It has been nearly 2 months since I went to Melbourne for the first time. I don’t know why it has taken me this long to post it here on the blog. Thankfully my Melbourne memories is still fresh in my mind and I can still share my experience with you all.

I took so many photos from my trip so I’m going to split it into a few parts. This first part is my overview of Melbourne and what I got up to first. I did do a lot of shopping and eating too but I’ll save that for another post.

Flying with Air NZ was great. We got lucky and did not have anyone beside us during both flights. The flight was around 4 hours long but we had movies on the plane and I managed to watch Gone Girl.

We stayed at Glen Waverley which is a suburb towards the east of the city. Although it is not close to the city, our hotel was near the train station so I jumped on the train on the first day and headed to town.

And I was in for an adventure…

This is what greeted me when I got off the train. Flinders Street Station is amazing. It was so busy and everyone seemed to know where they are going while I was there pretending. Haha

I love the architecture of this city. Even the ceiling of Flinders Street Station was beautiful.

Right across the road was St Paul’s Cathedral.

And also Federation Square. The modern architecture of the buildings in Fed Square is quite a contrast to the heritage qualities of the surrounding. It is a great hub though. People were hanging outside and watching sports on the big screen.

Melbourne is also quite known for its laneways. There are plenty in the city and you’d find cute little cafes and shops.

Some alleyways are also covered in cool artwork.

I wandered around town by myself and although I had no one to talk to, it was quite nice and peaceful in a way. I had all the time to myself to shop and absorb the surroundings.

It also made me stumble upon old shopping buildings or arcades which were also beautiful inside.

For my first full day in Melbourne city, I did not have a map with me nor did I have data on my phone to have Google Maps. I basically left my passport in the hotel as I didn’t want to lose it and when went to buy a sim card from Optus, I was told I need that for identification so I roamed around without any way of contact with my partner and I was 40 minutes away from where we were staying.

It wasn’t the brightest idea but I made it back in time to our hotel without any trouble. I conquered my way around Melbourne like a pro! Haha. I just walked and walked until I found the shops I wanted to check out. I did do a bit of research before going so I had a vague idea where things were too.

All my walking led me to Melbourne Central. It is a large shopping centre with a train station underneath. I did not expect a brick building inside a huge shopping centre with a magnificent glass cone-shaped ceiling. It was crazy busy but I had to stop and take in the scale of this place.

Nearby is the State Library of Victoria which is the central library. I wish I had the time to go inside but I just marvelled at the beauty of it outside.

I spent my first whole day around the city mainly shopping. I found H&M, Zara, Uniqlo, Priceline, David Jones and Myer which were all close together. I didn’t take heaps of photos as I had too much bags at the end of the day and I was exhausted.

Eventually, I found my way back to Flinders Street Station and waited for the train back.

Figuring out the train system was actually quite easy. Once you have a myki, you can travel anywhere. The signs in the platforms are easy to understand and the trains were on time.

This was the station at Glen Waverley. It was the last stop so even if I was dozing off on the way home, there was no way I could get off at the wrong stop.

We stayed at Novotel Glen Waverley. It looked like a standard hotel room but it was fairly nice and spacious. I liked that chaise by the window where I spent lounging after a tiring day.

https://instagram.com/p/5WkmrpABQv/?taken-by=astylecollector

Our bathroom had this nice mirror too. We had a great time and the hotel staff were nice. I wish they had a spa pool though and not just a pool because the water temperature was still too cold for my liking. I took advantage of the sauna instead.

The biggest plus about our hotel was it’s connected to Century City which has restaurants and a movie theatre. We were surrounded by food places! We were spoilt for choice and we didn’t even bother with room service because we had so much options within walking distance. It was also nearby a shopping mall called The Glen. That is where I dashed off when I got back from town to buy myself and my partner sim cards.

I highly recommend getting a sim card in Australia if you need data on your phone. International roamin is incredibly expensive and not worth it in my opinion. I had $10 on my Vodafone account when I left NZ and I used that up when we were in the car on the way to the hotel from the airport.

If you’re only there for a few days, check out Optus. I got a sim card from them which I thought had the best deal. For $2 a day, you could get 500mb per day with text and calls. With my partner and I, 1gb a day was enough to hotspot on my laptop.

These were inside Century City. It also had a pretty cool looking bowling alley.

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That’s about it for my first Melbourne post. We were there for a short period but I tried to cram in as much as I could. It was an exhausting few days but I wanted to explore. If you want to see more, check back in a few weeks time. I’ll also share my shopping/haul from my trip very soon.

If you’ve been to Melbourne, let me know what your favourite place is. I’d love to know so I can check it out on my next trip. I want to go back so badly!

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