Melbourne
- Silvia W
- Apr 30, 2024
- 4 min read
Over a month ago, my friend Olivia and I visited Melbourne! We managed to fit so much fun stuff into the long weekend we spent there. We took the overnight train after classes on Thursday to arrive early Friday morning in the city. The train was pretty nice all things considered, although on the way back I was dealing with a creaky train car and a snorer sitting behind me so that was a bit of a struggle. But the way there was great! Made even greater by the fact that I caught a glimpse of wild kangaroos in the wee hours of the morning.
When we arrived, Olivia and I dropped our stuff at our hostel and grabbed breakfast at a nearby bakery. Then we headed over to the Royal Botanic Gardens to see how they measured up to Sydney's. They were very similar, except Melbourne's gardens do not also border a harbour. I will probably compare the two cities a lot in this post, but really I'm just joining the culture - the two cities are always competing for who is the best.
After our stroll through the gardens, we viewed the art at the National Gallery of Victoria. (Victoria is the Australian state that Melbourne is in, as opposed to New South Wales, where Sydney is.) I give the art a rating of one uncomfortably large thumbs up!
We got lunch at a place called Pho Victoria, and I ordered a rice noodle soup. I tell you what, there is so much Asian influence in the food scene in both Sydney and Melbourne, I have been vastly improving my skills with chopsticks.
Bear with me on this next part, everyone. Our next stop in Melbourne was... Monopoly Dreams!! We found this immersive Monopoly experience on a list of things to do in Melbourne and we decided we had time for it. It was aimed at ages a little lower than ours, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. They had different rooms for the electric company, waterworks, and jail. They also had a carnival games area, Mr. Monopoly's mansion, and a "catch the money" game a la ticket blaster at Chuck E Cheese. And much more!
Mr. Monopoly welcomes us to his mansion
They had several different special edition Monopoly games on display, including the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic version - shoutout to Michaela O'Neill! I've played that one, thanks to her! I also went to jail, directly to jail, without passing GO, and without collecting $200. Just for being too awesome! Then we got to meet Mr. Monopoly, who was way taller than I think Mr. Monopoly should be. I also got to drive one of the iconic Melbourne Trams (Monopoly version). This was cool because we actually did ride several of the real trams around the city. Of course, I had to look a little evil for my picture driving one.
That night, we had dinner at a pub called The Elephant and the Wheelbarrow. We both ordered parmas. It was a must-try, because Melbourne is known for them. It was delicious.
Saturday morning, we walked around the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the largest stadium in the southern hemisphere. It also houses the Australian Sports Museum, but alas, the museum was closed because there was an Australian Rules Football match happening later that day. Still, we saw the outside of it.
We decided to instead go to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. It was such a well-done museum! It took us through the entire history of movie-making, including early animation tools, sound design, costuming, and other really cool stuff. It was all very interactive, too. One of my favorite exhibits was a simulation of a foley studio where I got to make sound effects for a clip from an old movie. You can see I followed the instructions for most of it, but my timing was a little bit off, and towards the end I got excited and just wanted the footfall sounds to be as fast as possible (because I'm silly like that).
They also had some miniatures from the LEGO Movie in their exhibit on stop-motion. And yes, it talked about how the LEGO movie is not actually stop-motion, it's just animated to look like it. So here's President Business, Wyldstyle, Angry Unikitty, and Benny!
We got some bubble tea in place of a meal for lunch so we could head out of town to the beautiful Brighton Beach. It was a very different vibe from the Sydney beaches I have been to. Not very many waves. The real attraction was the bath boxes, which people own and use for storage and a place to sit on beach days. They also make for a great Instagram photoshoot.
Once we got back into the city, we went to a sushi place that had a conveyor belt. I know it's a thing, but I had never experienced it. I liked being able to choose whether I want the food based on appearance instead of name.
Sunday was more chill as we had already crossed most of the stuff off our list of things we wanted to do. We got breakfast at a donut place near our hostel. They had tons of fun options but I went for something involving a LOT of chocolate. The place also randomly had the movie White Christmas playing on the TV, which I took as a sign that the donuts would be good. And indeed they were.
We then headed to Abbotsford Convent, which is not an active convent anymore, but rather a beautiful complex of gardens and historic buildings. There was also a cute little cafe where we ate lunch, including smoothies!
Then, we paid a visit to the State Library of Victoria. I needed to study for a quiz on Monday, and Olivia needed to relax with a good book - which she started and completed in the couple hours we were there! Great work.
We went to a place called The Mill for dinner. The food was yummy, and our waiter was great - although he initially pranked us by telling us the restaurant was closed, which completely fooled us. After our delicious meal, it was time to get back on the train. We made it back to our apartment area just in time for me to take my 9am quiz. What a whirlwind weekend!
And here is my verdict: I like Sydney better because I feel that there is more to do. Sorry Melbourne!
Had to look up Parma as it looked just like chicken parm which is a favorite of mine but in US is served with spaghetti and marinara sauce. That’s what it is but no sauce or spaghetti!
That’s my girl! The more chocolate the better! Glad that you got to Melbourne. A fun weekend!