Melbourne, Australia
We spent 6 days in Melbourne and really enjoyed our time here. It is such a nice city with interesting weather! On our first day we experienced a change in temperature from 45 degrees to 20 degrees within one afternoon! A big change from the heat in KL over Christmas.
After checking into our hotel and resisting a nap after our overnight flight, we wondered around the city exploring the CBD. We found a nice and reasonably priced (for Australia) burger restaurant for dinner and opted for an early night to catch up on some sleep!
The following day we visited the main attractions in the city centre including Chinatown, Flinder St Station, Townhall, St Paul's cathedral and many more. We grabbedf a light lunch in a busy street where I accidently tipped $5.50 for our $14.50 meal. The look on the lady's face was priceless! During our time in KL, Chris' family got in touch with their cousins whom are based in Melbourne. We caught up with them in the afternoon/evening wondering around the southbank before getting some dinner.
The next day, we were shown around the Yarra Valley and Dandelion National Park. This was really lovely seeing the outskirts of the city and the surroundings. It is such a beautiful area. We were treated to pie, mash and gravy for a traditional British lunch. It was so tasty! After this, we headed into the valley to do some wine tasting and splurged on a bottle of Moscato. It was great meeting more of Chris' family and so nice of them to show us around. In the evening we had arranged to meet Lauren to try out the Dominoes $5 pizza. Chris went for two pizzas as he was very wary of the size but soon regretted his decision (kind of). The pizzas were pretty good and very reasonable- same price as a sandwich at a 7/11. It was nice to catch up with Lauren as she had recently moved to Aus to work for a year!
We really enjoyed having an apartment for the next few days being able to cook for ourselves and having our own space. We explored the Botanical Gardens, St Kilda and went on a walking tour while enjoying cooking our own dinners. On our last night, we went to St Kilda in the evening to see the penguins. This was such an amazing experience seeing them in their natural habitat. I would definitely recommend visiting in the evening if you visit Melbourne.
On our final day we explored the docklands, went shopping and visited Lygon St. This street is famous for their Italian food and so opted to have lunch here before heading to the airport.
I really enjoyed our time in Melbourne! It felt similar to home (especially with the weather). I would love to return here one day.
