Ah, Australia. I’ve wanted to come to this great island for so long, and I was happy we finally made it. Although, if I’m being honest I thought I would like it more, as lovely as it is. That might just have been the route we took and our personal interests, but that is how I felt. Overall still a great place and there is still way more to see, obviously. The route Robin and I chose was to fly into Melbourne –> Great Ocean Road –> Dandenong–> Sydney–> Cairns in 16 days. Quick tour of the South and East coasts if you will, although skipping a lot. Our tour could be compared to stopping in 2 major cities on the East Coast of the US and a couple smaller towns. But, I think we got a good glimpse of the general culture at large considering 80% of the country’s citizens live on the Eastern and Southern coasts of Australia and we visited the two largest cities.
Melbourne was my favorite portion of the trip for food, just like people said it would be. I didn’t know what to expect besides good coffee and food before my arrival. I was also told it was the cultural epicenter of Australia, whatever that means. Upon arrival, we soon figured this all out. Cultural epicenter= diversity in the population’s ethic background= high population of Asian cultures, especially Chinese = awesome food. I hear Melbourne is also known as the cultural epicenter for it’s contribution to the arts 😉 Although we loved the scenery and laid back feel of New Zealand, oh how we longed for some good city food. However, I can say I loved the food in Melbourne, but I can’t say I love Australian cuisine. I’m still not really even sure what that is. Meat pies? I didn’t have any of those.
We checked into our AirBnB in Melbourne in the CBD. This ended up being a great walking and kicking off point. Thankfully there is a lot to do in Melbourne, so I won’t bore you with the story of AirBnB deception. I will say the place had free WIFI! We are learning this is a commodity often paid for or restricted in limits in addition to paid accommodation. When we arrived in Melbourne it was close to midnight so we pretty much went straight to bed. In the morning we decided to check out the coffee and brunch scene we heard so much about. We were not disappointed! The first brunch place we went to was called Operator 25. This was a hip little restaurant which was Asian fusion. The food was amazing and the coffee was artfully crafted as well! From here we decided to walk about the city and get the lay of the land.
I think my phone said we walked about 9 miles, and we barely scratched the surface here. This is a large city. We walked through avenues and alley ways filledwith restaurants with cuisine from every corner of the world it seemed. We walked through an outdoor market that put Pike Place Market to shame (Size wise. I still love you, Pike Place). Queen Victoria Market, I believe. We decided to get lunch here and bought these boreks that were decently priced and filling. I think about $4 AUD per borek which I believe is a Turkish hot sandwich and definitely one of those things to eat here we soon realized. We also walked over and around the river area and the surrounding park. By dinner we found China Town, and this was a good sized China Town! We ended up at this highly rated soup dumping restaurant. The food was amazing and had great prices.We spent maybe $35AUD for two main dishes and two drinks. There was a 20 person line to get in, but the line moved quickly. If you compare this to our breakfast that morning which was ~$60AUD for two main dishes and two coffees. We soon after this realized the Asian cuisines were not only delicious but often better priced for our budget. This works out perfectly for us considering 88.25% of the time that’s the general area of the world we like to eat from. After our long day of walking, night fell and we turned in to the Airbnb with a bottle of wine and decided to hang out the rest of the evening.
In the morning, it was time for breakfast/brunch: Round Two (I can’t help but think of the Super Nintendo Street Fighter voice when I say that). We found another highly rated restaurant in the morning called Hardware Sosciete. This one was French and oh man did they kill it. We got in and of course it was already busy with a line, but because we were two they were able to squeeze us in quickly at the bar. I think this couldn’t have worked out better! With the glass window into the chefs station we got to watch all the food made which helped us quickly make our selections with a menu that was short but overwhelmingly wonderful. Everything sounded so delectable! We decided to get both the weekly special and the daily special with espresso. One was sweet and decadent and the other rich and savory. We decided to share, although it was a bit of fork fight. Both were really too good to share, but obviously too rich and big not to. In the end, we were both so fat and happy we could have been rolled out of the restaurant like Blueberry in the Willy Wonka Factory. This ran us about ~$70-80. Quickly we realized this would not be a cheap adventure for us.
While at breakfast we were also informed that Australia has a public holiday on the Friday before Sunday Easter. We accounted for Easter weekend being a thing and possibly making things more crowded, but did not realize the majority of businesses and cafes would be closed that Friday, and if they weren’t closed some asked an additional 15% be added to your bill because they were open. After brunch we were intending to take the trolley around the city, but it wasn’t running. Again, holiday hours. In this trolley they give commentary about the city and it’s history as it goes about. Sad we missed it, but it is what it is. Instead we walked to the botanical gardens. The gardens were beautiful and it gave us a glimpse of flora that exists in other places of Australia that we wouldn’t otherwise see. This was also our first glimpse of parrots! One thing the garden was also filled with that took me by surprise is how many statues were all over the place. Gaudy statues of Queen Victoria and likely other oppressors of the aboriginal people. It’s hard to see how people so easily appreciate these knowing aboriginal history, and the British Empire’s toll on indigenous people around the world.
After the botanical gardens we decided to check out some of the cool street art all over the city. There were a couple alley ways in particular known to display this type of art that is ever changing. Hosier Lane was the main one we checked out. It was pretty neat to watch the artists and see their different expressions. After that I believe the rest of the day was somewhere along the lines of eating sushi, walking around the city some more and then going back to our accommodation to chill. Oh yes, and we bought some Middle Eastern wraps from a food truck to have back at the place. These tasted good, but turned out not to be our best idea. In the morning and our last day in Melbourne, Robin was pretty sick. As the accommodation’s kitchen was pretty unkempt we had dedicated ourselves to being “foodies” and eating out for all the things. However, being a public holiday and almost everything was closed on Saturday morning, this was also not our best plan either! We got up and walked around for about an hour and a half before we finally found a café that was open and didn’t have an hour long wait. We ate another delicious breakfast somewhere along the lines of avocado on toast stack and I can’t remember the rest. It was good, but obviously not as good as the first two if I can’t remember it!
Robin was getting a bit worse by this point. We thought we would be able to catch the trolley to sit down for a bit and maybe catch part of the tour, but it was packed with no place to sit. The rest of the day was spent binge watching movies, and finishing my South Island blog post. I did go back out to the outdoor market to buy some tasty snacks for our road trip to begin the next day and also Robin felt well enough to sneak back out for some ramen for dinner. Unfortunately on this trip we didn’t get to do any of the tours or museums in Melbourne, but we did manage to eat our way through it!
In total, we spent three full days in Melbourne, and the next day was off to the Great Ocean Road for another three! I was sad to leave the food scene, but there is always more good food to come. Also, we were burning a hole in our pocket quick, so it was best to head out. I think on average meals were about $20 AUD a pop. Drinks were about $10 for a beer or more for a cocktail at a trendy place. Our accommodation was pretty cheap by Melbourne standards at about $80 per night for an AirBnB. Probably could have stayed in a dorm hostel here to save slightly more money, although our policy here is if it isn’t much more for a private room always take the private room.
On to the Great Ocean Road!