We took the grand pacific drive to travel from Sydney to Melbourne, which was a beautiful drive along the ocean. First stop was Jervis bay, where you can find the famous Hyams beach! Claimed to be one of the whitest beaches on earth. Afterwards we visited Pebbly’s beach to see wild kangaroos. This was really special, especially to see a “Joey” (small baby kangaroo in the belly of his mother)
When in Melbourne, we were really lucky, because we could stay in the room of a Dutch friend Ralph. He lives in the trendy area of Richmond together with the lovely couple Elisabeth and Victor (Victor is also from Rotterdam, what a coincidence!).
First day in Melbourne we explored the city I really love Brunswick street! Because of all the vintage shops and cozy bars. We grabbed a bite at Victoria street, a street with a lot of Asian restaurants. In the entire city of Melbourne you see a lot of Asian influences and people, remarkably countless noodle Pho (soup) bars.
Awesome to see is all the graffiti in the city, it gives a very urban feeling. We did a short graffiti tour in the city center to see a few famous painted streets, such as Hosier Lane. These elements you also see in many bars and shops, for example the Fitzroy Social Bar (see photo).
Next day we had really “chilly” weather. But as people say here: that’s Melbourne. Therefore we decided to do a tour in ‘the G’. This Melbourne Cricket Ground is also used by Australian football. Although we didn’t knew a lot about cricket or footy, it was really impressive.
In the evening we were invited to have dinner in the Crown Casino by business relations of Rick. You cannot compare the Crown with any Holland Casino, it’s a complete city including hotels, restaurants and shops. We had a nice dinner at an Asian restaurant and afterwards we played some Blackjack. And with succes! So we had actually a free day! Not bad when we are on budget hehe!
Stay tuned for the next blog about the Great Ocean Road!