My friend was off work today so we spent the day exploring Melbourne. We started off with breakfast at a cool cafe called Las Chicas. The food there was great! There is a real cafe culture in Melbourne. Strangely, there are no chains around unlike London where you see Starbucks, Costa and Caffe Nero everywhere, just lots of cool independent places, some of which are hidden away in unsuspecting buildings, only frequented by those ‘in the know’! My friend explained that they were real coffee snobs and that new cafés spring up all the time, but they only have around a week to make a good impression. In that time, word will spread about whether the coffee is good or bad and the place will either instantly become popular or will be avoided! It sounded very cut-throat! I do really like the cafe culture though, it is pretty relaxing just sitting in a cafe reading and journaling when there is nowhere to rush to, especially on a day like today when it was very rainy. It seems the 37 degree heat I had arrived to had given me unrealistic expectations. Today was cold, windy and rainy. Almost like being back in London! Over breakfast, we planned how we could spend the day given the bad weather. My friend offered to take me to see Ramsay Street, where the soap Neighbours is based which sounded cool. We drove there after breakfast and it was pretty cool. The street is actually called Pin Oak Road, and people actually live in the houses, but they leave whenever there are any outside scenes to be shot for the show. I tried to take some photos, but it was raining pretty badly so I couldn’t get any good shots.

After that, we headed to an area called Fitzroy which is the ‘alternative’ area in Melbourne, full of funky shops and street art. Here are a few pictures:

 

We hung out there for a while and then headed to South Melbourne market followed by Hosier Lane – famous for the some of the best grafitti that the city has to offer:

After a short break, we headed out to the night market at Queen Victoria market. We had planned to get dinner at the market, and I didn’t realise how much of a challenge that would be. There were so many food options available from so many countries!! It was impossible to decide. There were stalls selling Spanish, French, Sri Lankan, Afghan, Jamaican, Texan, Argentinian, Nepalese, Polish, Filipino, and Vietnamese food, as well as Australian – kangaroo burgers, crocodile burgers, and ostrich burgers! Despite overeating due to being unable to decide on just 1 option, it was a very good day!

 

When I asked my friend Cath for recommendations of things to do in Melbourne, the 1st thing she suggested was a drive along the Great Ocean Road. I hadn’t heard of it before and wondered what could be so special about it. I did some research online and found out that on TripAdvisor, it was rated as number 1 in the list of things to do in Melbourne with the reviews all gushing about how amazing it was! I looked into tours of the road and booked one for my 2nd day including an optional helicopter tour. I had never ridden in a helicopter before so was excited! I left my friend’s house at 7am for the tour which was going to take the whole day!

The Great Ocean Road is a coastal drive which starts just outside Melbourne and promises spectacular views. I can honestly say that it seriously surpassed my expectations and was easily the most beautiful place I have ever seen! It isn’t really a single place I guess, but over the course of the day, we made up to 9 stops along the road at spots that were so beautiful, I don’t really have the words to describe them so here are some pictures instead! 🙂

Our 1st stop was at Bell’s beach, a popular surfing beach:

Followed by a stop at the sign for the road to commemorate those who built it:

We stopped at a place called Lorne for morning tea, and then headed to a place called Otway National Park where koalas are known to hang out and we saw a few there although they were all curled up sleeping in the trees. Apparently koalas sleep for 20 hours a day!

We had lunch in an area called Apollo Bay, and then headed to a place called Maits rest where we did a rainforest walk:

We then headed to the 12 apostles where I did the helicopter ride! It was incredible and the views were just amazing!

After coming off the helicopter, I strolled down to the 12 apostles just to see them close up.

After this, I thought I had seen it all. I was ready to go home when our guide said if you thought that was cool, wait ’til you see the next stop! I couldn’t believe it could get any better, but he took us to a place called Loch Ard Gorge:

We stopped at a place called London Bridge after that, but my phone had died by that stage after taking hundreds of photos throughout the day! We then stopped at a small town called Colac for dinner, and then drove back to Melbourne. We didn’t get back until 10.30pm so it was an incredibly long day but totally worth it!!!

After a couple of weeks in Sydney, I headed to Melbourne for a few days. I wanted to see Melbourne, just to see what it was like and how it compared to Sydney and also I have a few friends there who I have met in the last few months while volunteering so wanted to catch up with them. I flew from Sydney to Melbourne, it was just a 1 hour flight. I arrived to 37 degree heat! It was scorching! I wondered around the city, stopped for lunch at a restaurant outside and then followed a podcast which guided me around the little lane ways in the city. The city was definitely making a great impression on me within the 1st few hours! I hung out in the botanical gardens for an hour or so and then got a tram to my friend’s house. While looking for accommodation here, I was so surprised at how expensive it was for places that had pretty bad reviews! I had finally found a place that was over my budget, but had decent reviews at least. I was ready to book it, but then I let my friend Cath know I’ll be around. I had volunteered with her in Chiang Mai so mentioned that I would be staying in St Kilda and asked if she wanted to meet up for a drink at some point only to get a reply from her saying that she lives in St Kilda and has a spare room so I can come and stay with her! So that was pretty cool! She met me at the tram stop and took me to the flat which she shares with her sister. We spent some time chatting and catching up. She had some friends coming over for dinner that night so they arrived shortly after and we spent the evening together. Here are a few photos of Melbourne: