Melbourne

*sub note: Apologies for the gap in blogs here, after leaving Melbourne internet signal became increasingly difficult to secure* *sub sub note: I am now back in the UK and will be uploading blogs weekly so stay tuned*

Wow. Just wow. Melbourne was like a little ray of sunshine and civilisation. After 7 weeks in south east Asia it was so nice to be in a familiar environment with English speaking locals. I know, terrible thing to say, but you’ll understand if you ever do it. We stayed in the South Yarra area, known for its hip and trendy vibe, in the most amazing studio apartment. The suburb has a variety of different shops, cafes and bars, some independent, some trendy chains but all give the aura of exclusivity. On our arrival we went to the nearest cafe where we gorged ourselves on soy flat whites, smoothies and poached eggs on avocado toast(we were craving it). Then the bill arrived and we were reminded that we are no longer in Thailand.

Now, I know a lot of you will have heard that Australia is expensive but in reality it’s kind of the same price of London. And in the same way you can find places that are cheaper but if you want the cool and edgy, you expect to pay the price for it. We were told to pick up the keys to our studio apartment from a local bar, on arrival our keys weren’t ready so our air bnb hosts arranged free beers for us until they arrived. It was good to taste the pale ale we all know and love once again, it added to the feeling the fact that we were enjoying them on the house and it the glorious Australian sunshine. Our first day we wandered around the area and went to the supermarkets, which is always fun to check out, to stock up our cupboards. It was really nice to be able to cook once again, I’d definitely really missed it.

Now, there a couple of things that we checked out in Melbourne which I’d really recommend: Melbourne botanical gardens

There are botanical gardens everywhere in Australia and New Zealand, but Melbourne’s is really nice. It was a beautiful day when we visited, my advice would be to pack up a picnic and head on down with a blanket in tow.

The gardens are really nice to walk around, we spent most of the day there, there’s plenty of things to see like a giant lake which you could go punting on, rose gardens, a cafe, jungle walks etc. On the week that we visited the Australian Grand Prix was on so we could hear them racing around the track in the background. It was just kinda cool knowing that it was just down the road, we were also treated to a fly over by the Australian Airforce.

Another place we really loved was Queen Victoria market, I don’t know if this is on all year round but it was just a fun place to get dinner. There were so many different food stalls to choose from. Anything from Greek lamb koftas to vegan churros to macaroni cheese. We both decided to get this amazing pulled pork burger (see pic above) and then some doughnuts afterwards. Boy, were we stuffed!

If you have a limited amount of time in Melbourne or happen to be visiting the South Yarra area then definitely try and take a walk down Chapel street. It’s shoreditch-y vibe made me and Jake feel very at home here. Just take a look around the shops and have a drink in one of the many cafes. Someone told me that Melbourne is famed for it flat whites- but I’m not sure they’ve ever been to London?? YOU CANT GET A LARGE FLAT WHITE PEOPLE!!!

St Kilda Pier

We actually walked to St Kilda from our apartment which took about 45 minutes. It’s a good way to get a feel for a place just by walking through it. The pier is famous for its wild penguins which visit most nights at dusk. Unfortunately we were too early so didn’t get to see any penguins *sad face*. Instead we grabbed a beer and some cake from the restaurant on the pier, which offered pizza, pub meals and seafood at reasonable prices.

St Kilda has a small beach too, if you have the weather for it and want to make your trip last the whole day.

The Great Ocean Road...

Ok, it’s not in Melbourne but it’s nearby. We were told this was an absolute must on our visit but we were not sure if we’d be able to fit it in. But honestly, it was one of the best days of the trip so far and we were so thankful we did. We hired a car for about £45 for the day from Enterprise, took a packed lunch and off we went. The journey from Melbourne was about 3 hours as we travelled to the furthest point on a main inland road, then drove along the ocean road on the way back as we felt this optimised our time and meant that we were going in the opposite direction to all of the tour groups. 👍🏻 You’ll see some of the most impressive natural scenery you’ve ever witnessed. Just check out the pictures...

There is so much more you can do in Melbourne like goto the tennis or to an Australian football match but we only had a week here, leave your comments below with where you’d recommend. Because we will definitely be going back! Next week I’ll be posting the blog on our trip around the Australian East coast in our camper van, stay tuned kids.

#australia #VisitAustralia #paleale #StKilda #blog #Travelblog #travelling #digitalnomad