The 10 days vacation – not 9 on account that we left Singapore on 12 Jun SUN and landed on 21 Jun TUES – was really our family (with Peter)’s fourth vacation in the last 1.5 years. The previous three – Koh Phangan, Legoland Malaysia and finally Club Med Bintan all faced difficulties of one sort or another, whether it was the state of accommodation or the lack of really any sort of proper itinerary to spend our time. This Melbourne stay though went much better on account that there were a lot of things to do, even in winter, and the city center compact enough for us to explore on foot.
Here are three posts to close off our vacation. Starting off with briefly again – our itinerary listing the key places we visited and a few summary sentences for each alongside a recommendation on how much time you might want to spend if you are with kids – like us!
Day 1: Arrival and Melbourne Central
SkyBus from Melbourne International to City Center: Convenient, easy to book, and runs frequently. Trip each way takes 30 minutes, and an additional 5-10 minutes for the Complimentary Hotel Transfer.
Melbourne Central (1 hr): Hard to miss with the iconic glass shaped cone. Lots of mid-range shopping options, and a decent-sized food court on the second floor. If you’re looking for cheap clothes (e.g. to tide through wintering in the city) though, walk a bit further to Target Centre Melbourne along Bourke Street, or check out Queen Victoria Market.
State Library of Victoria (1+ hr): Just opposite Melbourne Central, free to enter, awesome interior sights, and a kids’ activity area while adults can chill.
Day 2: Day Tour with Gray Line Melbourne
Ballarat Wildlife Park (1.5 hrs): About 90 minutes from Melbourne city if you self-drive, though going with a tour operator will include great accompanying commentary on the rich history of the town. We highly recommended visiting the park if you have kids, and also timing your visit with the guided tour.
Sovereign Hill (3+ hrs): Lots of things to see and try out, and interesting photo opportunities. If your day tour itinerary doesn’t include Ballarat Wildlife Park, then you can just as well spend the entire day in this historical mining town and try out everything.
Gold Museum (0.5 hrs): Skip it unless you have an interest in this expensive element, or the admission price is already included in your day tour package.
Day 3: Melbourne Zoo and City Center
Melbourne Zoo (4 hrs): Kids will love the Lemur Island, and go about chasing the sea gulls in the picnic lawn near the Giraffes enclosure. Butterfly farm is a must-visit too – just watch where you’re stepping on lest you thread on butterflies on the ground!
Botanic Gardens (2 hrs+): Huge park though not quite as dense in sights as say our very own Singapore Botanic Gardens. The most interesting bits seem to be the south-eastern side of the park which we did not get to.
St. Paul’s Cathedral (1 hr): Admission is free, but photography will involve a small AUD5 fee. European and the old American city churches are more awesomely built than this one, but still OK for a quick visit.
Block Arcade (0.5 hrs): Visit because it’s conveniently located, even if you don’t intend to buy anything.
Queen Victoria Night Market (2 hrs): Visit on a Wednesday evening and get your dinner grub there. Don’t buy at the first hawker you see. Best to go early for dinner too especially if you have kids – unless they can walk and eat at the same time.
Day 4: Queen Victoria Market and Melbourne Aquarium
Queen Victoria Day Market (3 hrs+): Go in the morning and get fresh fruits for your stay. Apart from fresh produce and meats, lots of shops offering a variety of apparel, household items, knick-knacks etc.
Melbourne Aquarium (2 hrs): Probably more memorable for kids than it would be for adults, more so if you’ve visited other international aquariums elsewhere.
Day 5: Great Ocean Road Day Tour with A Tour With a Difference
Great Ocean Road (2 days): Worth a trip if you haven’t seen it before, though kids might not find the experience particularly interesting. Good weather extremely important. Lots of day tour operators make trips every day, so chances are good you can squeeze in last-minute bookings once you have a better fix on the expected weather. Try to go with a 2 instead of 1 day tour, though this might conflict with whether you can do last minute bookings then, since most operators do only 1 day tours. Our review of our tour operator is here.
Day 6: Lots of Gardens, Melbourne Museum and St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Carlton Gardens, Parliament and Treasury Gardens (2 hrs): We weren’t deliberately going out of our way to visit these three spots – just that they were en route to other places we were visiting. A wet winter is probably not the best time to lounge around and enjoy the parks, so adjust the amount of time you’re spending depending on the weather.
Melbourne Museum (3 hrs+): Large museum with lots of things to see and learn, and you could spend half a day here and more if your legs can hold up and your brains haven’t fried from information overload!
St. Patrick’s Cathedral (0.5 hrs): OK to go by for a quick visit, but skip if it’s out of the way. Unlike St. Paul’s Cathedral, there’s no photography fee.
Day 7: Dandenong Ranges with Great Sights Melbourne
Grants Picnic Ground (1 hr): Nice spot to feed the dozens of Cockatoos that will swoop down from the tall and majestic Eucalyptus trees. Read the advisories carefully though: do not feed the birds human biscuits (you could be fined), and do not feed them out of your hand.
Puffing Billy Train (1 hr+): The shortest ride – from Belgrave to Menzies Creek – is sufficient to get a taste of it, though this stretch isn’t particularly spectacular from a sights point of view.
Yarra Valley Chocolaterie & Ice Creamery (1 hr): Popular stopover for visitors to Yarra Valley. Top-up for your sweet-tooth, but also spend a bit of time outside the establishment for lots of photo opportunities at the front lawn looking into the Valley.
Healesville Sanctuary (2.5 hrs): OK if this is the only wildlife park or zoo you’re visiting. But Ballarat Wildlife Park and Melbourne Zoo make for better visits, even from a kid’s perspective. Recommendation is to skip it, and go with either the half-day Puffing Billy Train trip, or a full-day but visiting other places in Dandenong Ranges.
Day 8: Street Exploration
Woolsworth, Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, Target Center Melbourne, QV etc.: Lots of walking around the city center and dodging into malls to escape from the rain. Keep an eye out for Tim Tam offers @ Woolsworth and buy buy buy!
Day 9: Queen Victoria Market and Flagstaff Gardens
Queen Victoria Market (3 hrs+): QVM is a fun enough place for repeat visits and to spend a bit of cash and buying lots of things you probably don’t absolutely need. Sort of like Daiso.:)
Flagstaff Gardens (1 hr): Largely because Hannah spotted the children’s playground when the SkyBus Hotel Transfer was turning into A’Beckett Street, and really wanted to play here. Kids loved the playground.
Next post on our place of stay: Pegasus Apart’Hotel.
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