The initial stop on our international journey…Australia! More specifically, Melbourne. Which means that this city on the southern edge of Australia is our first blog post. We spent a grand total of four days in Melbourne. Here is a look at what we did those four days.
Rewinding: The Journey To Melbourne
Getting to Australia is not a quick flight. From San Francisco to Melbourne, it’s about 16 hours. Add a couple more stops before San Francisco and you’re looking at a full 27 hours of travel. We left Ohio on Monday, April 15th, and after a pretty easy journey we landed in Melbourne at 7:30am (Wednesday, April 17th).
Day One: Walk Around, Don’t Sleep
The number one goal we had on this first day was to not fall asleep until 9pm to help with the jet lag. After the Uber to our Airbnb in Carlton, we put on some fresh clothes and headed out.
First Stop, coffee. We wanted something close to our Airbnb so that led us to The Heart of Carlton. This was probably my favorite cafe during our time in Melbourne. The coffee shop is a small room that has just enough space a couple of small tables. Walking in your greeted by someone playing the old piano that somehow fits in this little place. This is where Nathan found out that an Americano is not a thing, instead it’s a Long Black. In total we spent about $10 for two coffees (one long black, one latte), a pastry, and ham sandwich.
From there we just walked around the neighborhood of Carlton and popped in and out of shops. This led us to the Carlton Gardens which was a nice little park filled with trees and some people chatting on park benches. I completely forgot that we were in Australia’s Autumnal season so the leaves were starting to fall of the trees.
Fighting off jet lag was not an easy task because as soon as we stopped, we were ready to sleep. As an easy distraction we went to Woolworths to grab snacks and grocery items for the next days. Somehow we stayed up for dinner. We found a little Italian restaurant to scarf down some pasta and tiramisu. This dinner was also a learning lesson for us that tipping is not necessary here!
Day Two: Driving (On The Wrong Side) To Safety Beach
We ordered a “car hire” via Turo for the day as we were driving down to Safety Beach to see Nathan’s old boss and grab lunch. On the walk to get our car, we stopped into Stagger Lee’s Fitzroy for coffees. This place was your typical relaxed coffee shop vibe. Great spot where locals popped in and out to grab their coffee before work while others sat at the tables and caught up.
On to the exciting part, driving on the left side of the road. It is about an hour drive from Melbourne to Safety Beach and taking public transit would have taken two hours so that is how we ended up with a Turo for the day. Nathan eventually got the hang of the windshield wiper being on the left and turn signal on the right. Driving on the wrong side basically means paying a lot more attention to things that you didn’t think twice about in the states.
Moonlit Sanctuary
We finally made it to Safety Beach and got our first fish and chips of the trip at Salt. From there we drove to Moonlit Sanctuary to see some animals! Of course we had to pay a little extra for food to feed the Wallabies and Kangaroos. Some Wallabies were friendlier than others, but if they wanted the food in your hand they would just gently (except one guy) pull you hand down with their claws to reach it.
After the eventful day exploring and driving we headed back to Melbourne, dropped off the car, and had big bowls of Pho at 102 Uniq.
Day 3: Vintage Shopping
Not many photos from this day as we primarily spent the entire day walking around and going into various vintage shops.
Cafe of the day was Good Measure. I saw this place on Instagram and it was a little different than the rustic coffee shops we had been going to in Melbourne. The natural wood and plants adorning the walls gave it a fresh twist. Definitely a more popular spot as the tables filled up quickly and there was typically a line to order coffee for takeaway.
With the weather being colder in Melbourne, Nathan wanted to see if he could find a sweatshirt (spoiler alert, he didn’t). This venture turned in to solely looking into each and every vintage shop along Smith Street. We realized as soon as you call something “vintage” the price tag becomes 2x-3x higher. We somehow managed to find at least one Ohio State sweatshirt in every store (sadly Purdue gear was nowhere to be found).
After a day of walking, we booked a last minute yoga class at Upstate to wind down.
Day 4: Australian Rules Football
You know the drill, we walked around to find coffee first thing. Cyrus Art Lounge is a cute little shop that the most adorable duo was running. The big activity today was going to the Melbourne Cricket Ground for Australian Rules Football.
I won’t try to explain what this sport is but it isn’t American football, rugby, or soccer. It is a sport in and of itself with some common qualities as the other popular sports we know. While it took us awhile to understand what was actually happening, it was fun to spectate. Highly recommend going if you are ever in the area as it’s fun to watch and yell with the crowds when which ever team you pick scores.
To end the day we walked around the Royal Botanic Gardens and hopped on the train back home.
Overall Thoughts
We loved Melbourne and our time there. It was a great first stop in Australia and introduction to the land down under. Not too many learning curves besides looking right first before crossing the road, Americano coffee order is not a thing, and tipping culture is not a thing here like it is in America. The weather was beautiful, people were nice, and ultimately there was more than enough to keep us entertained through these four days. We would certainly go back to Melbourne again!
