- 1. MELBOURNE- THE TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
- Art gallery
- Immigration museum
- Federation square
- Botanical gardens + shrine of rememberance
- St Kilda rd
- The free shuttle bus
The incredible city of Melbourne. We had heard so much about it, so many people rave about it, and so many comparisons to other cities and vibes. It has been described to us as ‘The Montreal of Australia’, ‘the Cultural capital of the country’. Some say it is the best city in Australia, and it is definitely regarded as the most multicultural of all of the Australian cities. Needless to say, I was clearly excited to see what all of the hype was about…….
We arrived late into the city and, luckily, had little trouble finding our accommodations (booked on Airbnb once again) in St. Kilda. We did not make much of our first late night after such a long and drawn out drive…..we knew we would start early & fresh the next day anyways.
We had booked for 3 nights in Melbourne but decided we may opt for longer depending on how much we liked it and how much we wanted to do. We were going back to Sydney from Melbourne, so Melbourne was really our last stretch of new things to see & do.
Our first activity of the morning involved returning our rental car to the Melbourne airport. After a great coffee and brekkie (AKA breakfast) across the street from our room at a cute café in the heart of St. Kilda’s, we were at the airport and carless. We had to hop back on a shuttle bus for $17/pp to bring us back into the city—unfortunately the cheapest way to get from the airport to the city. We decided to start the day off with discovery, so we opted to take the shuttle to the heart of the city, Federation Square. This is considered the central point of the city, a square located right in front of Flinders station (the main train station in the city) and next to downtown as well as the Arts District. There is a huge Visitors Centre Complex there and they can direct you to just about anything in the city--- great for any kind of information. We were left with plenty of info in our room, as well as did some reading before visiting, so we didn’t feel the need to wander into the whole chaos of Federation Square. Instead, we went to get our myki cards at Flinders Station, to use for public transportation. Melbourne has THE most extensive tram network in the world (not metro or railway, I am talking all above ground !!) and it is a joy to use it! The trams can take you anywhere and roughly late into the night. We roamed downtown for ages! It was incredibly hot that day, over 35 degrees Celsius! It was difficult to do much walking in such heat so we did take some breaks in the park.
My first impression of the city was awesome! It felt like pieces of Montreal and Toronto, intermixed with a bit of London and NYC, but perhaps on a smaller scale. Either way, a great mix! And, my feel of the place just continued to get better from there.
We had plans to meet with my cousin that day for some dinner and a comedy show. I didn’t want dinner just at any place, so I googled the top 10 Middle Eastern restaurants in Melbourne and fixated on a cute, Lebanese place near the comedy venue for us to indulge in. Melbourne is known for its diverse ethnic cuisine, so as an avid foodie, I was obliged to discover parts of it (more details of the discoveries later).
Abla’s was a fantastic cozy Lebanese hideaway in North Melbourne. Dinner was delicious and it was close to our venue for the evening. The comedy show was so-so but it was an entertaining way to spend the evening. We had a more jam packed day planned the next not-so-hot next few days.
Day #2 involved starting off the day again with a great ‘flat white’ coffee at the café across the street, followed by a free shuttle bus ride around the main must-see parts of the city: Federation Square, The National Gallery of Victoria, The Botanical Gardens, The Docklands, Northern Melbourne, The University of Melbourne, Queen Victoria Market, etc. etc. We wanted to get a grasp of where we wanted to spend the day and why. And it was free!!
We did the whole loop of the city which took about 1.5 hours. We decided to get off downtown and try a popular sushi place for lunch. However, our timing was off and we got there just after lunch so they were closed for another 4 hours until dinner. So instead we opted for some ‘street sushi’, which was enjoyable and much cheaper than our original choice, so that worked out just fine. After lunch we decided it was a good time to check out the Immigration Museum. To some that may sound like a bland touring location, but we loved it! And, I really wanted to find information about my great Aunt’s sea voyage to Australia over 60 years ago, so I thought it might be a nice place to start.
