Melbourne: Australia’s Second City

I made a overall Melbourne post because the weather was not that great on the first two days so I didn’t take a lot of shots on those days. However, as New Year’s Eve was a great day weather wise, I got more pictures then.

The first day in the Melbourne area was my birthday. We woke up in Geelong and went into central Geelong for breakfast. Before we left, Sanna surprised me with lovely birthday gifts which were a Fitbit and a book about my favourite football Club Tottenham Hotspur and the current manager there Mauricio Pochettino. Sanna found this nice little French cafe called Casse-Croute. Sanna got a meal that included a “bowl of coffee” and she thought it was still a cup of coffee. But behold, literally it was a bowl of coffee.

From there we drove into Melbourne and went to the park where we reserved a spot for our camper van. Luckily, we were only a short walk to a tram stop that took us into central Melbourne in roughly 45 minutes.

The first day in Melbourne was rainy and unfortunately un-inviting. Sanna and I walked a little around Melbourne before finding a Greek restaurant for my birthday dinner.

The next day was New Year’s Eve eve and the weather was a little better but still quite unpredictable. We had brunch with one of Sanna’s lovely former colleague Lisa at the Arbory on the Yarra River. We walked across the river to the Southbank of Melbourne and explored the area a little bit and had coffee. Next stop was the Botanical Gardens and the Shrine of Remembrance. In the shrine was a museum about Australia’s history in significant wars including great displays about the Australian participation in both World Wars. We recommend you take a moment and look around the crypt and go up to the balcony where you get a great view of the Melbourne Skyline.

We walked through the Botanical Gardens and took a look at the St. Patrick Cathedral which is a beautiful church.

Later that night we found a BBQ place called Fancy Hank that had some very good brisket and pulled pork shoulder with cornbread and mac n’ cheese. They even had Arnold Palmers as a drink option only to our dismay that they used sparkling lemonade instead of traditional lemonade. The Arnold Palmer was good but I still prefer the traditional mix of lemonade and sweet tea.

The last day in Melbourne yielded the best weather of the three days while also being New Year’s Eve.

We slept in because we knew that we would be up late tonight. We came back to town and had coffee with my former colleague and boss, Chris and it was great to catch up with him.

We went to the Queen Victoria Market for a little bit before going by the Old Melbourne Gaol which was the first jail in Melbourne when it was a growing frontier colonial port town. From there we explored Federation Park, St Paul’s Cathedral and strolled along the Yarra River in Yarra Park. We listened to the Federation Bells for a little then we meandered back to central Melbourne for dinner.

We went back to the BBQ restaurant because there was an open air bar above it. We went there for a our annual end of the year scotch whisky and reflected on the past and planned and predicted the new year.

Sanna figured out that the same Shrine of Remembrance we were at earlier would be a great viewpoint of the midnight fireworks. So we went out there a little early to get a good spot. Man, we were not disappointed by Melbourne’s way of ringing in the new year.