I have fallen utterly in love with Melbourne! I didn’t ever really think
that I would visit Australia, as it’s so very far away from the UK, but with
Singapore being just eight hours away from Melbourne and a branch of Nick’s
family that he’s never properly met, it felt only right that we use our final
few days of holiday to go on an Australian adventure, and it was such a good
decision!
Considering we were
there for such a short burst of time we got through an incredible amount, and
feel like we’ve really seen the area. It’s a lovely European feeling city (a
bit like San Francisco, it’s miles from home but instantly feels
comfortable). There was so much to see
and so much to do, rather than trying to cram it all into multiple blog posts
full of detail, I’m going to cheat and let the pictures do the talking.
One the first day,
having arrived at 7am following just a few hours sleep we layered up (finally,
a place where jumpers and jeans are entirely acceptable and manageable) and
went to investigate the famous Queen Victoria Market. A blend of Borough Market
style gourmet food and tatty cheap clothing we had a great early morning stroll
before grabbing breakfast in the grimiest, open-sided greasy spoon we could
find. It was chilly, but brilliant! Bacon and egg butties all round!
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| Checking out treats on offer in the market |
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| Scarf and sleeves for the first time in months! |
The market was a bit of out town, but so were a number of our other
adventures. Within the town we had a great time investigating the main city. We
wandered around the laneways and back alleys where graffiti has been given free
reign by the council who welcome the grimy and different styles of art that
have been spreading around. This is also where they serve the most amazing
coffee and juices, often made for you out of space no bigger than a cupboard,
but with outside space to mooch in the streets.
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| Admiring the art work |
We took the free tram ride around the city to
check out all the main sites and then spent quite a bit of time trying out the
amazing local food and drinks in fun hidden bars and restaurants.
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| Juice and coffee from one tiny window cafe. |
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| Breakfast wherever there was space to sit |
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| No frills, amazing, cheap street coffee. The only way to start the day in Melbourne! |
On the first night we
headed down to the river where a small bar had been opened at the foot of one
of the pedestrian bridges. This cute little bar offered us a seat in the warmth
of the sun, served us local wine and provided the perfect viewing platform to
pass the time and watch uni students training on the river and city workers
made their way home to the main station just over the river from the CBD.
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| Wine with a view |
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| Wine and mooching on the river |
Whilst one day was no where near enough time to really look around the
city, the next day we headed out of town to one of the huge green spaces just
ten minutes away by tram, to meet up with Nick’s friend who used to live in
Singapore but who relocated to Melbourne a couple of years ago. Along with his
dog Happy we had a great brunch out on the street in the lovely sunshine and
then wandered through the park and the Botanical Gardens, just enjoying the
fact that we could walk for more than five minutes without ending up as sweaty
messes desperately trying to flag down a taxi to take us back to the aircon.
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| Melbourne Parks feel a lot like London ones |
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| Breakfast with Happy |
Whilst enjoying our day out of town we also made our way just twenty
minutes away to the seaside, where we enjoyed an utterly delicious evening of
drinks and dinner with one hell of a lovely view. There were swimmers, people
playing in the sand and even office workers out desperately trying to get the
last few rays of the day. As it’s still just the spring in Australia they were
all enjoying the first few days of warm weather, so there was a great chilled
out but excited feeling in the air for the locals as well as us.
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| Friday evening down by the water |
Saturday was spent with Nicks great aunt and mum’s cousin Clare who took
amazing care of us, driving us out to the Mornington Peninsula to see a bit of
wine country up close. We spent the full
day making our way around some amazing vineyards, trying out all the wine we
could find (often paying just $5.00 to make our way through the full selection
before rushing to the car to see how many other venues we could fit in before
the end of the day.
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| Wine country along the Mornington Peninsula |
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| Nick and his Great Aunt Di |
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| I learnt some important life lessons along the way |
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| All the best things - wine, wine and more wine |
Having tried out as
much as was reasonable we then also spent the evening with his more extended
family, enjoying a couple of drinks and nibbles in the garden while Nick showed
off his family knowledge (having studied the family tree on the plane over) and
I struggled to remember even one name, let alone the twenty or so that I was
introduced to. Still, it was a lovely evening, and so nice to meet such a big
group of family that Nick had not had a chance to meet before. They all
insisted that we would have to go back and visit again soon, and I am rather inclined
to encourage that idea too!
Our last day was a bit
of a sad state of affairs (mostly because I really didn’t want to leave), but
thankfully it was another fairly nice day so we got to spend as much time as
possible outside making the most of it.
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| Just a small slice of cake for me please |
Breakfast in the sun, wandering around
some of the main sights in the centre of town, one last amazing coffee and
slice of carrot cake from a tiny Laneway café, and then there was just time for
one quick G&T at a lovely tiny alley bar that we found on our way to pick
up our bags before the flight home.
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| Sure, that's enough space for a nice outdoors bar! |
It was a glorious trip, and one that I really do hope we’ll get the
chance to do again at some point, especially as the people were all so lovely - family and strangers equally! Compared to our cheaper, local trips, this
was definitely a more expensive weekend for us, but it was utterly lovely and we
enjoyed every minute of it. It also reminded me just how lovely it is to live
with seasons, and now I will be counting down the days until my other seasonal trips.
Only two weeks until my freezing weekend with Catherine in Reno. I can’t wait!