The museum was a pleasant surprise. It was full of interactive, interesting exhibits and information, respectively. It was great to watch historical movies, read about how diverse and vibrant today’s Australia is, and the hardships along the way. Funny enough, I have yet to do something like this in Canada which I am sure would be equally interesting! Anyways, it turned out to be a splendid afternoon outing and I would recommend it to everyone! On a side note, we were passing through the downtown area and came across a side alley with tons of graffiti—nice, artistic graffiti. Among many cool paintings, there was a large facial portrait of Heath Ledger as ‘The Joker’ from Batman painted on a large garage door. It was very well done and made quite an impression. R.I.P Heath Ledger (Btw- Heath Ledger is from Perth, Western Australia, but obviously he had a strong impact on Australia in his acting endeavours).
We decided that late afternoon/evening would be our day to check out St. Kilda’s, the community we were actually staying in. St. Kilda’s is arguably the best place to live in Melbourne (many locals and foreigners alike will tell you that) & it is situated just southeast of city center Melbourne. It is a great, parky area, with a hippie vibe, a great café/ restaurant scene, and St. Kilda’s Beach with its 700m long walking pier. There is much to see and do, so we knew it deserved a visit. The beach was filled with people on this particular day and we sat around to enjoy the sun and heat.
After a few hours relaxing on the beach, we were hungry….
I had read about plenty of great restaurants in Melbourne, and it was difficult to decide on where to eat during our short time in the city. However, there was one place that really stood out to me after reading its description: a restaurant that had no prices! Yes, you heard me correctly! The brilliant and risky idea is a community vegetarian place where you order from a set menu. After eating, you decide how much the food is worth and place your monetary donation in a payment box! It really brings out the good Samaritan in all of us, doesn’t it? You can be generous or greedy….
I was so fascinated with this place, the amazing idea and brave approach. Something like this really completely depends on trusting others, and brings out a real community perspective. I had to see it for myself and support such a fantastic idea! The menu is basically a list of rice + curry meals, ranging from eggplant to chickpea to peas. The dishes were good, but lacked spice (I love spicy!). However, worth the eat and we definitely left more money than necessary on our first visit! We vowed to return to such an innovative place J
After dinner, we decided to explore Acland Street, the heart of St. Kilda’s. The street is known for its cake shops. I don’t usually have much of a sweet tooth but the little shops on this street were quite enticing! We were very impressed by one particular shop called Monarch Cakes, with its advertised famous kugelhoff (?) chocolate cake. Worth a try I thought…. Mouthwateringly delicious! Absolute heaven for chocolate lovers!
We enjoyed a glass of wine on Acland Street after that and called it a night.
Day #3
Such a packed day! We had already seen quite a bit and generally knew what else we wanted to see. That day was a bit of a set itinerary :P First stop—The National Gallery of Victoria. The name of the Art Gallery was a bit odd—is it the National Gallery or the Gallery of Victoria? Who knows.
There were a few floors to discover there. Among the sections: Contemporary Art, 15-19th century Art, Asian and South Pacific Art, Japanese Art, etc. In addition, there was an interesting sub section in the gallery about the Australian Ballet Company with videos and costume designs….something you don’t see too often at a big museum. In addition, the NGV has a really pretty colored glass ceiling worth checking. The sunlight coming through the roof really makes the ceiling shine, and brings out some beautiful colors!
For lunch, we had plans for some GOOOOD sushi. By good, we meant a bit more on the expensive side. We are big fans of sushi and had read that, in Australia, you should save all of your sushi money for Melbourne. One of the top restaurants is a place called Nobu, right on the water in the city center of Melbourne. It was expensive but it was VERY GOOD food! Great lunch! We walked by the city center along the water after lunch, taking in the views and people watching.
We headed back to St. Kilda’s after that and got a great picture in front of the entrance of Luna Park, considered the New York Coney Island of Australia- full of small rides and a circus type of feel right next to St. Kilda’s beach. It is only open on weekends so we couldn’t go inside, but we did get a great picture of the front entrance. We had to get back to the city later to pick up our rental car that was going to take us back to Sydney a few days later. During that adventure, we found some more sushi, this time only $5 for a meal! It was great! Clearly this was a full sushi day! No complaints! We took the sushi to go and drove to the Botanical Gardens, which is located on our way back to St. Kilda’s. It was a relaxing and enjoyable way to spend the late afternoon.
