Dec 12, 20155 min read

#FELinMEL Day 6: St Kilda Beach, Richmond, Luna Park, Penguins

The first stop for today was Top Paddock! Top Paddock is a beautiful café with natural lighting and greenery. It serves good food and coffee and the recommended is the soft-shell mud crab roll with fennel and dill salad in a brioche bun, served with lime mayonnaise. I ordered a hotcake (AU$19.50) and a flat white (AU$4). However, my order was unfortunately missed and I got them for free! The coffee was amazing, the hotcake however does not taste as good as it looks. The sides were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, but the center is too moist that it tasted nothing like pancake and more like mashed cake. I was also lucky enough to be offered the counter seat and get to witness the making of V60 coffee!

TOP PADDOCK

Opening hrs: 0700-1600hrs (Mon-Fri), 0800-1600hrs (Sat, Sun).

Address: 658 Church Street, Richmond VIC 3121.

http://toppaddockcafe.com/

#1: Top Paddock - 658 Church Street, Richmond.

#2: Top Paddock.

#3: Top Paddock.

#4: Interior of Top Paddock.

#5: V60 coffee making.

#6: V60 coffee making.

#7: Flat White, AU$4.

#8: Blueberry & ricotta hotcake with berries (strawberrues, blueberries, raspberries, blackberry and cherry), organic maple, seeds (pine nuts and pumpkin seeds) & double cream (topped with pink sugar crystals and cress), AU$19.50.

#9: Huge donuts spotted at Top Paddock!

#10: Some Christmas carolling across the street...

Next, I moved on to Toby’s Estate! Toby’s Estate started with coffee plantations of Brazil, Guatemala and Colombia, where founder, Toby Smith learnt to grow, roast and cup coffee. Toby returned home and transformed his mom’s garage into a roastery. In 2001, Toby moved out of the garage and the first Toby’s Estate Café, Espresso School and Roastery was opened in Woolloomooloo, Sydney. Today, over 100 passionate coffee enthusiasts have joined Toby at Toby’s Estate, honoring the common goal of serving the best quality coffee possible. It has now branched out to Chippendale, Brisbane, Melbourne and cities out of Australia, Singapore and New York. Coffee was good but I feel Top Paddock is better! The café is very spacious, great for some catch-up sessions or relaxation.

TOBY'S ESTATE

Opening hrs: 0700-1700hrs (Mon-Fri), 0900-1600hrs (Sat, Sun).

Address: 325 Flinders Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000.

http://www.tobysestate.com.au/

#11: Toby's Estate.

#12: Toby's Estate.

#13: Hallway to Toby's Estate.

#14: Barista counter.

#15: Cake counter and kitchen.

#16: Display of Toby's Estate's products.

#17: These blueberry muffins look yummy!

#18: Flat White, AU$4.

While sipping on the marvelous coffee, I moved on to State Library of Victoria. The State Library of Victoria is the central library of Victoria, Australia, located in Melbourne. The library was opened in 1856 with a collection of 3,800 books. It now holds over 2 million books and 16,000 serials. The library underwent major refurbishments between 1990 and 2004, which cost AU$200 million. The grassy lawn in front of the library’s grand entrance is a popular lunch spot for the city’s workers and students from the adjacent RMIT University. The landmark Dome Reading Room, opened in 1913, holds an octagonal shape with over 1 million books and holds up to 600 readers. The room was then referred as La Trobe Reading Room since 1965. I believed everyone, especially tourists, who come to visit the library, will definitely take a trip to the Dome room as it is such a photogenic place!

STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA

Opening hrs: 1000-2100hrs (Mon-Thu), 1000-1800hrs (Fri-Sun).

Address: 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne VIC 3000.

Galleries: 1000-1700hrs (Daily).

Heritage Reading Room: 1000-1800hrs (Mon, Tue, Thu-Sun), 1000-2100hrs (Wed).

http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/

#19: State Library of Victoria.

#20: State Library of Victoria.

#21: State Library of Victoria.

#22: The lawn is a favourite to students and the city's workers.

#23: La Trobe Reading Room.

#24: La Trobe Reading Room.

It was starting to get chilly, so I decided to return home to grab my jacket! After which, I went to Luna Park. St Kilda Beach and St Kilda Pier, which are all walking distance from my place. Luna Park opened in 1912 and Melbourne’s Luna Park was the first of the five Luna Parks built in Australia, of which only Melbourne and Sydney are still in operation. Many rides have been demolished, replaced and/or destroyed and the current rides include Spider (flying carts), Twin Dragon (Viking ship), Sky Rider (ferris wheel), Ghost Train (haunted house ride), Arabian Merry (kids flying elephant carts), Red Baron (kids flying plane carts), Silly Serpent (kids roller coaster), Street Legal Dodgems (bumper cars), Coney Island Top Drop (shock drop), Enterprise (360degree spin with angle tilts), Carousel (merry-go-round), Pharaohs Curse (360deg Viking ship), The Power Surge (360deg vertical flying carts), and The Great Scenic Railway (roller coaster). Admission is free but fees apply to the rides.

LUNA PARK

Opening hrs: (no fixed opening hrs, refer to website for more information).

Address: 18 Lower Esplanade, St Kilda VIC 3182.

Admission: FREE, ride tickets at $49.50 for unlimited ride ticket, and $10.95 for single ride ticket.

http://lunapark.com.au/

#25: Luna Park.

#26: Luna Park.

#27: Ticket Booth.

#28: Spider (flyng carts).

#29: Twin Dragon (viking ship).

#30: Sky Rider (ferris wheel).

#31: Arabian Merry (kids flying elephant carts).

#32: Red Baron (kids flying plane carts).

#33: Pharaohs Curse (360deg viking ship), Coney Island Top Drop (shock drop).

#34: Enterprise (360deg spin with angle tilts).

#35: Carousel (merry-go-round).

#36: Carousel (merry-go-round).

#37: The Great Scenic Railway (roller coaster).

#38: Game Stalls.

#39: Food Cart.

St Kilda Beach is Melbourne’s most famous beach. The sandy beach is about 700m long that stretches between St Kilda Marina and St Kilda Harbour. Right beside the beach is St Kilda Pier. Penguins can be found at Philips Island or at St Kilda Pier. Penguins found at St Kilda comes on shore every night after sunset. The sun sets at about 2030hrs and I waited till about 2200hrs and was only able to spot five of them, where there should be plenty during summer. These penguins were pretty small in size and were totally different from the ones that I see at Singapore’s Zoo and Jurong Bird Park.