Best of Melbourne

12 Apostles during my helicopter tour

As a part of my Best of Australia recommendations, I'll take you through my recommended things to do, places to see and restaurants to visit in Melbourne, Australia's second biggest city and cultural hub. If you're touring the whole country, 3 days is a good amount of time to spend in the city.

One full day should be spent traveling The Great Ocean Road out to the 12 Apostles and back as I did during my trip last year. You'll need to rent a car and leave early in the morning. You're likely to see wild koalas and some of the most breathtaking land formations along the coastline that you will ever see in your life. After the Great Barrier Reef, this is the next best natural attraction that I saw in Australia. If you have enough time you can turn this into a 1.5 day trip instead of driving there and back in one day. You're going to do at least 4 hours of driving each way, maybe more if you want to extend it.

For your other two days you can walk through the city and make sure to save some energy for the awesome nightlife. There are a lot of good musicians and acts trying to make it in Melbourne - get a local publication or ask around to see a good show.

I got some further advice from Nat, an Aussie friend is an expert on Melbourne:

They should check out an AFL game in Melbourne for sure. It's the home of the AFL... The fans are so much more out there than Sydney. The MCG or Eithad stadium would be the best place to see a decent game.

Take a trip down to Phillip Island to see the fairy penguins parade across the beach at dusk. It's an afternoon/ early evening event about 90 odd min out of the city... You can either drive there or get a tour group to take you...

If you come in spring (Oct-Nov) they should go to the races.... If they are here on Melbourne Cup day they should go for sure, it's always the first Tues in November and they will have to buy tickets online before the day.

Walk the city to see Flinders St Station, Fed Sqaure, Bourke St. mall, Sandridge Bridge, and the Yarra River. Always lots of graffiti, street art and crazy people to look at!

If they are girls and like shopping send them to Chapel St... always a good place for lunch, ppl watching and shopping.

If they want to see a more funky grungy side of the city send them to Brunswick for dinner (thai or vegi) and lots of little old Aussie pubs. There is a lot if live music in Brunswick also.

Lastly, the Melbourne Crown Casino at Southbank and Eureka Skydeck viewing platform of the city.

Best of Australia

Over my time in Sydney I have had multiple friends send me questions on the best things to do in Australia. I didn’t get to see the entire country, but did get to sight-see along most of the east coast. I played tour guide when both friends and family come to visit me during my time in Sydney in addition to my own explorations.

One of the frequent questions I received was about trip duration. On a two week vacation, do you have time to visit both New Zealand and Australia, or Fiji and Australia? My answer is absolutely not. I did not get a chance to go to NZ, but from friends that have been there I know that you need at least a week, if not more, in NZ. So assuming you’re going to focus the entire trip in Oz, here is what I would recommend.

First of all, there’s no way to see the entire country in two weeks. Let me put it in perspective. There are far fewer tourist centers in Australia compared to the US, but imagine trying to see NYC, DC, Miami, New Orleans, LA, San Francisco and Chicago in two weeks. Yes, you could probably do it, but you’re not going to get the full experience.

The three must-sees in Australia are Melbourne, Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef. They’re all on the east coast, so let’s narrow your trip down to that section. You’ll probably fly into Sydney, so we’ll start there.

If you’re not used to international travel, especially flights over 10 hours, you’re going to be majorly jet lagged when you land. You’ll fly out of LAX in the evening and land at SYD in the morning, totally missing one day. Keep that in mind as you plan your flights. I found that the best way to beat jet lag is to sleep as much as possible on the plane (with the help of Ambien if available) and do a lot of walking/sightseeing on the first day. If you sleep during the day after you land, you’re only prolonging your pain. Fight through it and you’ll be better for it.

I’ve broken each area down by how many days I would spend there. Click each link for more detailed information. Note that I only accounted for 12 days – if you’re truly doing a 2 week vacation you will need some buffer time to book flights or spend extra time seeing things you like. Click on each for details.

