A view of Melbourne from the path along the Yarra River.
There are no days of boredom. From the museums, art galleries and exhibitions in the state library and arts precinct to very cheap places to eat (mostly vegetarian and Hare Krishna), to cheap entertainment such as watching the tennis or short documentaries on the big screen at Federation Square while relaxing in a deckchair, open-mic nights and free weekly cinema at Southgate (which I never got to). There's also the Queen Victoria market, which often has leftover fruit & veg lying around afterwards for the taking.
I stayed in an Air BnB a couple of nights right across from Southern Cross station, which was on the 29th floor and had a shared pool and sauna. Clean and cheap hostels in Melbourne are hard to come by. My best experience was at King Street Backpackers which was also by Southern Cross station and provided free wifi and breakfast. Many of the hostels are full of 'longtermers' who are working in the city on their working holiday visa which can make it very cliquey and difficult to meet people.
Melbourne is a big city but feels like a small one. The tram system makes everywhere very accessible and people talk to you and help you rather than always seeming like they are in a rush.
There are some delightful 'bohemian' nooks such as Fitzroy and Brunswick, packed full of vegetarian cafes, coffee shops with scruffy sofas, 'op shops' and vintage clothing shops. You can gaze out the window of a coffee shop watching the eclectic characters and fashions go by.
St Kilda, Brighton and Port Melbourne are seaside suburbs with chilly South Pacific waters, countless gelato shops and lots of sunbathers during summer. I stayed until after 10pm to watch the fairy penguins coming home to their nests under the rocks of the pier. There were a lot of spectators waiting and volunteers in luminous vests to advise us not to sit on the rocks or use flash photography.
When the penguins appeared (one by one, in contrast to Philip Island where they return in a group), small groups huddled around them, often not more than a metre, trying to take un-blurred photos in the dark without flash. I have to admit I was part of that huddle. And I got maybe one photo that isn't blurred. Nor is it a clear photo. But they seemed undeterred by us and slowly flapped around before hobbling between the rocks. Then another huddle appears and I quickly join that huddle!
I also did an overnight road trip with my brother to the Twelve Apostles. Here giant limestone columns stick up out of the crashing waves. Apparently there never were actually twelve but it was just a name given to them. The number of columns increases due to erosion of the cliffs creating arches and new creations when they break off from the land, or decreases due to collapsing columns. We stayed over at a very clean hostel in Port Campbell and watching the Australian Open final with a whiskey and wine!
The Twelve Apostles
Later I went on a day tour run by Bunyip to Wilson's Promonotory or 'Wilson's Prom' as the locals call it. It was very beautiful, white sand silicon beaches, giant blue waves crashing in, cliffs and small mountains to climb. I can imagine it would be a beautiful place to spend a weekend camping, but for a day trip it was quite rushed.
Wilson's Prom. Photo taken from the top of Mount Bishop
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