Sharing is caring!

Melbourne is our home town. I love this city as much as I love New York, Tokyo and even London. Few cities manage to capture my attention and keep it as well as Melbourne does. Even when we lived a good hour regional train ride away I would happily flirt down to Melbourne on my lonesome on a Saturday and do stuff. Mainly free stuff as at the time I was only working casually and studying full time.

With so much variety in food, shopping (we now have H&M and Uniqlo) and art where does one start? What if you are only here for a day or two? Well my friends let me lead you on a merry journey through Melbourne-town. A word of warning- The following contains no reference to any sort of sport. Be it tennis, football, soccer, rugby or stuff. Melbourne on her own is a magnificently beautiful city. Whilst Australians, and certainly Victorians, are sport mad I believe that there is so much more depth and beauty then watching people fight over a ball.

Let’s talk about the hideous public transport, which in reality isn’t that bad. Confusing-Yes. But generally serviceable and user friendly once you know how. First things first you must purchase a Myki. Think London style Oyster card but way less cool and functional. Though things are improving. You can’t buy these cards once you are on buses, trains, planes and trams. They need to be prepurchased. You can buy these easily from a Myki store or a 7Eleven. There are over 800 retailers that sell myki’s. Now the really silly thing here is that they cost you $6 to buy and give you zero credit. If you are traveling on a weekend a day fare will set you back $6. Travel during the week and it’s $7.16. These fares quoted are daily fares. So you can hop on/off any mode of public transport in Zone 1 without being charged any more. So without stepping out of Zone 1, the city area and beyond it’s going to  cost you at least $14 for the first day. Now this is a lot cheaper then the $200+ fine you will receive if you are busted not having a ticket. And trust me the Myki inspectors are mean, with no tolerance for fare evaders. Ignorance is no excuse. Think you can get away without paying that fine? Well the Australian government may not let you in next time!  More information on the Myki system can be found here- Myki Tickets

Melbourne is slowly becoming more bike friendly. Mainly due to hipsters on these bad boys. Photo taken at Don’t Tell Charles- Flemington

If the weather is kind (don’t worry give it half an hour and it changes) why not hire a bike? Melbourne is slowly joining the rest of the free world and becoming more bike user friendly. Many of the popular areas have dedicated bike lanes and more local councils are putting in infrastructure for you to secure your bike to. The CBD does have daily bike hire stations, similar to those in London and other such cities. There are a few places to hire vintage bikes and helmets, such as The Humble Vintage with five locations around town. Rentals include helmet, lock and a copy of the map and guide publication Melbourne for Visitors and Casual Cyclists when available. Rentals are around $30/day. Which equates to about what you will pay for parking in the city for the day.

No. 1 activity- Visit a Melbourne cafe. Hot chocolate from 7Seeds Little Bourke St cafe- Brother Baba Budan

Number 1 activity, now that you have chosen a method of transport around Melbourne, is to go to at least one cafe. But let’s be honest you’ll probably visit more. My suggestion is to start off at 7Seeds coffee, 106-114 Berkeley St, Carlton. Even though their address is Carlton this little gem of a place is just around the corner from the Queen Vic Market and is on the brink on the CBD. A perfect spot to start your Melbourne wanderings. On weekends you can’t go past the brilliant Matt Forbes doughnuts. If I could marry someone without ever knowing them Matt would be it.

The average coffee price in Melbourne is around the $4 mark.

Other great places to go for coffee whilst wandering around town-

Patricia– Only opened weekedays
League of Honest Coffee– Now opens Saturdays. Great sandwiches and serving up Padre coffee.
Brother Bada Budhan, Little Bourke St. This chairrific cafe is across from the outdoor stores such as Paddy Palin, Backpacking Light (down an alleyway) Bogon Equipment, Mountain Designs, MacPac, Platattack, Crumpler just to name a few. This area we liked to call Traveler’s Hub. The staff in these stores have been there, done that or are on their way to somewhere great.

By now you have started Number 2 great things to do- Shopping. The CBD in Melbourne has something to please everyone. Little Bourke St, as mentioned above. If you are after a more international flavour for clothing you can’t go past the newly opened Emporium and H&M store in the converted GPO.

Enjoy to art work near and far. Photo-Rusty Fox cafe, Kensington

Once you have wandered through the Queen Vic, gotten a coffee fix and picked up any minor items needed from the great travelers store on Little Bourke St, it’s time for Number 3-

Enjoy the art work along the lane ways. Melbourne is famous for the stunning street art work amongst the lane ways. Starting off at the GPO on the corner of Little Bourke and Elizabeth St walk down towards Flinders street. Don’t walk along Elizabeth take one of the lane ways off Bourke St Mall. I won’t spoil the surprises other than to recommend that you make your way down to Hosier Lane. Don’t be surprised if you stumble upon a bride or two along here. Or a photography class. The lane way here is ever changing and home to one of Melbourne’s most reliably great restaurants MoVida. By now you are probably a little peckish and thirsty. For a quick bite to eat and a decent drink pop into MoVida Next Door. A bit more user friendly and a lot more affordable then MoVida. Next Door offers a sweet selection of Spanish tapas. I can never leave without devouring a creama catalana. Think citrus creme brulee. Enjoy.

MoVida the spot for a quick bite to eat

Now we have two choices going forward. Depending on how art/culture you are feeling. I always end up splitting my time between The National Gallery of Victoria and the Melbourne Museum when I have a spare afternoon off. The NGV is only a short stroll across the Yarra River from MoVida. You can start at the Ian Potter Gallery at Federation Square and continue up along St Kilda Road to the International NGV. Both these galleries are open from 10am-5pm. Though the Museum is heading a bit backwards from where we’ve come. Entry to the NGV is free. Occasionally there are visiting exhibitions with a small cover charge.

Finally go eat some great food with great friends. Number 4 may seems like a repeat of the above but in all honesty Melbourne has some amazing places to eat. We never feel too sad about missing out on the food from our travels as there probably is a place in Melbourne that will help soothe our wants. Here’s a quite international list of places we love to eat and greet our friends.

Spanish- Bomba offering a great selection of Spanish wines, crafty cocktails and delicious dishes. If you can’t get into the restaurant down stairs take the lift to the rooftop.

Mexican- La Tortelleria is great but you will need a car to get here or a decent taxi. Worth the travel to try out the flan

Thai- Bangpop down on Southwharf. Open from lunch onwards they whip up some street food inspired Thai.

Vietnamese- I can never go past Uncle St Kilda. This place still has a special spot in my heart for great food and even better customer service. A long session is always had here.

Our last words of wisdom comes from the streets of Melbourne themselves. Please, pedestrians give way to tram. Trams are akin to a rhino on a skate board listening to the top 10. They are exceptionally heavy and slow. They will not and can not stop in a hurry or swerve out the way. You’ll hear their native call TING TING TING, much like that of a bicycle bell.

Words of wisdom, Melbourne street.

Enjoy Melbourne.