CC's Travelogue

AUSTRALIA Day05//26.Jan.04 - Abalone hunt: Chinatown & along Yarra River

Our last day in Oz. We had the final last few morning hours before departing for the airport at 1pm. My parents were on a mission. They will not be getting onto the plane without a few kilograms worth of choice frozen abalone. My mission was to get them to Chinatown at Lil' Bourke St. as quickly as possible so that I can have a few spare hours to traipse around Melbourne town and have one last look of the Yarra River. My parents quest to find the freshest abalone at the best price have left both me and my brother reeling from sights & smells of dried abalone, canned abalone, frozen abalone, abalone-flavoured macadamia nuts! We probably walked up and down Lil' Bourke St. a few 100 times before settling for a store that was selling AUS$180/100g. My parents bought 5 whole abalones. Although we cannot for the life of us fathom why our parents would pay so much for something that will end up on the other side of the digestive tract in less than 24 hrs, we both sighed from relief. Time to explore! We got no further than Greek precinct when my parents declared their abalone fix cannot be fulfilled by only 5. They wanted more. By the time we were down with Chinatown, we were left with not much time but to take cursory glances at the Federation Square, the Clocks, Arts Centre, Southgate, Crown Casino, the Aquarium as we walked along Yarra River and headed back to the hotel at Flinders St. Wearied from the Melbourne marathon and weighed down with RM2000+ worth of abalone, we were looking forward to the wheels and wings that will be taking us back to Malaysia.

posted by CC @ 11:36 AM