Melbourne Travel Diary - part one.

Wednesday 7 March 2018


Day 1 

Day 1 is pretty uneventful and boring, however I'm treating you all to the full travel diary experience so cannot leave it out. 

Whilst in Melbourne we stayed in City Tempo Apartments. I would recommend it to anyone. The location was perfect and although I can’t remember how much we paid – I know it wouldn’t have been ridiculous because I’m a bit stingy. We were on the 12th floor so had a pretty good view. (We did have a power cut one day, this was the day I did not appreciate being on the 12th floor)

I say it was great – there was one thing that was a little bit odd about our apartment. The bathroom was just behind a not-very-well frosted glass wall. So when you are in the shower, naked, you can be seen by whoever is in the room. I mean Hollie and I are good friends, but that was a bit much.

So it's day one and I’m still a little traumatized (if you haven't already, read here to find out why). I went to bed until about 2pm, but forced myself to get up because 'hello I'm in Melbourne!'
The lovely man at reception who had earlier taken pity on my face of travel death, had also provided us with a map and told us some ‘top spots’ in Melbourne. He also told us about the free CBD tram, which after our 20 minute uphill walk with a 23kg suitcase, made me want to throw things at him.  One of the top spots he mentioned was Queen Victoria Market, which was a 2 min walk away from the hotel. So we grabbed our sunglasses (to cover the bags), and headed out. 

We got there and it was shut, and that was the end of that adventure.

*Note to all future travellers, Queen Victoria Market shuts at 3pm on a Saturday.*

Okay, so it wasn't the end completely, we kept walking, and eventually found Bourke St Mall. This is a huge shopping centre with pretty much everything you need. Including a food court with a good selection somewhere near the top. They were able to provide me with pizza and Diet Coke*, so all was good in the world again. 

*Well actually, let me tell you about Diet Coke in Australia. Every time I ask for Diet Coke, they keep giving me Coke No Sugar.  I don’t mean to be a fusspot, but I wish they would just give me a blimmin’ Diet Coke and understand my addiction. I know full well when they mislead me with their stupid Coke No Sugar. IT’S ABSOLUTELY NOT THE SAME THING. It tastes like flat Coke.

We walked around the shopping centre like zombies for a while enjoying the air con, and then we headed back to the hotel and had an early night, because we apparently hadn’t had enough sleep that day. Of course this is where the jetlag kicks in. 4am and we were both wide awake chatting to UK’ers on Facebook chat.



Day 2 

Due to the fact we were only in Melbourne for 4 days, we made a decision that we would invest in a hop on – hop off bus 48 hour ticket. With this we could see all the big sites in a small amount of time. 

We were up nice and early we headed to Federation Square to catch the first bus of the day on the St Kilda route. When we were arrived, the driver informed us that this first bus was in fact canceled as there was a triathlon taking place in that was blocking the route. Luckily it was only the one bus cancelled, so we were able to taste our first Melbourne coffee in the square. The coffee in Australia is so good. They take it very seriously - you can literally go to coffee making school. I take drinking it very seriously too, so I appreciate their effort. You will pay about $4 for a standard coffee in Oz, which according to my converter app, works out at about £2.25. Pretty good if you ask me!


Our ticket for the hop on hop off bus was $42 (roughly £23.50), this was a 48 hour ticket and covered 2 routes – the St Kilda Route, and the city route. This particular ticket also included a voucher for a free transfer to the airport on any selected day with Star Buses – also a bargain as the Sky Bus is $19.50.

The journey to St Kilda was so pretty. As you can see from the pictures, we were so lucky with the weather in Melbourne. The sky was always so blue. Although we chose not to get off anywhere on the way, there were plenty options and beautiful areas. Something that was particularly noticeable about Melbourne, is that the parks are all so green. Also, there is such a mixture of modern and classic looking buildings. 





We chose to spend our first day of our bus ticket exploring St Kilda as we had seen an advert for the Esplanade market which is held every Sunday. The market was more of an arty market, and although the artwork was very good and nice to look at – it was very much out of our price range and not really what we were looking for in a market. Also I think airport security may have had an issue with me trying to get a didgeridoo through. 
There was also a couple of food stands at the end which smelt delicious. 
We walked to the end and then walked back along the beach. It was a fairly busy beach, as it was a very hot day! Along the beachfront there are a selection of restaurants. 
St Kilda is also home to Melbourne’s Luna Park, and was full of tourists like myself taking photos at the iconic entrance.  





We spent about an hour walking around St Kilda, and then hopped back on the bus in search of a lunch spot. We headed to Bay Street which was a couple of stops later, and found a bar to get a burger and chips. The first of many burgers. The street was had a big selection of food establishments. 







After a further journey on the bus, we were back in Federation Square. We spotted a lot of tourists loitering in nearby alleyways, so we decided to see what they were looking at. The alleyways were covered with graffiti and some of it was very impressive artwork. There was even an artist there 'graffiti-ing' whilst we strolled through. If I had longer in Melbourne (and it wasn't so hot) I would love to do a street art tour. There are many walking tours available throughout the city which all look really interesting and have great reviews. 




Our final stop of the day was H&M where I finally got myself a much needed handbag - yay! H&M in Melbourne is their Australian flagship store, and  is probably the prettiest H&M store I have ever seen. The building it is has a very historic appearance. It is located in Melbourne GPO which is right next to Bourke Street Mall. 


To end the day we headed back to the hotel, and were probably asleep by about 8pm - living the wild life. 










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