We arrived in Melbourne on the 12th of March and have since made ourselves at home. In fairness, it's pretty easy to make yourself at home on the 38th floor of a beautiful apartment in Southbank with pool and gym facilities. To say that Anna and have been lucky to stay here would be the biggest understatement of my brief existence. We owe so much to Correna for her unwavering generosity (some scotch is coming your way!). I mean, just have a look at that view!
For the next few days, we put on our best walking booties and explored Melbourne by foot. We walked along the Yarra, across St Kilda Beach, and up past Luna Park. We then ventured to the Melbourne Museum and had a wander through the botanic gardens.
On the following day, we decided to explore the famous South Melbourne Market. The markets offered a range of tasty lunch options, clothing, and trinkets. We both purchased our usual soy cappuccinos but decided to indulge in an assortment of delicious and colourful macarons. The extent of my vocabulary doesn't allow me to articulate how good the macarons were; let's just say that they were really yum.
While we were there, we also stumbled upon a stunning little shop known as the Terrarium Laboratory. In addition to a range of beautifully shaped bonsai, succulents and indoor plants, this place also sells a variety of stunning terrariums (obviously). For those who don't know what they are, terrariums are small containers (usually glass) in which plants are grown and miniature landscapes are displayed. I would really encourage you to check this place out when you're in Melbourne next. The atmosphere in there was to die for.
Later that afternoon, we made use of the gym, went for a dip in the pool/spa combo and ate some green coloured burgers for dinner with Correna. I'm not even kidding; the burger buns were actually green.
The next day, we took the plunge and spent the $40 that granted us entry into the Melbourne Aquarium. One might even say we dove head first at the opportunity to visit the marine life. We grabbed the chance with both fins? I'm making dad jokes and I don't even have a son, how progressive. Regardless of how we made the call, we certainly had a wonderful experience at the aquarium. We saw some smiley and scary looking sharks and lots of jellyfish that were huge and tiny, tentacle-y and limbless, colourful and translucent, and energetic and lethargic. We saw some seahorses up close and a puffer fish that had eyes the size of a Disney princess's. We had a wander through the rainforest section and saw some slow-moving turtles (even for a turtle's standards), a huge croc and a range of swamp critters. In the penguin room, we sat down to a viewing of an exclusive Ice Age film in 4D and spent a long while checking out the resident penguin population.
Later that day, we explored the Australian Centre for Moving Images near Flinders Station. The insight into the history of modern film was fascinating but we were pretty disappointed to learn that Minecraft was not offered on any of their gaming consoles. Sadly, no diamonds were found. The following day, we decided to venture outdoors and soak up the sun, surf and serenity of Brighton Beach. We spent most of our time relaxing in front of the colourful beach huts reading; tough life.
After having spent just over a week in Melbourne, Anna and I were starting to come down with cabin fever, so we decided to hit the road again and head to Ballarat. There, we took some selfies with Kevin Rudd (not a prank) and strolled through the botanical gardens. The flower displays were some of the best I've seen .
That night, we found a free camp site just outside of Ballarat and went to bed early in anticipation of our trip to Sovereign Hill the next day. I went to bed particularly early because I was determined to find gold and become one of the world's youngest millionaires. After a quick brekkie, we drove to Sovereign Hill and went straight to the creek to start panning. Anna and I quickly realised that gold panning was more physically taxing than we thought. So, after only one attempt, we called it quits. Thankfully, we found enough gold together for it to just be visible on camera. The proof is in the......pan.
After bottling our gold in a Sovereign Hill-themed vile, we began to tour the rest of the site by foot. We explored the camp sites of the Chinese and European miners, learned the process by which gold is purified and solidified, and witnessed a re-enactment of the moment "The Welcome Nugget", a 69 kilogram gold nugget found in Red Hill Mine in 1858, was found by Cornish miners.
Hoping to be offered some free candy, we topped off the day by watching a demonstration of how Sovereign Hill's famous boiled sweets were made. Thankfully, the staff either didn't remember us from earlier on in the day or didn't mind our eagerness because we were each given a second helping their raspberry drops. Winning!
The following day, after heading back to Melbourne with our tummies fully of sweeties, we checked out the Queen Victoria Markets. There, we purchased some yummy Polish dumplings and some very tasty Gözleme, and spent the rest of the evening admiring the unabashedly trendy apparel that Melbourne is so well known for. Back at the apartment that evening, we were again reminded of how beautiful the view is from our flat and of how lucky we are to be making the memories that we're making.
After our wonderful experience in Ballarat and on Sovereign Hill, we decided to spend another night out of Melbourne and made our way to Phillip Island the next day. We'd both heard that the penguin experience offered on Phillip Island is a must-see, so when we arrived at our camp site, we headed straight for the patch of coastline where the infamous penguin walk was to take place. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any photos of the penguins as they made their way out of the surf, across the sand, and into their nesting boxes because we were told that their eyes are highly sensitive to camera flash. If you're planning on experiencing the penguin walk for yourself, I'd highly recommend spending more time on the board walk as oppose to in the grandstands. It's where you can see them up close and hear them squawking happily with their penguin buddies. I enjoyed the entire experience so much that I actually decided to become a penguin. As you can tell from the photo, I still have much to learn.
The following day, we took some time to explore some more of Phillip Island's beautiful coast line. We even stumbled upon a lot of very blue-looking Blue Bottle Jellyfish.
We also decided to sample some of the choccies at the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory. Believe it or not, our coffees were served to us by a robot named Ketty. Technology is cool. Over the next few days, we visited Brunswick in Melbourne and saw Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on stage (which was phenomenal).
Having seen several gardens on our way to Melbourne, Anna and I, along with Anna's dad Ben, decided to check out the Melbourne International Flower and Garden show. In addition to to seeing the flower displays and participating in the crafty gardening workshops, I was particularly keen to observe Costa in his natural habitat. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found.
That evening, Anna and I made our way to the MCG to be part of the public service for Shane Warne. Aside from the moment Scott Morrison was shamelessly booed by the crowd, the night was a worthy send-off for the late king of spin.
Keep on the lookout for our next entry! Anna booked a surprise getaway for the two of us that has since dished up some of the most beautiful photos on the trip. If you follow us on instagram, you'll no doubt already know where we went!
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