We left the promise of saltwater pools behind somewhat reluctantly, but I’ll admit I was tickled at the idea of (slightly) more moderate weather. In fact, when we set off for Melbourne, the forecast predicted rain every day, starting the night of our arrival. Amazingly, we didn’t run into a single drop of rain during our whole stay.

We did run into a wild Johan, though! Our roommate Johan moved to Canberra, the Australian capital, back in November to teach at the university. He did us the kindness of flying out to meet us in Melbourne for the weekend, and it was a delight! It was pretty silly in that he acted as tour guide and brought us to many delicious restaurants, but he had only visited one time before. Melbourne is known for its food scene, so I told him I was surprised he didn’t want to try any new places. Luckily, he had good reason for bringing us to familiar spots – they were all top hitters.

For dinner that first night, he took us to a semi-famous rooftop bar in the happening food district, Fitzroy. I quickly decided we were not cool enough for the scene, and the bar menu didn’t seem like it could satisfy our hunger, so we scurried back to the ground floor to have some real food in their pub-like restaurant. Jonathan had a super juicy burger, Johan had an okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake) burger, and I had a brisket slider. All were so tender and yummy. We also split a haloumi plate with crackers.

Things got weird when a group of men walked by on their way out the door from the rooftop, and the last one stopped at our table and leaned in to point at our haloumi. I thought he was going to ask what it was or something, but instead, he asked, “Ay, mates, mind if I pinch a bit?” I think we were all confused, so we let him, and then he grabbed a pretty healthy scoop of our appetizer before running to catch up with his friends, a big smile on his face and a, “Cheers!” in thanks. Very strange. Never trust a random bar dude who wants your food for no reason!

Then we wandered the very cute town and pointed out all the restaurants we wanted to try in the future.

To top off the evening, we stopped for ice cream. The place Johan wanted to visit had a line thirty people out the door, so we backtracked a bit to another he had tried before, and I got one scoop each of Better Than Nutella and Honeycomb. Twas very yummy, but also super rich. I needed something more refreshing in the heat!

We took it pretty easy and chilled in the Airbnb before turning in, and in the morning, Johan took us to a suuuuper cute brunch spot. It was tucked into a hanging maze of grape vines (stocked up with bunches and bunches of grapes!) and the decor was at once charming and strange.

We shared a lamington (an Aussie cube cake coated in chocolate and coconut) while we waited for the very busy wait staff to wait on us, and I had some yummy, yummy, yummy fig crumpets with a mocha. Jonathan ordered a gluten free pastrami dish, which he was surprised to find out was a pastrami salad type thing (lots of tasty flavors), and Johan had a pork dish. It was honestly really hard to choose a dish because their whole menu was so interesting and complex.

I had been skeptical that my two crumpets would fill me, but we left very full and satisfied. Yet, we were too close to the famous Melbourne croissant shop, Lume, to pass it up. I had read about both this place and the rooftop bar in the flight magazine on the way over, so Johan clearly knew his stuff.

The croissant line wasn’t too long, and it sounded well worth it. I watched the prep process with drool in my mouth. It was so exacting, they used rulers at every step of the process, and the lady rolling the croissants had such a perfectly repeatable technique! It made me want to finally go home and try making croissants myself.

There were six options, and we ordered four: plain croissant, pain au chocolat, lemon, and almond.

Then we found a cute little makers market! I really wanted this super soft wool scarf, but I couldn’t even get myself to try it on, let alone buy it, while I was currently so hot.

Our big plan for our Sunday was to spend the day at the beach. As we waited for the tram, however, a transit worker informed us that we should take another tram around the corner due to reroutes and busy routes. Turns out, the one day we chose to visit St. Kilda was also the singular day of the the year that the St. Kilda Festival occurs – the largest free music festival in the world! How lucky!

We got off a packed tram and emerged onto a packed street lined with stalls, food, and music. The wind was strong, which felt good as the temperature continued to rise. Not long after we arrived, I found the local swing dancing organization performing and teaching a lesson! The boys clearly wanted to move on, though, so we got some food and kept moving.

Along with the many music stages that had been set up, several carnival rides were popped up here and there. It was quite the fanfare. Over at the end of the main street, though, a 108-year-old amusement park, Luna Park, stood. It was designed by the same guy who built Coney Island, and it had the same giant clown-face-style entrance! Very cool.

