World Traveller 73 
City Visit: Melbourne, Australia – Part I
This post is one chapter on our trip to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Melbourne with The Great Ocean Road, exploring The Yarra Valley and the beaches of The Gold Coast via Qantas First Class. This trip was booked using Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.
If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.
Read More From This Trip
- Introduction: Melbourne & Whitsunday Islands, Australia via Qantas First Class
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Vancouver – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines Premium Class: Seattle – Los Angeles
- Marriott LAX, Los Angeles, USA
- To Malibu for Lunch, California, USA
- Qantas First Class Lounge: Tom Bradley International Terminal Los Angeles, USA
- Qantas First Class: Los Angeles – Melbourne
- Westin Melbourne, Australia
- City Visit: Melbourne, Australia – Part I
- City Visit: Melbourne, Australia – Part II
- The Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia
- The Great Ocean Road and the 12 Apostles, Victoria, Australia
- Qantas Business Lounge: Melbourne
- Qantas Business: Melbourne – Hamilton Island
- Qualia Luxury Resort, Hamilton Island, Australia
- Pebble Beach at Qualia Luxury Resort, Hamilton Island, Australia
- Cruise to The Great Barrier Reef, Hardy’s Reef, Australia
- The Great Barrier Reef via Hamilton Island Air Helicopter
- Whitehaven Beach and Hill Inlet, Australia
- Virgin Australia: Prosperine – Brisbane
- Surfers Paradise Marriott Resort and Spa (Gold Coast), Australia
- Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Australia – Part I
- Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast, Australia – Part II
- Qantas Business Lounge: Brisbane
- Qantas Business Class: Brisbane – Sydney
- Pier One Sydney by Autograph Collection, Sydney, Australia
- Qantas First Class Lounge: Sydney Kingford Smith, Sydney, Australia
- Qantas First Class: Sydney – Dallas
- American Express Centurion Lounge: Dallas Fort Worth, Texas, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Dallas – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines Flagship Lounge: North Satellite – Sea Tac, Seattle, USA
- Alaska Airlines: Seattle – Vancouver
City Visit: Melbourne – Part I
After arriving on our first day, we set out from the hotel to funky Desgraves Street. It was a very short walk from the hotel; less than 5 minutes.
Hanging out on Desgraves Street:
We plunked ourselves down for a coffee and Avocado Smash with a poached egg, lime, feta and mint over a toasted bagel. We had this outside al fresco under winter patio heaters. Before long, there wasn’t a seat to be had on the deck as it filled up with coffee and breakfast lovers.
Exploring the Melbourne Central Business District:
After breakfast snacks, we wandered up to the Centreway Lane, a charming pedestrian area with a light urban grit to it. It was somewhat reminiscent of Hong Kong, without the searing humidity or the Asian and British population
And over to the Block Arcade where there were some intriguing spice shops and tea parlours that were just getting going for the day.
While MrsWT73 looked into clothing stores, I looked in to the graffiti’ed Union Lane, one of the many graffiti artist scenes around Melbourne. Checking out the graffiti’ed lanes would form part of the entertainment during our stay in Melbourne.
After the brief shopping inspection, the sun started to come out for the day. We ended up wandering down through the urban landscapes of Melbourne to the Yarra River. The Yarra River is just south of downtown, and walking the south bank, where there were a lot of cafes and restaurants that were just getting going for the day.
Walking through the South Side of Downtown:
On the south side of the river, the view of downtown makes for a nice skyline. The south side was a newer part of Melbourne with a more contemporary feel to it.
We ended up stopping at the Pony Fish Island, a wine bar immediately under the bridge for a small glass. Melbourne still has enough of a contemporary feel to it that it isn’t sewn up boring. Thankfully there were heaters on the patio as the sun had disappeared and the clouds were pretty menacing.
It was back to the hotel then a well earned sleep for day number one.
World Traveller 73 
Recent Comments