Hi everyone!
We slept very heavily last night, so heavily in fact we didn’t even realise that we had lost an hour after going to bed at 9pm. It was nice. We are staying in the Docklands in Melbourne which is an entertainment and shopping hub nearby Marvel stadium. It’s a nice, but touristy area.
We originally didn’t have this day on our itinerary but we thought since we don’t get here often we may as well spend an extra day in Melbourne. Underneath our hotel there is a coffee shop called Shall We Coffee so we grabbed a coffee, a strawberry matcha and a toastie here,
Where we are staying is part of the free team network which is pretty good, so we walked down to the closest tram stop and took the tram to our first adventure which was the Melbourne Botanical Gardens.
The Melbourne botanical gardens are enormous and charming. Lots of different varieties of flowers and plants. They also have the temple of the wind overlooking rod laver arena which is pretty cool. It is a nice escape from the hustle and bustle from the city.
It was quite wet the last few days which left the gardens green and damp. We walked about 8kms around the gardens exploring and enjoying the outdoors.
At the end of the gardens they have an impressive war memorial called the shrine of remembrance which overlooks the city.
After this we took the tram right into the cbd to get some lunch. We walked amongst the hordes of people to a viral sensation Hectors Deli. It’s a little deli at the top of Collins street that had about 100 people in there, but we were determined so we lined up and made it happen.
They whipped up our toasted sandwiches eventually. It took about 30-35 minutes all up which is pretty impressive considering the amount of people there. We got a tuna melt toastie and a beef and pickle. Both were delicious and we can see why they are so popular. Julian only ate the beef off the beef and pickle.
After that we walked about 3kms over the Queen Victoria Markets. We have been here a few times and it’s always great. We bought Julian some Mario toys and perused the markets.
After the markets we went down into the deli/dairy building where they have a specialty hot chocolate shop called Mork. It was an expensive dark hot chocolate but was so rich and creamy. You can also get it with a marshmallow which they toast for you! Delicious.
We took the tram back to our hotel for a quick regroup and then took Julian to a play place across the road called Little Builders. They have a sandpit with all different toys and rideables, a big ball pit and a Lego wall. We spent about an hour and a half here and he loved it.
We walked around in the shopping precinct that little builders is in which is called The District at Docklands. It’s a very new, open air and has lots of cool art pieces.
We picked up dinner at a Thai place called Miss Pings from here and took it back to our hotel to eat while we watch the NRL grand final. It was all not really good. There are lots of eateries around the Docklands here but none of them are good. The contrast between how good the food is in the city and how poor it is in the Docklands is stark.
We leave Melbourne tomorrow for the Great Ocean road.
Much love,
Ronnie, Aimee and Julian.
