Week 156: Melbourne

A week of jet lag, tall buildings, exhibitions, old friends, lectures, lamingtons, croissant queues, long beach walks, rickety rollercoasters, Hanging Rock, dead kangaroos, and a long drive.

Posted on by Rowan Manning.
Tagged with HolidayFoodWalking

  • Melbourne is a fun city. We’ve been fighting a little bit of jet lag but our sleep seems to be back to normal after week 1. We’ve enjoyed ourselves a lot despite it!

  • A view from the 45th floor of our Airbnb, with skyscrapers everywhere and a road junction below

    On Sunday we travelled into Melbourne proper and checked into our 45th floor Airbnb. It was fun staying so high up and it meant we could cook a few nights. Monday was a bit of a write-off, we explored central Melbourne a little and ate some food but then had an early night because we were tired and cranky.

  • On Tuesday we went for a walk into South Melbourne and ended at The Lume which is hosting a celebration of First Nations art and music. It was really well done; laying in a room surrounded by amazing projected art was what we needed after traipsing around in the heat.

  • After work time we met up with Leigh, an old colleague who moved back to Melbourne a few years ago. It was great to see him and we shared a few drinks near our Airbnb.

  • A tray of three Lamingtons with a cup of tea. One is covered in torched meringue, another in multicoloured sprinkles, and the third is a classic chocolate-coated one dusted with coconut

    On Wednesday we had booked tickets to an open lecture at Melbourne University (on colonial debt). We spent most of the day hanging around that area, visiting Tokyo Lamington and Melbourne Museum. After the lecture, we went to the European night market to taste some Australian interpretations of European food – some great, some confusing.

  • On Thursday I got up early to queue for Croissants at Lune then we lazed around the apartment all morning to recuperate. We ate at Tonka in the evening then went to see some comedy in Fitzroy.

  • A beautiful white beach under a blue sky, lined with palm trees

    On Friday we got up earlyish and walked the solar system into St Kilda. It was a beautiful day to walk along the beach, especially when interspersed with good food and drinks.

  • The entrance to Luna Park which is a large creepy-looking face, you walk through the open mouth to enter

    We spent the evening at Luna Park, checking out the world’s oldest continually-running roller coaster, then ate bottomless pizza and cocktails.

  • Aside: I swear 90% of the bar staff and waiters in Melbourne are British or Irish.

  • On Saturday we did absolutely nothing, deservedly.

  • Today we picked up our hire car and left Melbourne. We plan to drive up the coast over several days to visit Sydney. The coast road is supposed to be beautiful and we have motels booked in a few of the picturesque little towns on the way.

  • Charlotte standing beneath a large suspended rock

    We took a fairly long detour to Hanging Rock where we enjoyed a picnic at the summit, then started the ~5-hour drive to our first motel.

  • Wildlife spotting tally:

    • Kookaburras: 1

    • Puffer fish: 1

    • Starfish: 1

    • Rats: 3

    • Parrots: 20+ (stopped counting)

    • Australian Magpies: 20+ (stopped counting)

    • Kangaroos: 7 dead, 0 alive (roadkill is no joke here 😓)