Melbourne 9d8n Itinerary (Part 1)
April 08, 2017
And I'm back!
After 17 months of not blogging and detailing every single day of my life
TBH not blogging has brought me relief but at the same time made me missed blogging but that is to be blogged in another post (Is this a promise I dont know)
During this 17 months I have gone travelling a lot!
And not writing it down kinda made me uncomfortable because I want to be reading this and showing my grandchildren that grandmama used to be super happening
Back to Melbourne!
This was a totally impromptu holiday as I only known that I will be going to Melbourne two weeks earlier, long story short, a friend of a friend couldn't manage to go last minute so I was the replacement since everything was paid and cancelling this trip would be oh so wasted
Pre Melbourne:
- Visa- Unlike visas to China, you only need to take a picture of your passport to your local travel agency and the visa can be done in less than a week
- Book your tours- Places like Great Ocean Road, Philip's Island is best to go with a tour guide. Ours was recommended by a friend- http://www.grayline.com.au/ and the services were superb! Definitely one of the recommended tours
- Research research research- We basically did our trip free & easy so everything was from zero! From the airport to our hotel to trams through the city, we (more like me) did so many research I basically know where is where even before reaching lol. Websites I refer to is www.thatsmelbourne.com.au which is super helpful with walking tours and train, free tram rides etc.
- Know your weather! The time we went was November which is early spring, from what I heard it was supposedly to be warm but it was freaking 12 degrees on some days. You can check out instagram pages to know what kind of OOTD to bring, which is what I did
Melbourne day 1:
Touched down 11am local time (2 hours ahead of Malaysia so its like 9am back home)
Found ourselves a cab to our hotel- The Victoria hotel which is at Little Collins Street, only a few streets away from the famous Flinder's Station and Federation Square!
If you're planning to go to Melbourne in a 4 star hotel (not too shabby not too pricey) give Victoria hotel a try!
Got everything ready, unpacked our DSLR and off we go to explore
First stop: Federation Square to get our Melbourne CBD (Central Business District) train maps and also get hold of our Visitor Shuttle Tickets (AUD 15 for 2 days) and map, which is super helpful when you need to know where is where and plan for the next few days
You can basically go down any stop you like and hop on the next bus which comes in an interval of 30 minutes but the last bus ends at 4.30pm so plan well on how long you are gonna stop at each stops
Afterwards, dinner!
We wanted a local meal so we stopped by this burger place called 8bit
Dinner served! We are two girls with small appetite so basically we shared all our meals here in Melbourne which is a plus side on our budget. This meal costs us AUD28, and we were stuffed (see what I meant by having a small appetite?)
One burger, onion rings and bacon fries (yum!)
After dinner, we went to the local Coles supermarket at Flinder's Street for some grocery shopping!
The weather at night was even more colder, 10 degrees thus our outfit.
Trust me when I say we were not making a fashion statement, more like for survival lol
Day 2:
Queen Victoria Market
QVM is like the Petaling Street of Melbourne without the Fake AA goods lol
Souvenirs and Tshirts with "I heart Melbourne" can be found with prices like AUD10 or AUD15
Tiny stuffed local animals as souvenirs were pretty cheap here though! AUD10 for 6 of them tiny ones, BUY!
Strawberries selling at AUD8 for two boxes
And the must-have American Doughnut Kitchen with jam filling located near the fruits market.
Don't worry about not being able to locate it, just follow the crowd. There will always be a long queue lining up for these babies selling at 5 for AUD5.50, piping hot and fresh with oozing strawberry jam in the center
Next up- Harbourtown
This used to be Melbourne's harbour in the old times but no more! now it serves as one of the tourist attraction or even a place to chill, imagine sitting here with the wind in your hair and lover beside you talking about your day and dreams and everything else that matters
The weather that day was awesome, the warmth of the sunlight with cold wind gushing through was just nice
Hopped on the visitor shuttle for our last stop- the Shrine of Remembrance
A shrine built in remembrance for those who fought in the war, sandwiched between the Royal Botanical Garden with lushes of green everywhere, this would be the perfect place for someone to remember me when I'm gone
Greens everywhere! You can see aussies sitting anywhere as long as there are grasses and we finally got a taste of our own. The grass are so green and clean and soft that you'd be silly not to sit on them while munching our strawberries from the Queen Vic Market.
After chilling and taking hundreds of selfie, we got onto our feet to walk back to the CBD as the last visitor shuttle bus was long gone. From the Shrine of Remembrance to the CBD is only 20 minutes walk strolling. With the nice weather, I'm not complaining!
Across the bridge of the Yarra River with the sun setting
What a great way to end our day
Do stay tuned for Part 2
Hint hint: something warm and cuddly and oh so cute
Til then.
XO
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