Melbourne (Sept 2019)

Firstly, indulge me while I briefly explain my love affair with Australia. Way Way back, I visited Perth and Sydney and I always thought that the country as a whole was really tidy, neat with big wide open spaces and amazing climate. It had a brilliant transport system and I even tried to migrate there for a couple of years.

In 2019, I decided on and planned for this trip because I never got over my fascination for all things Aussie. I meticulously planned the itinerary , flight and Airbnb more than half a year beforehand and was looking forward to it all year round.

Melbourne is the second most populous city in Australia and is the coastal capital of the southeastern Australian state of Victoria. The city centre is a blend of bustling laneways, museums, shops, restaurants and cafes. It is rich in culture and its art-filled alleyways are a major attraction to tourists. There is something from everyone here, from fine-dining, rooftop cocktails to classy shopping and scenic nature. And that brilliant, brilliant weather. I may also want to mention here again that it has one of the best transport systems for people to really get around.

The Vacay overview

As with most of my trips, I tried to follow a strict itinerary and my standard doctrine of visiting as many prominent places as possible in as little time. Get great pics, take in the view but waste as little time as possible in one place.

I found a really great Airbnb host who was really experienced in helping tourists find their way around. I stayed in the suburb of Fiztroy, which was known for its restaurants, pubs and nightlife. I was warned that the streets would be rowdy and full of part-goers – however that was not quite what I experienced. In fact, the streets were rather quiet on most nights, and I was usually the only one stumbling half-drunk along the streets, enjoying the crisp autumn chill, with a podcast in my ears.

I noticed too that there was a rather high percentage of non-Caucasians (mostly Asians) about dining at night. This metropolis was indeed multi-faceted and culturally diverse.

Even with the brilliant transport system, there was a lot of walking about to be done (it is a huge city). While slightly exhausting, this was fine as walking in such fine weather more than made up for it. My meals were normally fast food (you HAVE to try its Macs), market stalls, street food or pub dining options – no fine dining because this was not practical on a solo trip. On an off-topic, I ate alot less in the day because I found out, while trudging up and down the city area, that it was pretty hard to find proper restrooms (every tourist should note this). So, you really had to manage yourself well to avoid any “boo-boos”.

There were stuff which I had to give a miss because I succumbed to the draw of the pubs instead (priorities right?) – A comedy club and 2 jazz joints which I couldn’t fit into my evenings because they closed early or was a lesser draw as compared to the glorious beer which can be found everywhere. I found out by day 1 that there was simply not enough time to go to further-off wholesome places like the 7 Apostles (Sea Coast Rock Formations), Yarra Valley (Vineyards), St Kildas (Beach Front) or Philips Island (Penguins), and so I instead focused most of my time within the city area. You would have to hire transport or spend an entire day visiting those scenic places and I figured they were better visited with company instead of a solo trip anyways. Maybe next time.

In the day, I also spent a considerable amount of time running around the city looking for game shops, for I wanted to see if the D&D culture was strong here – No it did not appear so. Most of these shops, while reasonably stocked, were pretty empty, and they were more interested in selling merchandize than doing any hardcore stuff like running games.

As usual, checking out the pubs in Melbourne played a great role in my trip and I took the effort to research all the popular craft beer joints in the area. I even planned the bus and tram routes one month before the trip. But enough of patting myself on the back.