From the way people spoke about Melbourne I knew I was going to love it! The arty, hipstery vibe made it feel like Shorditch especially when we went out for food, I felt like I was at home in East London.
Nathan and I stayed with Rich and Maddie. Rich and I met almost 10 years ago at Camp Kon-O-Kwee (one of the greatest places on Earth) and he has remained a great friend ever since. It's funny coz when I see him it doesn't matter how many years have past it is like we saw each other yesterday. Nathan and I had the pleasure of meeting his girlfriend Maddie 18 months ago in London and she is wonderful. They live in a great spot in Melbourne as they are surrounded by great pubs, bars, restaurants and close to the tram and a gorgeous park.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon and headed out on a pub crawl towards food. We went to several of Rich & Maddie's locals which reminded me of pubs back home. We drank several pots each. Pots are the Australian term for half pints. I think my favourite Australian beer is mountain goat summer ale . We ended up on Victoria street where we went to a Vietnamese restaurant called Binh Minh and had an absolute feast. The food was so good especially the duck and pancakes.
Sunday was such a great day, we headed off to Yarra Valley, where there are lots of vineyards. We stopped first at Chandon.
The views were amazing.
We had 5 tastings all sparking which is so different to other vineyards I have been to. They were lovely and a great vineyard to start with.
We headed to Healesville Sanctuary which is the best place to see Australian animals in their natural habitat, it was really beautiful. We saw Dingos, Koalas, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils etc.
The koalas were great as usually they are sleeping but they were being really active and jumping from tree to tree.
The kangaroos were the funniest as they were all laying about on the ground and then we spotted one standing up so we headed on over to get a photo but when we got there we realised the kangaroo was in fact mating.
We had a quick stop at the chocolate shop and then off to our final winery Yering which was so much fun. The guy serving us was lovely and we got to taste 13 wines completely free. Rich and Maddie already have a few bottles from here from the last time they were here and we shared one on our final night it was absolutely delicious.
Sunday evening we went to Jimmy Grants for dinner and I loved it. I love small, busy, local places that sell awesome food and this did all of that. We shared a mixture of Greek dishes all of which were so tasty.
We headed into Melbourne city and visited the Parliament building which was stunning and felt a lot like we were in London. Rich wanted to take us to Siglo as he explained it having a fantastic view. Wow he wasn't wrong the view from the bar was so beautiful overlooking the Parliament building. We headed further into town and visited another roof too bar called Bomba. Australia has some beautiful places to have a glass of wine.
Monday was Australia Day and Rich & Maddie had invited all their friends to the park opposite their house. It was great to be part of the Australian Day celebrations. The thing I will remember most about this day is that the prime minister Tony Abbott declared he was giving a knighthood to Prince Philip for his fantastic work with the Duke of Edinburgh scheme. Rich told us in the morning, then Rich and I went to the supermarket and it was on the radio, then we got back and it was on the TV. It was mentioned throughout the entire day! The whole country were outraged.
Maddie made some absolutely amazing salads. I am definitely going to be asking her for recipes when I am back home. This one was a winner with everyone there and got eaten straight away.
Rich's parents stopped by, it was lovely to finally meet them after knowing Rich for 10 years and hearing all about them.
The day was great we BBQ'ed, listened to the top 100 on the radio and played spike ball (which Nathan wants to buy as soon as we get home). Sam & Ben stopped by to say goodbye before catching their plane back to Sydney. I'm glad we didn't have to say goodbye properly as we will be seeing them again in March in Thailand.
Jess and her husband Andrew stopped by too. It was so lovely to see Jess! I cannot believe how time had flown since the summer of 2007 when we shared a cabin together in America.
Rich and Maddies friends are all so nice so it was such a lovely day.
On Tuesday we headed into Melbourne city centre and went to Victoria Market. I love markets and this was a great one. We got bread, pesto, cheese, meat, little peppers stuffed with cheese and a pepper dip which was gorgeous for lunch which we ate along side the river in the rowing club house where we met up with Jess.
Nathan and Rich headed off to take a tour around the Melbourne cricket ground and Maddie and I went to the ACMI and went round an exhibition about film and tv. We joined a guide and after 5 minutes we decided that he didn't know much so decided to go round on our own, only to find him calling after us as we started walking off, we had to turn around, pretend we hadn't been able to find them and continue with the tour! After that was over we went and looked at some pretty cool stuff, especially the machine where you could pretend that you were in the Matrix.
Maddie and I then went down a street with phenomenal street art.
We met the boys and played some croquet in the croquet club alongside the Yarra River.
That evening we went to watch the semi final of the Asia Cup in the pub, Australia won. The Tennis was also on and Murray won so a good evening all round.
On Wednesday Maddie had work and Rich, Nathan & I headed off in the car. We visited the bush near where they live and went for a walk. It's so lovely where they live that they can be in the city centre in 10 minutes but surrounded by vineyards and forests if they go in the other direction.
We visited a farm and convent and then headed to St Kilda to meet Tom. It was really good to see Tom and hear all about his travels around Asia and how he was getting on in Melbourne. He seemed really happy and like he is having the best time in Australia.
On our way to pick Maddie up we drove along the formula one track which was something totally random and great to see.
We finished our time in Melbourne with a gorgeous wine and pizza. It was so lovely seeing Rich and Maddie, meeting their friends and seeing the area they live and how so many great pubs, parks and restaurants are near by. It's so lovely during this sabbatical year travelling to be able to visit all he friends who over the years have made the effort to visit us.