Melbourne – a short hop across the Tasman Sea. Our aim: two weeks of relaxation and to catch up with our friends and family who live there.
We stayed in an apartment by the coast in Elwood for the first 9 days, which is east of the CBD and hired some ‘vintage bikes’ to get around. We experienced 3 of the 4 seasons in one day on a day out cycling. A very heavy thunderstorm passed through which caused a lot of flooding (and us cycling with our feet underwater and mud sprayed from the wheels all over our clothes and hair!)
We visited Liz’s cousin Amy and her boyfriend Dom in Richmond, drank some yummy wine and caught up over a pizza. It was about 10 years ago that Liz and Amy last saw each other!
Then some sightseeing around Melbourne – a walking tour of the CBD, the contemporary arts museum, the Southbank, Elwood, Brighton and St Kilda (with its beach and penguin colony at the end of the pier). We ate some great food and drank some wonderful coffee.
Christmas Day was HOT – 37 degrees! We cycled over to Brighton and ate A LOT of food in a lovely Spanish / Italian restaurant. Santa made an appearance, handing our presents, and a guitarist strummed in the background.
Afterwards we attempted to go to Brighton Beach but it was far too hot. By sunset (and as the UK woke up) it cooled to a bearable 30 degrees and we watched the sun set over the sea and enjoyed a bottle of wine.
Boxing Day we visited Chris’s cousin, Ricky and his wife Göknur for a house party in their lovely place in Sandringham. We spent the day chatting to their friends, eating some great BBQ food (including an impressive vegemite lamb spit roast), and a bit of guitar karaoke as the day went on.
We also got to meet up with Melbourne’s newest residents, (Chris’s best man) Alex, his wife Carole and baby daughter Lara. They’d just moved into their new home, and we got to join them for their first dinner in the house, catching up on all of each others’ adventures over the last 6 months. They also took us out on a very enjoyable trip to the Yarra Vally for lunch and a tasting tour of wine, cheese, chocolate and ice cream!
For the last few days of our time in Melbourne, Chris’s friend Chris and his wife Venus kindly hosted us in their house in their north eastern suburbs. We had a great time playing in Chris’ Virtual Reality room, visiting the nearby parks, feeding Cockatoos and eating brunch in a Victorian railway carriage.
Our two weeks passed very quickly and before we knew it we were off to the airport again, this time for a very short flight over to Sydney.