Sep 01, 2010 12:53 PM
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We went to Melbourne in Dec and stayed there for a week. Since it was the end of the year, the whole city was decked up with Christmas decorations. We stayed at Oaks at Market Street.
As a traveler, the first thing you should do as soon as you get there is go to the tourist information center located opposite to Flinder’s station. You will find loads and loads of information and helpful volunteers so that you can plan exactly what you want to do each day. They will tell you what each tour operator offers (and does not offer) and even book the tour for you after you make your plan. All the services are free. Do not forget to grab the map and the tourist guide that has a lot of discount and offer coupons at the back.
We visited the following places in Melbourne:
CBD or central business district:** The major business area of Melbourne is divided in neat squares. You can go anywhere if you have the map. We took the free city circle tram and went around the CBD to know what all we can see. And utilizing the tram we visited the museum, parliament house, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, China town, Victoria market, iMax theater (saw Beowulf in 3D), and a lot of other streets for shopping.
South gate:** Across the Yarra River is a big complex from where you can delight yourself with a variety of food and get river cruises. We took a package that took us upstream as well as downstream. We saved 50% with the coupon in the tourist guide. The view of the city through the river is quite amazing.
William’s town:** The downstream river cruise drops you off at William’s town where local people usually put up a small exhibition of unique handmade items. You get a few hours there to shop around and eat a little bit. Great place to observe sea gulls and pelicans.
Eureka sky deck:** We got free coupon for this while booking our “great ocean road” tour. The lift takes you up to the 88th floor in about a minute and then you get to see breathtaking views of the entire city. The best time to go there is in the evening so that you can catch the sunset and see when the lights go on in the city. The “edge” experience is also quite unique where you get a chance to stand in a glass cube protruding 3 meters outside the building. Looking at the traffic moving deep below your feet does make you go breathless for a while.
Great ocean road:** The bus tour was along Victoria’s spectacular coastline. There are many scenic lookout points. The must visits are – the twelve apostles, the London bridge, and the light station. The entire route is lined with beautiful trees on one side and the great ocean on the other. You may even spot some kangaroos and Kuala bears on the way. We got a chance to feed the birds too. It was a full day tour and we had booked the helicopter ride too, but because of bad weather the ride got cancelled. It is extremely windy there, so it is absolutely no use carrying an umbrella to save yourself from the rain. It is best to wear a well-fitted waterproof jacket with a hood.
After our stay at Melbourne we moved on to Sydney. I will write about that in another review.
