Autumn in Melbourne

One day in March, my colleague and I browsed the airasia website and booked our tickets to Melbourne for 7 days 5 nights from May 24 to 30, 2013.

The flight was right on time - departed from LCCT at 1.30 pm and reached Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne at 11.30 pm. 

My colleague's friend fetched us to the hotel. Didn't realise that we didn't take any photo of the hotel until we checked out. With our budget constraint, we stayed at City Centre Budget Hotel, 22 Little Collins Street, CBD Melbourne 3000.

Day 1

My colleague's friend picked us up at the hotel at 7am. Strolled along St Kilda Beach before breakfast.

We had breakfast at Beachcomber Cafe & Restaurant located right on St Kilda Beach.

Ordered big breakfast ~ scrambled eggs, crispy bacon,grilled tomato, sausages, hash brown, onion and sautéed mushrooms

  and pancakes with canadian maple syrup and cream

Next stop is the Brighton bathing boxes on Dendy Street Beach ~ a popular Bayside icon and cultural asset.

Then dropped by a morning market

Stopped for tea at Miss Marple's 

As it is only open at 11 am, we walked into Tea Leaves, Melbourne's largest range of Teas & Tea Pots.  

Bought a packet of Black Tea.

At Miss Marple's Tea Room, we had tea and Devonshire Scones ~ one plain scone and one fruit scone served with 'Miss Marple's Own' delicious home-made raspberry jam and lashings of freshly whipped cream.

After that, we are off for wine tasting at wineries :) 

First: Chandon

Second: Dominique Portet

Third: St Hubert's

Fourth: Punt Road

Fifth: Stones

Sixth: Yering Station

 Found this interesting :)

Joined by another friend, the four of us had dinner at Don Dinos Restaurant, 149, Victoria Avenue, Albert Park, VIC 3206.

Day 2

We took the Great Ocean Road Tour. The tour bus fetched us from the hotel at 7.45 am. 

First stop is Anglesea, the seaside town situated along the scenic Great Ocean Road on the Anglesea River.  Anglesea is a particularly significant town on the Great Ocean Road as it marks the first spot south-west of the road's official start at Torquay where it meets the coast.

Next stop is Lighthouse. Originally called Eagles Nest Point, the lighthouse was built in 1891.  The cement rendered concrete tower has a Chance the Brothers first order lantern and a 920mm focal length lens.  The original light source was vaporised kerosene.  When it was taken over by the Commonwealth Government in 1919 the light was converted to acetylene and automated.  Conversion to mains electricity took place in 1972.

Stopped for hot chocolate at Willows Tea House.

At noon, we stopped at Koala Cove

Lunch is included in the tour package. We had lunch at Iluka Restaurant in Apollo Bay.

I had fish and chips 

and (another) cup of hot chocolate!

Next stop is the 12 Apostles

At 3.40 pm, we stopped at Loch and Gorge

At 5.05 pm, we stopped at London Bridge

Back in the city at 9 pm.  Walked to Chinatown and had dinner at Jalan Alor Cafe.

We ordered chicken rice

and of course, char kuay teow :)

Day 3

Walked to Flinders Street Station and took the Skybus to Tullamarine Airport.

Day 4

Landed at Tullamarine Airport at 8.25 am.

Was treated for breakfast by a friend at the Hardware societe

I had hot chocolate ~ 54% dark callebaut ~ 

and omelette ~ prawns, peas, tarragon and lemon creme fraiche

while my friends had croissant and baked eggs ~ chorizo sausage, piquillo pimento sauce, crunchy almonds, queso de cabra goats milk cheese ~

We continued walking around the city looking for souvenirs for the rest of the afternoon.

That night, we had dinner at Tsindos Greek Restaurant.

We had seafood platter ~ grilled King Prawns, Swordfish Souvlaki, Calamari, Scallops and baby octopus served with Skorthalia ~ and Piatela Kreatika (Mixed Grill) ~ chicken Souvlaki, Gyro, Lamb Cutlet, Sausage and Kaftedes.

Took a taxi to Tullamarine Airport at 10pm.  Departed from Tullamarine Airport at 12.30 pm and reached LCCT at 7.30 am. 

It's goodbye Melbourne! It's goodbye Australia! Till we meet again... hopefully soon :)

Till next week, my journey to the land down under continues...