Farewell Melbourne

After a couple of false starts, where we found the restaurant closed at breakfast time - the lack of consistency in opening hours only adds to its SE Asian credentials - we finally got back to Fina vegetarian Vietnamese café this morning. In the friendly and comfortable environment, K ordered the bún hue that I had last time, while I got outside of an enormous bowl of vermicelli rice noodles and spring rolls that is bún chả giò chay.

World's finest cuisine

Satisfied at having made a return trip to our favourite Melbourne eatery before leaving, we spent the rest of the day we had before a short internal flight to Sydney investigating the corners of the city we had not yet visited.

South of the river is home to many arts and performance venues. With limited time, we proceeded straight to the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA).

It's art, Jim

Albeit a small venue, it manages to make the most of its size through clever installations. The works transcend physical installations and start to play with space as a concept. For instance, one piece comprised a modified wall of the gallery itself (much like Salcedo's crack through the Tate's Turbine Hall) and reveals the history of the arts centre like the rings of a tree. Other works transform themselves over time, such as a tub of rotting food.

Erstwhile food

Another installation reflects both the visitors, the gallery, and the other artworks back at the viewer through a strategically placed camera and projector. A shrug of the shoulders given by an 'invigilator' (docent) as part of an interaction with a member of the public are part of another 'invisible' installation, while yet another piece goes beyond the confines of the gallery itself, and uses pocket works that are 'displayed' to people on travels outside of the building - the tales of which will be brought back to the gallery in the fullness of time.

Visiting the toilet before departing the ACCA, I found myself still in the mindset of questioning and appreciating everything as art. The design challenges the concept of a traditional toilet and there was a brief moment when I thought there were no actual functioning facilities and I would be asked to imagine the act of relieving myself and seek a genuine WC elsewhere.

Farewell Melbourne 

After a farewell drink of hot chocolate and salted caramel at Ganache Chocolate, we picked up our bags and made our way by tram to Southern Cross station, where the Skybus was waiting to take us to Melbourne airport at Tullamarine.

Our short internal flight to Sydney was operated by Jetstar - the Easyjet of Australia. Even the orange livery is the same as the UK budget airline, as though this colour were somehow indicative of low cost and no frills.

Our farewell meal came courtesy of the airport departure hall cafeteria. We both chose hoi sin stir-fried tofu with rice, which I washed down with a pint of Fat Yak.

Yak & Tofu

Sadly, with an early flight tomorrow morning, we had no time to explore again the city, so we settled down to our overnight accommodation at Sydney airport's Ibis Budget hotel.