The evening was a plan for plenty of excitement! My cousin and his fiancé (who I was meeting for the first time) were taking us to the Queen Victoria Night Market, held every Wednesday from 5:30pm to about 10:30pm. This was absolutely my highlight of Melbourne! We arrived at the market around 8pm and walked into a haze of people, vendors, food, activities! There was a ridiculously long queue of food vendours that we decided to start off at. There were food choices from around the globe---you name it, it was there! We didn’t even know where to start, but luckily, it was not my cousins first time there, so he directed us to his favourite eats. We went with a ‘roti meal’ from the Caribbean vendor. It was some of the best Caribbean I have ever had. The Roti meal was a big, flat piece of bread (looked like a thinner version of Indian Naan bread) topped up with spiced chicken, different delicious sauces, beans and peas. The best part of the meal was at the end when you rip off pieces of the bread soaked in sauces. Heaven for your tastebuds! Not a bad start to our night. Then some sangria and cider to follow after our meal, while we shopped. Lots of interesting little clothing shops, and other cute little gadgets, rows upon rows of them! At the end of this massive outdoor warehouse, there was live music, and a great jazz/alternative band was playing. This place really had it all and there were masses upon masses of people there. A phenomenal way to spend every Wednesday night! I would be here every Wednesday if I lived in Melbourne!
Awesome night to end our Melbourne trip!!!! Off to Sydney tomorrow….via rental car ;)
Day #4
Our plan was to comfortably leave for Sydney, not too early in the morning. One thing I vowed to do while in Sydney was to check out some ‘Op shops’, charmingly named in Australia. Canadians and Americans would call these establishments thrift shops! I had heard that in Australia, these places are gems! As we wanted to get on the road eventually, I chose one particular ‘Salvos’ shop (Salvation Army shop) to check out before we ate again at ‘Lentil as Anything’ and left the city--- ofcourse we were eating at Lentil as Anything again!!! J
The Salvos shop did not disappoint! Easily one of the best thrift shops I have ever stepped into! (And I have been to a decent few in North America). Found so many great things, and for a total price of $18.36!!! Thank you Salvos, I plan to visit you in Sydney too! Funny enough, First time I have shopped on this trip and what a great experience it was! I love that this thrift shop culture exists and is becoming more popular! I fully encourage it! It’s a great idea J
Our accommodations in Melbourne were unique. The place we found on airbnb.com was at an Old St. Kilda house right in the heart of the area. The house was very old, no air conditioning and all wooded. The wood was very old, but fairly well kept, and the inside of the house reminded me of an old witches home—full of weird pictures on the walls, old vintage furniture, everything wooded and everything unique. I personally loved our room, but it was definitely not for everyone. The room was massive, easily the size of 2 big bedrooms. It had a Queen size bed, a huge drawer, a nice desk, and a vintage old school fireplace. All beautiful dark wood and it had an eerie, 18th century look to it. I think the house was over 100 years old, it was ancient! It was at the heart of all the action in St. Kilda’s and the location could not have been better. Totally up our alley of weird and unique but definitely not for everyone. Interesting nonetheless!
We headed off to Sydney after our quick lunch, straight down the Hume Highway. We didn’t have time for any scenic routes, although I am sure it would have been a nice drive. It takes roughly 9 hours on Hume Highway to get from Melbourne to Sydney. We left a little later than we had initially wanted to, but I really did want to check out the thrift shops ;)
We considered taking one small detour through Kangaroo valley on our way up but it was getting too dark by then to bother. The kangaroos would be right in front of us and we wouldn’t even be able to see them! I was sad about that because I have yet to see a LIVE kangaroo in Australia, and they are apparently ferrel (meaning overpopulated)!!
Nonetheless, we still have some time to find them!
I probably should have elaborated previously, but our drive wasn’t exactly into Sydney itself. My aunt and uncle were actually house sitting just outside of Sydney, in Maianbar, which is a community actually situated inside the Royal National Park (just south of the city of Sydney). It is a lush, beautiful place. It feels like you are nowhere near a city. And the drive in is just as green and lush and secluded. It’s a great place to check out coastal trails and get away from it all. Ironically, most of the coastal trails face Sydney so the view is breathtaking! Those were a few, great, relaxing days in Maianbar…..
