August 2020
Rough Draft: Melbourne, Australia
Due to the COVID quarantine, I am creating rough draft, “off the shelf” travel itineraries for when travel resumes normal operations so we do not waste any time getting out and exploring!
Ever since we did our planning to New Zealand where I foolishly thought we could also include Australia as well in two weeks, I knew a separate trip would be warranted. It is a 5-6 hour flight from New Zealand to Australia – not exactly next door! Australia is enormous and there is so much of the country to explore that even a month trip dedicated would still miss things. My brother has had the opportunity to dabble in the eastern portion of the country and I am sold (was sold before to be fair!). I thought it would be really neat to road trip from Sydney to Melbourne (or vice versa) all up thee eastern coastline.
But in the event there is either an extended or abbreviated trip – since we have no idea what post-COVID travel will be like – I wanted to take time to focus on just the city of Melbourne.
What is there to do?
There is so much to do in Melbourne and it makes for the perfect base for exploration.
In Melbourne itself, make sure you stop by:
- State Library
- Queen Victoria Market
- Botanical Gardens
- St Kilda Beach
- Cafe and bar hopping
There are so many amazing places around Melbourne so in between eating find time to sneak out to some of these destinations:
- Wine tasting at Mornington Peninsula Wine Region
- Visit Phillip Island for wildlife fix
- Hike around Wilsons Promontory Marine Park
- If you have more time, extend west to the Great Ocean Road or south to Tasmania!
Where to eat?
Food crazes start in Melbourne so take full advantage of this foodie city!
It became an impossible task to widdle down the list of amazing places to eat, drink and be merry in Melbourne so I just included them all – and I am positive I still missed a bunch. Cafe hopping is an art in Melbourne so it seems to be a place you can wander in and out of places without concern of having a bad experience.
It was hard to make final decisions on where to dine without being there so I made a chart after the itinerary highlighting the top recommendations I found while researching this trip. If I missed any of your favorites or you have ones listed that are a hit or miss, let me know!
For those day trips I intend on including in the trip, I picked a few of my favorite food finds to add to the itinerary.
Here is how I would spend five days in Melbourne exploring the city and surrounding areas!
| Activity | Food | ||
| Travel Day | Morning | Travel | *For Melbourne food see chart below |
| Afternoon | Arrive in Melbourne | ||
| Evening | Explore Downtown | ||
| Day 1 | Morning | Botanical Gardens
Eureka Skydeck |
|
| Afternoon | State Library
Queen Victoria Market |
||
| Evening | Cafe and Bar hopping | ||
| Day 2 | Morning | Bike ride to beaches – St Kilda | |
| Afternoon | Neighborhood exploration | Mr Ryu | |
| Evening | Attica (fine dining) | ||
| Day 3 | Morning | Drive 1 hour to Mornington Peninsula
Peninsula Hot Springs Wine Tasting
|
Main Ridge DairySunny Ridge Strawberry Farm
Mock Orchards The Epicurean |
| Afternoon | |||
| Evening | |||
| Day 4 | Morning | Drive 1.5 hours to Phillip Island
|
Cape Kitchen |
| Afternoon | Rusty Water Brewery Cafe Lugano |
||
| Evening | Summerland Beach for the penguin parade at dusk | ||
| Day 5 | Morning | Drive 2 hours to Wilsons Promontory Marine Wilsons Promontory Marine Park
|
|
| Afternoon | |||
| Evening | Return to Melbourne | ||
| Travel Day | Morning | Depart Melbourne |
For food around Melbourne, here are just a few places that were highlighted while doing research planning this trip. There is SO MUCH FOOD to eat here. It is impossible to find them all but figured this was not a bad place to start! If I missed any of your favorites or you have ones listed that are a hit or miss, let me know.
|
Food |
Nice Meal | Cafe/Coffee |
Bar/Other |
|
Downtown |
|||
| Dexter (BBQ)
Belles Hot Chicken |
Giro d’italia (italian) | Proud Mary
Seven Seeds Coffee Roasters |
Carlton Wine Room
Bar Liberty Blackcat Bad Frankie Gelato Messina |
|
North of Downtown |
|||
| Asian food:
CJ Lunch Bar DonDon Yamato Din Tai Fung Calia Emporium Other: Cumulus The Hardware Societe Laneway Greens |
Tipo 00 or Osteria Ilaria
MoVida or Bar Lourinha Lucy Liu Kitchen or Flower Drum |
The League of Honest Coffee
Krimper Cafe Little Rogue Brother Baba Budan Manchester Press Dukes Coffee Pellegrini’s Higher Ground Patricia Coffee |
City Wine Shop
Cookie Rooftop Bar Chuckle Park Bar Gin Palace Arlechin Siglo Arbory Ponyfish Island Brunetti Finders |
|
East and South of Downtown |
|||
| Third Wave (BBQ)
Lentil as Anything |
Oster
Chez Olivier Le Bistro Atlas Dining |
The Kettle Black
Top Paddock Cafe |
|
If you have been to Mebourne, let me know what I missed and what your favorites are!
Don’t forget to check out all DESKRIB itineraries here!
