11 hours. That's how long it took us to drive from Melbourne to Sydney. In one day. 

Okay, so it wasn't actually as bad as it sounds. When you go with the mindset that you are going to be in the car all day, it doesn't seem as bad. The biggest issue? My driving license still hadn't arrived, so Hollie had to drive the whole route. Sorry Hollie.

The drive is a pretty boring one. It's not really very scenic, and it's pretty much all one road. I was in charge of the playlist, so we spent a lot of time screeching along to Little Mix and Taylor Swift songs. There was excitement every time we made it another 100kms.

We stopped for lunch in a service centre, but we were unable to get wifi anywhere for the whole drive. There wasn't even a payphone, so there was a bit of panic when we started to fall behind schedule and realised we weren't going to make check-in for our apartment. 

When we got to Sydney, the sat-nav decided that it was going to make our lives nice and difficult. It wasn't recognising the tunnels along the motorway (there is a few) and we were losing signal whilst in them. We ended up in Sydney CBD and it was not an enjoyable drive. Eventually we arrived in Bondi and we could finally relax. Luckily the apartment complex had put our keys in a safe place with a note, so we were able to get in nice and easily.

We stayed at Ultimate Apartments Bondi Beach. We booked this accommodation through STA Travel when we booked our flights. It cost £247 for 2 nights. I have since had a look on Expedia, and I think this is pretty good value. We had a private apartment. The complex was gated and there was a pool - it was just in the middle of the car park and we didn't have time to use it - but it was there! There was also plenty of free parking, laundry facilities, and a little kitchenette in our room. The only downside was that you have to pay extra for wifi. This seemed to be quite common in a few of the places we stayed. Do these people not realise it's 2018!!

When we arrived, we took an evening stroll down to the beach. We were a 10 minute walk away and there was plenty of bars and restaurants along the way. There was lots going on at the beach, and lots of people around. As it was early evening, there were many very fit looking people making us feel bad about themselves whilst they worked out on the beach. We walked along the seafront and dipped our toes in the sea so we could say we had done it - neither of us were that keen on the sea.

Although we had planned to go sightseeing in Sydney the following day, we made a last minute decision to stay in the area and explore Bondi. 

The next morning we met Shannon, our friend from uni, and went for a morning Diet Coke because it was a little too hot for a coffee. 

Shannon told us about a coastal walk to Coogee Beach that she had done a few times, so we agreed that would be a good way to spend our day. Now, my geography has never been great, but that was a decision I regretted for the following 2 hours. We started walking and shortly stopped for our obligatory photos outside Bondi Icebergs, and I thought we were about halfway. No. We hadn't even started. We set off in the blazing sun on a 6km walk. Don't worry I only got a little bit sunburnt.

To be fair, I am really glad I did it. On our journey we took some fab photos, saw dolphins in the ocean, and saw some amazing views. We walked through Waverley Cemetery, which was a huge cemetery with hundreds of extravagant tombstones. There were a few beaches along the way that we could've stopped at (but chose not to). The walk was fairly easy. There were a couple big hills, and some steep steps, but this seemed a lot worse because it was so hot. It probably would have been a lot more enjoyable on a cooler day, or even as an early evening walk. 

 When we finally reached Coogee we had a delicious lunch at Little Jack Horner on the seafront. I had calamari and chips and it was just what I needed after all that exercise. Yes, we did get the bus back, but we were short for time, so it wasn't really cheating.

In the evening we freshened up and headed back to Bondi, where we spent Valentines Night eating pizza and drinking wine in Hotel Bondi. The Hawaiian pizza was delicious, and I was really sad that I agreed to share one, because I pretty much spent the rest of the evening thinking about how I could have eaten a whole one all to myself #imdisgusting. 

Bondi had a great atmosphere and I really wish we had planned to stay there longer. There was loads to do in the area, and Sydney has really good public transport, so it's easy to get around. There was so much we didn't have time for. I feel like we barely scratched the surface. The downside is that accommodation in there area is pretty expensive.

Fingers crossed I get to return one day so I can explore some more. 

Day 3 

Day 3 was our second day of our hop on hop off bus tour. One of the tour stops was at Queen Victoria market, which if you read my previous post, you will know that this was a short walk away from our hotel, and we had a previously unsuccessful trip there. So we decided that we would start our city tour from there and leave a bit earlier so we had time to check out the market beforehand.

It was closed. Again. Excellent. 

