It was 9pm at this point so I found my air B&B in Richmond which turned out to be lovely. Mahya had made swans out of my towels and gave me little shampoos and soap like in the hotels. She was also very nice too.
Day one in Melbourne and I found some new friends (Tree and Rinske) and went to the St Kilda festival. It reminded me a little of a tacky British seaside town and had a ferris wheel and a small beach but the vibe was good and there were lots of different music bands playing. We had a great time watching volleyball and listening to music. Then my friend took me to the pier where she showed me fairy penguins between the rocks. I had never seen wild penguins before and they were so cute.
Then in the afternoon I had to say goodbye to my new friends and go on my tour to Philip Island. This was primerary to see the nightly penguin parade. I went an a lovely chartered bus with 11 other people and he took us to the rocks and then to the parade. On the way I saw loads of wildlife including swamp wallabies:
Echidnas:
Geese:
owls, birds, seals and off course the fairy penguins:
They were so adorable and came waddling up the side of us, I then watched them for an hour make their way to their nests for the night. I arrived back in Melbourne at 1am but it was such an amazing day.
On day two was my Great Ocean road tour. I had booked a small tour of 12 but there were only 3 off us. Which made it better as he took us to places we wouldn't normally get to see on the big tour buses.
We stopped at Apollo bay:
The rainforest:
The twelve apostles (which were amazing)
and the London Bridge among other stops:
We then had dinner in Colac. It was another long day but the scenery was just beautiful and the tour guide was excellent.
The next day I went on a walking tour with my new friend Rinske from Netherlands, we then made another friend called Claudia who was also from the Netherlands. The free walking tour was great. She took us to the state library and the geol and told us a bout Ned Kelly. We learned about the History of Melbourne and went through the parks, Chinatown, Federation Square and the little alleyways with lots of street art and coffee shops.
Melbourne is known for its laneway cafes and coffee and it was very good.
After our tour a parted ways with my new friends to go to the National Art Gallery which displayed old and new art and some interesting art and really cool dresses:
Then I went to the Ian Potter art gallery which had new art and aboriginal art in it. By that point it was time to make my way to the Botanical gardens for my Shakespeare under the stars play (A Midsummer's Night Dream) which was by the Australian Shakespeare company and they were fantastic, even though at the end two of the actors got hurt in the fight scene so some of the cast improvised the end which was very well done and also very funny.
My last day in Melbourne and in mainland Australia and I started my day visiting the State Art Gallery and the Treasury Museum which gave great exhibitions on Melbourne and the gold rush and had Ned Kelly's suit of Armour he wore during his notorious shoot out.
I went for a coffee in Dukes Roastery which was great with very smooth lattes. Then had a raspberry mouse cake in the Hopetoun tea room in the famous arcade modeled on Milan. I then wandered through the streets and found some tape for my rucksack hole before heading to the airport for Hobart.
Melbourne is a great little city. It feels small as its so walkable but it is actually the same size as Sydney. It reminds me of Eastern Europe with the trams and tram lines over the streets and the large roads and small lanes. It has a lot of the old style architecture which Eastern Europe is famous for too. I enjoyed my time in Melbourne but as I lived in Sydney for so long I still think I prefer Sydney adding to the melbourne/ Sydney Debate!
sounds amazing so lucky to see all that wildlife and art xxx
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