With the alarm set for 9 and Elaine making us a great bacon and mushroom rolls for breakfast, Colin dropped us off at Mernda train station at 10.30 to catch the train to the city.

Hopefully, half way along the journey, our niece Izzy was going to also get on the train at Preston. 

The plan worked a treat and we all continued our journey into Melbourne. Our first stop was a short walk to Queen Victoria Market. The sun was fully out and was quite hot. After a stroll around here we headed out to Izzy’s favourite burger joint for lunch called Betty’s Burgers which was more into the city centre. 

From here we jumped on a tram having to make a little jog (much to Izzy’s horror) to catch it before alighting at the South Bank area. 

After a lovely walk by the River Yarra along the South Bank we caught another tram to the Botanical Gardens. After a walk through the fern gully we headed to the lake and decided to stop for a well deserved beer. It was now really hot but as we sat down there was a little rain shower.

Next was the Shrine of Remembrance Memorial. We walked up to the top and had a lovely view from the outside balcony.

With time getting on, we walked back towards Flinders Street station and popped in the pub next to it for a final drink before our final stop at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

We then all caught the train around 6 to hopefully tie in with Colin and Elaine getting to Mernda at 7ish for a lift back to their house, obviously saying bye to Izzy en route but with plans to see her next Wednesday. 

The plan almost worked but C & E’s friends who they had just dropped off had left their phone in the car so we had to make a detour back to return it.

By the time we got home, it was a very late dinner of delicious lamb (cooked in the pizza oven for 10 hours) with roast potatoes and gravy. 

We finally went to bed just before midnight.