I split from the boys for a bit and lounged on a hillside listening to the big stage’s performer, and when he finished his set, I tiptoed back to check out the dancing. Lucky for me, they were done with lessons for the moment and were straight up social dancing! I got several great dances in that tired me right out. It was honestly so hard to breathe in the muggy heat that I had to take a water break and catch my breath after every song. We also did a super fun Charleston line dance where a leader called out our moves, and I got to be right in the front. 😀 Happy place….

There were a couple more performances, and then the boys found me right as we were doing the shim sham to wrap up the day. Such fun.

We didn’t quit get the beach day we planned for, but we did manage a short visit down to the water before we left.

And then it was back to the city to see Johan off to Canberra. Thanks again for visiting, Johan! It was great to meet up on the other side of the world!

Alone again, The Boy and I were going to head back to Fitzroy for some yummy dinner, but we were so tired, and he kept going on about this ridiculous Australian dish, so we decided to be lazy and pop into a shop right outside our apartment. Mom and Dad, I give you, the Halal Snack Pack, or HSP, for short:

Isn’t it beautiful? Bahahahaha. It’s literally shaved meat on top of a bed of French fries that is doused in sauces. I do not know why this exists, and it was no Fitzroy meal, but it was honestly decently tasty. A very good lazy or late night meal.

We didn’t want to turn in just yet, so we checked out the rock climbing facilities in our apartment. All bouldering. There was a roof overhead, but it was outside, so it was fun to feel the breeze while climbing.

I had big plans to start Monday early, but those plans were derailed, and we finally crawled out of bed for brunch around one. No matter – it forced us to walk a little farther for a brunch place, and we found an AMAZING spot. We had fresh squeezed orange juice, and I ordered an ube waffle topped with black sesame ice cream (one of my favorites!) and a bunch of fruit, including jackfruit!

So pretty! Jonathan had a char siu eggs benedict, and I’ll admit I probably stole more than my fair share of bites. Gaaaahhh both dishes were so good. I almost even ordered a third dish just because it sounded so good.

Now, most of my Big Monday Plans were very uninteresting to Jonathan, and he wanted to watch a cricket game, which is also mildly uninteresting to me. Therefore, we split up for the rest of the day and went off on our own adventures. First time traveling together where we tried this. I think it went pretty well!

I set off to the National Gallery and was immediately distracted by the Victoria Gardens.

Eventually, I made it to the Gallery. There were some interesting exhibits on.

I dilly dallied a bit too long in the areas that didn’t interest me, but I was happy once I found the Impressionists!

Rodin, Degas, Monet, Picasso…. Happy place number two.

There was one exhibit with several videos by an Iranian artist, and the largest viewing area had bean bags spread out on the floor for viewers. I always love it when art museums convince adults to lay on the ground. There’s something so precious to it.

Satisfied with my art intake, I headed back outside, churros and warm chocolate in hand, to explore the Royal Botanical Gardens.

I spent about two and a half hours here and took around a hundred pictures, so I’ll try to take it easy on you. Here are some of my favorites:

I was planning on just saying, “Hi,” but I’m a sucker for gardens, and this one was huge and very pretty.

I was finally about to leave when I decided to turn around and search for the tropical glass house. Sure glad I did!

It was lovely in there. My favorite part of the whole complex, though, was the Herb Garden. It was a tiny little walkabout, but there were dozens of herbs growing here! I touched as many as I could to breathe in their scent. I wished Jonathan was there so I could test him. I like to tease him because he always thinks everything is rosemary. Tehehehehe.

At the tail end of the garden was the World War I memorial. I spent some time here and then wandered down the street to explore this main area of downtown.

These little sushi places are all over Melbourne – they are little walk-up counters that sell mini sushi rolls for the equivalent of about two dollars, along with lots of other yummy sashimi, tempura, etc. It’s such a wonderful idea, and I decided to try it for dinner. It was soooo good. I got an eel roll, a salmon roll, and a tempura roll.

After topping it off with a smoothie, I paid a lady with a typewriter to write me a poem, wandered the street to the end, and popped into the Victoria State Library.

So pretty! I was also pretty tired at this point, so when they kicked me out of the library, I met up with The Boy back at our apartment, and we topped the night with some climbing and swimming.

A very full three days, with two more to come! I’m glad we decided on a longer stay in Melbourne. Tune in to hear about the rest.

Venlig hilsen/ cheers,
-Lizzy-wa