Six O'clock Swill

During the Vietnam War, many people fled the country by boat. Many of these arrived at Australia and found new homes there. In Melbourne, towards the east end of town, where Victoria Parade becomes Victoria Street, the area is home to many Vietnamese shops, restaurants and cafés. There is even a colourful abstract conical hat structure on entering the area ('Little Saigon'? 'Vietnamtown'?).

Welcome to Vietnamtown

In this area, we discovered Fina, an all-vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant. The offering was better than we had hoped, reprising all our favourite food and drinks from our stay in Vietnam, so we immediately ordered an avocado shake (sinh tố) and, my favourite, an iced coffee (cà phê sữa đá). K had bún măng chay (bamboo noodles) while I enjoyed bún hue chay. The food was magnificent and made us weirdly nostalgic for the beginning of our trip only five short months ago, only it came in larger portions, arriving in bowls big enough to bathe a small baby.

Raptures

People describe the weather in Melbourne as "fickle". Indeed, I overheard someone today announce that they had just arrived from Sydney (some 700km north) where the weather was sunny and warm. Today was fresh and started with a shower, and despite being warm in the direct sun, had a chill wind that caused the temperature to feel at least 15° cooler than yesterday. This discontinuity in the season's weather I have come to expect from the UK, so it was odd to experience it in the antipodes.

Having walked back into the CBD, we resumed our investigation of the centre with a tour of Fed Square. In its current form, it was designed and constructed to celebrate the centenary of the 1901 federation. It was to be opened in 2001, but as with many building projects, suffered from controversy and setbacks, finally being completed in 2002.

From the original design, the actual realisation suffers from a truncated visitors centre, so as not to obstruct the view of St Paul's, which was itself reimagined in 1926 with the addition of spires (contrary to the original design).

The other St. Paul's

Fed Square - a collaboration between London and Australia - is the cultural heart of the city, and it is said that many Melburnians cannot imagine the city without it. On any given day, there may be musical performances, outdoor screenings, yoga, meditation, dance or aerobics. It is a place for the community to meet, and is home to many cafés, restaurants, not to mention the ACMI and National Gallery.

Hanging out at 'The Fed'

Before the Square existed, it was a large set of railway tracks running into Flinders Street station. The tracks were consolidated but still exist beneath the Square, while the whole ground is suspended and sprung to absorb shocks from the trains rumbling beneath. Piled on top of this alarming structure are buildings of glass, zinc and stone, plus thousands of tiles quarried from the Kimberley's in northern Australia, transported to Melbourne and laid by Chileans. It is a phenomenal space.

Our guide led us to a secret space on the rooftop of one of the buildings which houses small patches which people can rent and plant whatever they like. At $25 per week for a crate, they aren't especially cheap, but I was heartened to see that some hops were growing for Little Creatures brewery.

Pop-up patches

The National Gallery is split into two buildings - the international collection resides south of the river, while the gallery of Victoria is on Fed Square. A well-spoken and knowledgeable volunteer guide took us round the permanent collection. Sadly, the aboriginal section was closed, so we toured the 19th century Australian artworks. Many of the earlier works were painted by English and Europeans emigrating to follow family or trying their luck at the gold rush. Those that could earned a small amount painting portraits and landscapes for the wealthy landowners (whether they be known as 'settlers' or, as our guide referred to them, as "squatters").

The gallery displays landscapes of Victoria and Tasmania painted by Eugene von Guerard and John Glover. However, with their foreign training and eye, the landscapes look wrong - the palette greens not blue enough for the outback, the shape of the trees more reminiscent of a English forest than the outback.

Later works by Australian-born artists depict the development of towns from penal colonies into prosperous cities. These are documents as much as art and show that many of the original buildings have been torn down and rebuilt in the short 150-200 year history of the place, even churches such as St Paul's.

A particular juxtaposition for me was the McCubbin triptych, celebrating the founding and federation of Australia through the hard work of the pioneers in clearing vast tracks of land in order to create small settlements and attract others, and the work of 20th century artist, John Brack, who depicts the modern city of Melbourne full of office drones. In the latter, the workers are no longer pioneering for themselves and their family; rather, they exit their grey workplace at 5pm and make their way to the pub for the "six o'clock swill" - a product of the strict licensing laws that meant the sale of alcohol after this time was prohibited - before getting the train home to their suburban life.

Work. Perhaps alcohol is the answer

The weather outside was no warmer than earlier in the day, so we called off an outdoor screening of, ironically, Frozen and had a 6pm swill of our own in Young & Vic's. The pub, opposite Flinders St. station, would have seen many office worker pass through its doors during the time of temperance and was no less full in these days of more relaxed licensing. The furnishings give the pub the look of a UK Wetherspoons - dark wood, brass and carpets - but sadly it does not have the prices to match.

With such extravagant drinking, our evening meal was necessarily cheap, but, at Om Vegetarian, that doesn't mean it can't also be tasty. For $6.50 we were presented with a thali of dal, curry, lime pickle, and pilau rice, with fresh naan brought round and refills available. We ate till we burst.

Naughtily, I insisted we stop by the Forester's Hall in Fitzroy, which is two streets from our hotel in Collingwood, for a night cap. After an apparent 'tap takeover' from US brewery Stone last month, the inside was emblazoned with 'merch', but little of the product. Instead, I had a magnificently hopped KAIJU! (capitals mandatory) Hopped Out Red Ale and K sank into La Sirène Praline, which tasted as though a whole box of Belgian chocolates had been stirred through it.