It was quite sad to be leaving Sydney as I absolutely loved it – probably my favourite city in the world so far along with New York. We flew over to Melbourne around lunchtime – my BA Exec Club Silver card really had come in handy and made travelling so easy. No queuing at bag drop as you can use the Business Class check in and then can go into the lounge. Completely stress free!

We stayed at the Radisson in Melbourne which was in a great spot right opposite Flagstaff Gardens and the Queen Victoria market on a tramline. We arrived around 2pm and the first thing that hit us was the heat and humidity – 35 degrees! I’ll be honest I really struggled with it it just makes you feel like you’ve got no energy and a bit claustrophobic.

Melbourne has a totally different feel to it than Sydney. It’s hard to explain but there are a lot more older historic buildings while still having a lot of sky scrapers and it sort of felt more arty and ‘hippyfied’. On our first night we took the tram out to St. Kilda which certainly was hippy like and full of backpackers and pubs. We had drink in the famous Espy pub and grabbed a bite to eat in a little bistro with open windows so we could watch the world go by and do a bit of people watching. We only had 1 full day really so made the most of it, up early and spent a few hours wandering around the market which was amazing. Absolutely huge full of clothes, fruit, veg, meat, fish, cheese and fantastic deli stuff etc etc. Didn’t buy much but made a list of goodies for the card on Day 1 of our road trip. We also went to Melbourne Gaol which was fascinating – it’s one of the original cell blocks with lots of profiles of the prisoners including Ned Kelly, and really gave you a feel for what a dangerous place Oz was in those time.

We also took a comedy boat cruise on the Yarra River – wasn’t meant to be comedy but the boat was skippered by the Oz version of Paul Calf mullet and all, the tide was too low to see Herries Island which was the main reason we chose it – and then the boat broke down!! After about an hour in the heat we were finally rescued by another boat!!

Boat Rescue

On our last night we had a ‘fabalus’ meal at a restaurant Italy 1 that was recommended by Stuart. Absolutely gorgeous food and wine – a Christmas prez from my Dad – thanks Bill!! By the time we left on Saturday morning to pick up the hire car and start our road trip we had packed a lot in, but riding the free Circular Tram down to the car pick up we felt there was still a lot more to see of Melbourne. But 800km of road awaited us