Melbourne

My final stop in Australia! During my travels I met so many people who had already been and had a list as low no as my arm of places to visit (mainly brunch/dessert restaurants) as well as a handful of places I'd seen on Instagram. Melbourne really is the brunch capital of the world!

I spent my first day with a visit to the state library which had an impressive dome and a couple of interesting exhibitions about Melbourne's history. As I left the museum there was a free walking tour going on so I joined the tour for about an hour as the guide led us around the city, eventually peeling myself off to meet Jack, Theo and Astrid for souvenir shopping at Queen Victoria Market followed by Nutella-filled doughnuts at Doughnut Time, which seemed to be the busiest/most popular place in Melbourne! Afterwards we went around the film museum and had fun with the interactive exhibits, filming ourselves in bullet time predicting we were in The Matrix. Later we ticked off another place on my list, the Ponyfish Island Bar, a really cute bar on the river where we properly experienced Australian winter with mulled wine and outdoor heaters. Harry, another Exeter friend studying at Deaken this year, came in to meet me and we all went for dinner together in Chinatown. That evening I went to see what Melbourne's nightlife had to offer and a group of us went to the famous Revolver (or "Revs") on Chapel Street for a rather edgy night out. 

The next morning I met up with Harry again who gave me a personal city tour - it always helps knowing some locals! We explored the street art in Hosier Lane, visited the National Gallery of Victoria then went over to Fitzroy in the afternoon where we browsed the adorable Rose Street Market and had ice cream at Messina (another one crossed off the list)! That evening my friend Meijke who I'd met on Fraser Island hosted a drinks party at her house to celebrate her birthday. It was fun to catch up with her and meet some more Aussie (and Dutch) locals!

On my last full day I managed to tick off the one place I'd been desperate to go to before I'd even got to Australia. I saw an Instagram from The Naughty Boy Café before I flew out and knew I needed to visit when I got to Melbourne. Turned out it was just round the corner from Meijke's house and she also raved about it so it was a no-brainer. Breakfast that morning was an 'instashake' - brownie, Nutella and freeze-dried fruit - that was so impressive the man sitting opposite me insisted he took a photo. Probably just fast-tracked myself to type 2 diabetes and was in a sugar coma for the rest of the day but it was totally worth it!

Harry had tickets to watch an Aussie Rules match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground that afternoon so we went along with a group of his uni friends to watch Collingwood get thrashed by Port Adelaide and tried to grasp a concept of the rules. Afterwards we explored the shops for some final souvenirs and said our goodbyes and I packed my bags, ready to leave for Hong Kong.