We’re giving Melbourne 4 thumbs up. Architecture, coffee, food, culture, coffee. Highly recommended!
Day 45 – Long ago (some months before our trip) Bron’s dad sent a newspaper article with things to see/do/eat in Melbourne. We started the day by walking to one of the suggestions – Seven Seeds coffee shop. It was gooood.
Walking through the Theatre District, we saw that ‘Come from Away’ is wrapping up performances in Melbourne.
Our exploring continued to the State Library of Victoria. It is a very impressive building and includes a museum section as well. We enjoyed looking at various buildings in the downtown as we made our way to Flinder’s Street Station to meet a former Rio Tinto colleague who very kindly offered to show us around.
Paul’s tour was totally up our alley, we walked about the downtown (up some alleys….) seeing famous buildings and sites. The war memorial was very impressive and we spent some time in the museum section there, as well as an unexpected great view from the top. We concluded with a walk in the botanical gardens. It was an excellent visit, and we were so fortunate to have the chance to catch up! Thanks Paul!
It was Night Market night at the Queen Vic Market so we stopped off there for some dinner. It was quite expensive for street food, but also really tasty. The atmosphere was fun as well. Menu – Polish pierogies for Brent and Napalese momos for Bron.
Day 46 – Having walked close to 20km yesterday (according to Fitbit) we decided to treat ourselves to a soak in the Peninsula Hotsprings. It was just over an hour drive from the city and surprisingly traffic wasn’t all that bad. The complex is very large with about 50 or so features. There are many pools of various temperatures and scenery, massaging showers, saunas, steam rooms, and even an ice cave. It was, unfortunately, also very busy even though it was a Thursday morning. We enjoyed our soaking and relaxing and tried many of the offerings. The ice cave was reported to be -25 degrees, but these Canadians say NO WAY, it felt like maybe -10. Perhaps someone had a bad sunburn and came to the pools anyway as there were large pieces of skin floating in several of them (like 10cm long scrolls) which was extremely off putting. While it was a nice time and the water was good, between the crowds and skin pieces (and price) we give this activity a ‘medium’.
As we were already near the end of the Mornington Peninsula we carried on to a WINDY lookout before heading home. The colours of the ocean and rocks were fabulous (pictures don’t do it justice). Traffic was not so favorable on the return trip and there was a section where 10km took us 30 minutes.
Day 47 – Bron had a long list of additional ‘must see/eat’ stops so we were off on another walking adventure tour. First stop: a top rated croissanterie. It was well worth the walk and we enjoyed watching the kitchen while we ate.
Melbourne is famous for street art. We certainly don’t understand most of it, but here some is!
On route to stop 2 we passed by this impressive cathedral.
Second stop: the bathroom at the Sofitel. We’d read about this being a free way to get a great city view, on par with the skydeck but without the $25 price tag. Yup – it was quite good! Paul informs us that the view was better prior to the construction of this building next door.
On route to stop 3 Brent decided we needed some actual food so we made a detour for some Japanese food.
Third stop: a top rated gelato shop. This was a bit disappointing to be honest – the icecream was good, but not in our top 10 and the shop experience was not great. Oh well!
Fourth stop: a top rated cake shop. Another recommendation from the newspaper article on Melbourne. Luckily for our bodies, it was a 6km walk away so we had some time to make room. The shop window was very enticing. The cakes we tried were quite good – but we both liked the tea we had with it better!
Fifth stop: we wanted to see the penguins which live on the pier in St Kilda (where we already were for the cake shop). However, they come to shore around sunset and at this time of year that’s not until 8:45pm. It was only about 5pm and we’d already walked close to 20km so were ready to be home for a rest. One lovely penguin decided to swim in just for us. We didn’t get a photo, but it felt totally meant to be and perfect. We saw one!
The kite surfers were an added bonus – we’d love to be fit and adventurous enough to try, but for now we’ll leave it to the pros.
Day 48 – Time to divide and concur. We both needed some solo time to get each other Christmas gifts, and it’s probably a good idea for us to spend a little time apart in general. There was also boring adulting type activities like laundry and such going on. Brent took the train to South Bank and enjoyed the buskers while shopping. We love this city – where else would you find Darth Vader playing Stayin’ Alive on the sidewalk? The Force of the Bee Gees was with him.
Bron decided to keep up the big step counts and walked 12km in the northwest of the city.
Day 49 – After a fantastic time in the city our last day came all too fast. We walked down the street to a local cafe for a final delicious coffee.
Coffee – aka, the Nectar of the Gods – is done so well here in Australia. Even your regular morning cuppa is a work of art. We frequent local cafes, but McDonald’s and Hungry Jack’s (Burger King elsewhere in the world) are even in on it. Hungry Jack’s even advertises that their espressos are available through the drive-thru lanes. It seems there’s no such thing as drip coffee – well, maybe at 7-11. A coffee is crafted by baristas every time. We’re not complaining in the slightest.
The main objective for the day was the National Gallery of Victoria. We walked – of course – to enjoy the city architecture and keep the steps high! The Gallery was enjoyable (and free). Bron hadn’t done South Bank yet so we walked along there watching various buskers and people enjoying the mild weather. Somehow it turned into a 16km day easily.
Brent And Bron Abroad 