into our hotel we walked around a bit and stumbled across one of our FAVORITE(!) restaurants, Nando's!!

We have eaten at Nando's, literally all over the world from England to South Africa to Malaysia.. it is awesome! Who doesn't like grilled chicken with your choice of spicy sauce?!  I would definitely recommend looking for their sauces in your local grocery store. I use it in HK on our grilled chicken.

I like it HOT!

Now we needed to walk off that chicken and the weather could not have been better for a long walk headed nowhere! There are churches practically on every block and there are several huge parks in the city center. We found a park bench in the sun and just sat back and enjoyed the scenery.

After getting some sun, we checked out some of the local churches - beautiful!

The churches were stunning both inside and out.

At night we did some walking around and were drawn to a beautifully lit building, the Princess theatre which originally opened in 1854. The architecture was "second empire architecture,"but with closer inspection of the inside it was equally as impressive with its mosaic tile and ushers wearing retro uniforms. Just past the Princess was China Town. This used to be a must stop when visiting most cities, but in light of our current living situation, it was a bit shall we say underwhelming?

So Cute!

The day after we got back from the Great Ocean Road day trip,  the weather took a turn for the worst and it became cold and windy..Okay, so it WAS wintertime there. We took the free circular tram route around the city. The most interesting stop was the Queen Victoria Market which has fresh vegetables from all over new Australia, and even an Australian deli offering kangaroo meat. No, I didn't try any! If you have ever seen a roo up close with those long eyelashes and watching them jump, you can't help but smile. Here is a photo from our trip 2008 to a petting zoo in Cairns where we saw the roos up close. I settled on some fresh peri peri and souvlaki spices. Next up, we did some window shopping in the historic looking shopping arcades. I am sure the locals pass these by without giving even a second look, but for us, it was quite the experience - really takes you back to a different time!