Our Easter Holiday @ Melbourne City

April 19, 2009 Blog 5 comments

Last week, my family came over to Melbourne during the Easter vacation period and we had a great time discovering different parts of the colourful city together.

We opted for a slightly different itinerary this time around (its the second trip for my family), exploring neighbourhoods that were slightly off the beaten tourist track and enjoying what typical Melburnians would like.

I suppose we had the benefit of my prolonged stay here as a student, plus our insatiable curiosity to try out unique experiences in different parts of the neighbourhood.

Here is the start of our 10 day holiday in Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road, South Australia’s Limestone Coast, Adelaide City (and surrounds), and Kangaroo Island. First off is a trip around the city.  I hope you enjoy this journey as much as we did!

P1040431
Our first stop was the Children’s Garden located at the Royal Botanic Gardens, off the South of the Yarra River.

P1040436
This huge gourd was almost as long as Ethan’s leg, and is probably still growing daily at an alarming rate.

P1040437
A sand pit in the middle of the children’s garden provided lots of muddy fun for the little ones.
P1040451
More vegetables at the garden – this time tomatoes which are in season during Autumn.
P1040446
We next stepped into the Botanic Gardens itself and trekked for quite a distance before we found this spot of paradise.
P1040469
The order of the day?  A family picnic of course, with bananas, pita bread with hummus, chocolates and red Shiraz wine.
P1040460
Naturally, it was pure bliss, and we wouldn’t help having 40 winks on the grass.
P1040505
Along the banks of the Yarra River, Ethan spotted the same ferris wheel which he first took about 1.5 years ago.
P1040526
After an afternoon’s nap, we ventured out at night to the Crown Entertainment Complex for some nourishment, and settled on this restaurant called Automatic Cafe.
P1040519
Fresh seafood was the order of the day at this outlet, although prices were a little steep by our standards.

P1040489
Our dinner of risotto and a grilled fish was well received, washed down with sparkling wine and beer.
P1040539
After dinner, we strolled along the Southbanks area and took photographs along the way.

P1040529
The next morning, we took a tram ride on number 96 all the way from Collins Street to the St Kilda region. It was fun to sit back and enjoy the scenery.

P1040522
The weather was a little cloudy and chilly that day, but we found ways to entertain ourselves at the beach.

P1040544
Like picking up seashells and pebbles, a favourite hobby of my 5 year old!

P1040550
Morning tea at Acland Street was the next order of the day, and we settled on a cafe opened by Australians of Italian descent.
P1040548
The beef pie and vegetable pastie (water bottle not included!) which we had was delicious and sustained us for the next few hours.
P1040558
Luna Park was our next destination, although we didn’t take any of the rides due to height restrictions for Ethan.
P1040569
Says Ethan, “Someday when I grow up, I am going to ride the toughest, meanest roller coaster out there!”
P1040579
Hopping on to the tram, we travelled all the way up North to Brunswick Street.  Unfortunately, due to the Easter holidays, most of the shops at this bohemian artistic enclave were closed.
P1040522
Here’s a shot of the artistically decorated benches in the neighbourhood.
P1040549
A toy and children’s clothing shop, full of temptations for our little one.
P1040560
We next took a walk to a tram station and got to the North Richmond area, populated largely by Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai eateries and shops.  Here’s Ethan and Tina peering at a moving live lobster, hours before its final demise as the night’s dinner!
P1040558
It was cool to see anime-themed street art along the side alleys.  In fact, street art is practically everywhere.

P1040572
With time on our hands (yes we were pretty productive!), my family decided to pay my humble abode a visit. Well, at least it isn’t quite a slum….yet.

P1040578
The final stop for the day is dinner at Toki Restaurant, along Grattan Street close to Lygon Street. It served pretty authentic Japanese food (a family favourite), and went down well with wine. Cheers mate!

By Walter
Founder of Cooler Insights, I am a geek marketer with almost 24 years of senior management experience in marketing, public relations and strategic planning. Since becoming an entrepreneur 5 years ago, my team and I have helped 58 companies and over 2,200 trainees in digital marketing, focusing on content, social media and brand storytelling.

5 Comments

Leave a reply to Tyler Jones Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>