• Sydney – 5 days
• Melbourne – 3 days
• Great Barrier Reef – 4+ days

Melbourne Weekend - Part III

Note: See Part I and Part II of my trip for the other adventures of the weekend.

On Sunday morning we caught the last few teams sign in before they got on their bikes and took off on the 200 km (124 miles) race.  The first 25 km was from Melbourne to Geelong, followed by 11 circuits of the 15.9 km loop around the town.  We took the train to Geelong and made it just in time to see a part of the first lap.



We found a good spot on the second steep hill of the loop.  See the race profile here.  It was getting pretty warm so we found a spot in the shade.  There were a ton of people there because you can actually see them come by instead of just a blink when they hit the straight stretches.

It just so happened that we sat next to a sleeping kid with a t-shirt that said "Go Daddy".  This kid was knocked out, sleeping just under the shade on a steeply graded hill.  Nat recognized the cyclist on her shirt, who turned out to be Stuart O'Grady, one of the most famous cyclists from Australia.  That meant that the hot mom checking on the kid every few minutes with the diamond studded Coach watch (identified by Nat, I just knew it was blinging) and D&G shoes was a WAG.  They had a big group that went crazy every time the cyclists came by every 25 minutes or so.  I think some family from Cadel Evans were with them (he was the reigning world champion as well as 2007 and 2008 Tour de France runner up) because they were wearing the colors of the world champ.  I felt a little creepy taking this picture of the kid, but everyone around us was laughing at how oblivious she was, and the mom didn't seem to mind.  It was too funny to pass up.

We watched 6 or 7 laps from that location and then walked to a pub along the route because we knew the finish line would be crowded.  Every time the guys rode by, everyone rushed out of the bar to watch and then came back in to catch it on TV.  Evans was poised to repeat, but was beaten out in the end by Thor Hushovd (who was the defending champ of the race I saw in Ghent, Belgium, back in February).

After the train ride back to Melbourne, we took it easy after the full day out in the sun. Nat took me to Fitzroy, an artsy little suburb with good restaurants. We didn't make it to any bars on the list, so our goal of hitting them all in a weekend was a bit ambitious.  On Monday I had to fly home in the afternoon, so we did a little sightseeing around the Melbourne Botanical Garden before some shopping on Chapel Street.  I bought a cool Politix blazer and a pink button up shirt. That's right - I now own a pink shirt.

With the weekend over, it's back to work.  Melbourne was really cool and Nat was a great tour guide although she has only lived there for a few months.  Many people say they prefer Melbourne to Sydney because of the friendliness, culture, art, music, etc.  I see that argument, but I'm still voting for Sydney because of the beaches, if nothing else.  Regardless, I'll definitely try to make it back to Melbourne before my time here is up.

Melbourne Weekend - Part II

Note: See Part I and Part III of my trip for the beginning of the weekend.

On Saturday morning after my Vegemite, butter and toast breakfast, we got up early and drove out of Melbourne to the Great Ocean Road toward the Twelve Apostles. I have read up on Australia and even did a report on the country in middle school, but I don’t remember ever hearing about or seeing pictures of these amazing natural rock formations. Apparently until the 1920s the site was known as Sow and Piglets until it was renamed 'The Apostles' for tourism purposes. Somehow this turned into 'Twelve Apostles' even though there were only nine of them (now there are eight, as one was reclaimed by the ocean in 2005).
After seeing them, I would put it at #3 on my list of things to see in Australia after the Opera House and Great Barrier Reef. Scroll down for pictures, but back to the story for now.

Nat and I used my Lonely Planet guide to point out sights along the route that twists and turns along the Victoria coast. I'd love to come back and cycle at least a piece of the road - the twists and turns along the coastline would make for a very scenic and difficult ride. The only downside is that the roads are so curvy that it would be a bit dangerous, but definitely worth it.

At one point the guide suggested that we go to Cape Otway lighthouse, the oldest in Australia. We turned off the main road and were told in the description to keep our eyes above to spot the wild koalas hanging from the eucalyptus trees. A few miles down the road we stopped and saw this guy.



