Melbourne: Day Two :)

After a relatively good sleep in the hostel (my one issue with the Melbourne Central YHA was that being in such a central location on Flinders Street meant that there was quite a lot of street noise!), I was up and out to explore some more! First stop was the Crown Casino, which my friend Lynsey had insisted I visit, preferably at night, but I knew I wasn't going to have time for that. So at 10am I arrived at the amazing complex, which is just a five minute walk from Flinders Street, and went in to have a look around!













After exploring the casino I wandered along the river side back to Federation Square, and saw some amazing wall art on the way!







I enjoyed some lunch in the square and then headed back to the hostel to go off on the Neighbours tour!! I'm going to do an entirely separate post on that, since I took so many photos! But here's one for this post anyway!


Outside Harold's Store!!!

After the amazing Neighbours tour I took a long hard look at the tram timetable and jumped on a tram to St Kilda, another part of the city I'd been told to check out for its cool, artsy vibe. St Kilda is the studenty bit of Melbourne, and definitely feels a bit grungier and edgier than the centre of the city! I got off the tram at Luna Park and was amazed at the noise in this part of the city - it's so loud, with music blaring everwhere.



I headed straight for Acland Street to get a cake as once again Lynsey had told me that I would love the cake shops there - and she wasn't wrong!



I devoured a lovely cupcake from Acland Cakes and made my way down to the beach at St Kilda, just so I could say I had seen it! By the time I got there it was late afternoon and dusk was sort of setting in, and there were some really interesting clouds! I also got really overexcited about this amazing sand sculpture of a turtle with candles in it!





I headed off from the beach to get a tram (and then a train!) to Chapel Street, one of the hugely long streets in Melbourne, to meet Stacy and her boyfriend Chris for dinner and a drink. Then it was back to the hostel to shower, pack and a get a good night's sleep before flying back to Sydney the next day!

I had an absolutely brilliant time in Melbourne, and I'm so glad I went! Keep your eyes peeled for my Neighbours tour post - it was so much fun! Thanks so much for reading!

Melbourne: Day One :)

After an amazing week in Port Douglas I decided to fly to Melbourne. Since none of my friends were able to join me, this was the first part of the trip I was really doing on my own, which was a bit daunting to begin with! I knew that I really wanted to see Melbourne though, and so regardless of who was or wasn't able to make it, I was going to explore this city!

When I say I was alone, that is true for the most part. I flew there and back on my own, stayed in a hostel on my own and explored the city on my own. However, one of my friends from uni happened to have just moved to Melbourne, so I met up with her and her boyfriend to go to the museum the first day, and for dinner the second day, so it was nice to see a friendly face! Spending time in a new city on my own, however, wasn't half as scary as I thought it might be. I'm comfortable in big cities - as long as there are signposts and lots of people around I'm happy!


Flinders Street Station

The first day I wandered along Flinders Street where my hostel happened to be, and found myself at Federation Square. According to wikipedia Fed Square is a civic centre and culutral precinct in Melbourne, and was opened in 2002. It's such an interesting space, the buildings are angular and the pavement is covered in writing, and it's often used for big events in the city. St Paul's Cathedral sits across the road on one side, while Flinders Street Station (pictured above!) sits on the other side.








St Paul's Cathedral pictured from Fed Square

I then headed off past Fed Square and took a walk through the Queen Victoria Gardens, before turning back and heading past the Natinal Gallery of Victoria and the Melbourne Arts Centre.





After exploring that part of the city I set off down one of the many interesting little lanes Melbourne has to offer! I chose Degraves Street, a narrow little lane off Flinders Street which is full of cute cafes and restaurants, book shops and jewellery shops, and it has such a good atmosphere. My friend Stacy and I ended up having lunch in one of the cafes here and it was so lovely to sit outside (even though it was cloudy!) and people watch while we caught up!





That afternoon Stacy and I headed off to the Melbourne Museum where we met her boyfriend and spent a good couple of hours wandering around the different sections. We got there mid-afternoon, but you could easily spend most of the day there, and at just $10 standard entry it's not a bad deal.













When the museum closed at 5pm we went to a Vietnamese restaurant in Richmond, another part of the city just a train ride away, and had a really nice meal before I headed back to the hostel! The hostel I stayed in was the Melbourne Central YHA and it was great. I was in a four share girls dorm, with three other really nice girls, and the bed was perfectly comfortable. The staff were lovely and while I didn't actually use the kitchen, the bathroom was amazing! The showers were huge and always perfectly clean, with a shelf to put your shampoo etc on - they were the best showers of the three hostels I've stayed in in Australia!

Keep your eyes peeled for Melbourne Part 2 which features a very exciting trip to a famous television street...

Thanks so much for reading, let me know what you've been up to in the comments below :)