*Another note to future travellers, Queen Victoria Market is not open on a Monday* 

So we jumped on the bus (which being cruise ship day was very busy) and headed to our first stop. Melbourne Zoo. We were a little naive with the zoo, we thought we could go there and hold a koala, which was at the top of our trip wish list, and maybe even the only reason I came to Australia?Although the zoo does have an 'Australian animals' section. We could not see any koalas in their section, I'm pretty sure I was just looking at trees, and as for the the kangaroos, they were hiding at the back in the shade because they handle the sun worse than me. I did see a wombat though, but honestly who gets excited by a wombat? 

We did also see animals such as monkeys and lions, but to be fair, I could see them at Bristol Zoo, 1 hr away from home, so we didn't spend too much time there.
Disclaimer: The zoo is probably actually really fun, but I don't really like animals so I am just being a misery. 

Back on the bus, and this time we didn't even have a seat as it was so busy, and I had the pleasure of listening to the American tourists from the cruise moaning that they they didn't have a seat. Lucky me. Also we were starving, and conveniently heard the bus driver recommending Lygon Street, which is known as the Little Italy of Melbourne. Being a couple of Italian lovers we decided to check it out for lunch. We chose a restaurant called Tiamo, it was pretty busy but smelt amazing so I was sold. They managed to squeeze us in, and I'm so glad they did, because the food was delicious. I had a chilli and bacon spaghetti dish and it was SO good. We also had a raspberry lemonade which was also really tasty. Before we got back on the bus, we had a little wander around Lygon Street. There were lots of good looking restaurants, and a small selection of boutiques. Another pretty area of Melbourne that I would definitely recommend. 

We decided our next stop would be the Eureka Skydeck. This took us to floor 88 and supposedly the highest viewing platform in the Southern Hemisphere (although we went on a tour boat later in the trip and they seemed to contradict this information). There views were incredible. Of course this was complimented by the amazing weather. You could see all of the city below, as well as the beaches and coastline. There was even a small area where you could stand outside. Being someone that doesn't love heights, this did turn my legs to jelly. I think I prefer to be behind the glass! There was also an option to pay extra and go and stand in a glass cube that sticks out the side of the building. I felt that was more something I preferred to watch others do. 

I would love to go back and visit the Skydeck at night, as I think the views would be equally as fabulous. Unfortunately Hollie and I had some troubles staying awake at night so that was never going to happen. 

Another attraction we decided to visit was the Melbourne Star observation wheel - this is like a smaller version of the London Eye. However, when we arrived on the bus, it seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, almost seemed to be in an industrial estate, and we were unsure how we would have any good views from this location. So we decided to give that one a miss. I later discussed this with a friend that used to live in Melbourne, and she completely agreed and said it was a strange location and wouldn't recommend it - so I'm glad we made that decision.

Instead, we decided to sit through the whole city bus tour again, as we had been on such busy buses all day, we hadn't heard any of the commentary. Luckily the cruise ship had departed so it was nice and quiet, and a very relaxing and informative trip. So relaxing that the bus driver forgot we were on board and almost took us back to the St Kilda depot as he didn't notice us trying to get off!

Day 4 

Our final attempt at Queen Victoria Market and it was finally open! It was so big, and much better than the market in St Kilda. The market sold a variety of different things, clothes, jewellery, luggage, Ugg boots etc and was where we bought our Melbourne souvenirs as they had a great selection and they were so much cheaper than the shops (sorry Mum, I've got so many fridge magnets)! The market also had a huge food section, and had I had more money I could have spent a lot! I found out after our visit that they actually do a food tour here which I will be doing if I ever return. 

We headed back to the hotel to freshen up and do some laundry, and this is when we had the dreaded power cut. It was actually a bit unnerving being so high up, and not really knowing what was going on (there was a point where I did have my face pressed against the window just checking people weren't running out the building below), so we decided to head to the park to get some sun for a while hoping it would be fixed shortly. When I say get some sun, obviously I hid in the shade whilst Hollie laid out in the middle of the park. On the way out of the hotel, we bumped into some staff who told us that it was just a power cut and shouldn't be too long. However when we got back, it was not fixed and we were still unable to use the lift. 12 flights of steps later and I was, for the second time on this trip, almost dead. 

Our afternoon activity was a boat trip down the River Yara, this was another guided tour. We chose the Docklands route as this was through the city. It was another beautiful relaxing trip. Docklands is an amazing and modern area full of very expensive/dreamy looking properties both apartment blocks and houses. There were also some very expensive looking yachts. It was basically my dream place to live, so if anyone wants to fund that...?

End of blog.
 (Just clarifying for my friend, JP, who commented that part one ended too abruptly - sorry if anyone else felt the same way)

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.