The lighthouse ended up being not worth seeing, but we stopped back by the koalas to get a few more shots, then it was on down the road.  We made it to the Gibson Steps in another few hours and took the short walk down them to the beach.

Just a little further down the road we saw the visitor's center for the Apostles, and a little further to a helipad.  We walked up to the short line ($95 for a loop of the Apostles, $145 for a bigger loop that includes the Apostles and London Bridge formation, and a few more even larger loops that were more expensive).  We quickly decided that a flight was worth it.



After the ~20 minute flight, we walked around and took a few more pictures before starting on the drive back to Melbourne. We didn't follow the coast on the way back to save time, so there wasn't much in the way of excitement on the back. Highways are highways.

We planned our night around the Deck of Secrets from Friday night, this time focusing on the highest concentration of bars. It was near Chinatown, so we walked through the streets until we found a restaurant for dinner. We met up with a few of Nat's friends and bar hopped to Lily Black's, Loop, Double Happiness, New Gold Mountain, Meyers Place which were all OK. A few we just peeked inside and then left before you think we were doing a true pub crawl.

The best bar by far was called The Carlton Hotel. When you walk in, there is a soft red lighting and a huge bar. A massive stuffed ostrich with a pearl necklace guards the door and multiple stuffed peacocks line the shelves. A mounted giraffe head was posted on one wall and a psychedelically painted rhino was on the other. I'm not sure if they were real/legal, but they added to the uniqueness of the bar. The crowd was very eclectic, with tattooed hipsters and trendy socialites alike. It had multiple rooms as well as an outdoor patio that looked out over the street. Not only that, we went up a few flights of stairs to their roof bar, called Palm, for a view of the city. It had more of a beachy theme, but provided a contrast for those looking for a different vibe.

Although we multiple places, we still turned in fairly early to rest up for the Cycling World Championship the next day.  Stay tuned.

Melbourne Weekend - Part I

Melbourne... pronounced "MEL-bun" by the locals. It's been on my short list of places to see since I've been here. Australia’s Labor Day is the first Monday in October, which gave me the first chance to see the country since I went to Cairns.

Nat, One of my friends and coworkers for my client on this project, recently got reassigned when she got a promotion a few months ago. She had to move to Melbourne with the new job so we have only been able to stay in contact through email over the past few months. Months ago we had talked about taking a trip to Melbourne in October to see the UCI Road Cycling World Championships, and it made it so much easier to work out now that she actually lived there.

Melbourne is an interesting, artsy city that resembles large cities in Europe more than it does to Sydney. It's cultural and artsy and they love their Aussie Rules Football - 9 of the 16 teams come from the Melbourne metro area. Everyone talks about the little pocket bars hidden down random alleys spread throughout all parts of the city. My American friend, Laura, gave me a deck of cards called Deck of Secrets last week of 52 recommended bars in the city. One side had a picture along with the address, phone number and a short description; the other side had a map. These turned out to be really useful throughout the weekend. On a side note, this company only has a few cities covered (and only NYC from America). I’ve never seen a product like this in the US – if anyone wants to start this up with me back home, let me know!

Nat picked me up from the airport and we went out to a few places on the cards on Friday night. She has only been in Melbourne for a few month so everything was still new to her as well. I got some tapas and dumplings at a place called Golden Monkey. As promised, it was on a side street and down some stairs. The restaurant/lounge was Asian themed and pretty dark so we only stayed for one drink after I finished my food. Next up was Cookie, which was on a main road and not as hidden. It was also very open and large inside and resembled a 1920s general store. The third place we visited was Sister Bella, which the card promised to be ‘grungy’. We turned down a side street and then had to turn again into a dead end alley, going past 20-30 dumpsters and trash cans. With our expectations lowering by the second, we weren’t surprised to be disappointed when we saw that the inside was a reflection of the outside. We didn't go to hard since we had an early morning ahead of us.  See Part II and Part III for more.