Melbender - Part 2

August was pretty amazing - filled with 10 days in Fiji (blogged here), a four day trip to Queenstown skiing with Hannah and Jody and finally a long weekend in Melbourne - Part 1 here, and Part 2 is below! 

It turns out that taking all that holiday in one month means that those rare, and ultimately quite frequent, first days back at work were a bit manic. All completely worth it, but even we were looking forward to having some good desk time for a bit! 

Previously, in our Melbourne Weekender (Melbender), we spent a quick 2 hours going round a wildlife sanctuary. That took us 4 hours. Eventually we left as our hire car needed returning. There's always time to stop in at the Chandon Vineyard (of Moet & Chandon fame) for a quick tasting of their range though... 

Didn't taste like beer. 

The vineyard was set in a beautiful Yarra Valley, not bad for a view with a glass of bubbles, eh?

Sweet as.

Zoom zoom back into the city in Will the hire car (congratulation's to Clare Cope, this week's Guess Why The Car Is Called What It Is winner. Clare (8, from Lincolnshire) noted that the number plate started I AM, and the trendy reference to Will I Am.)

Anyway, Will made double quick time so we headed to the beach for a bit before dropping him off with a minute to spare. I left Sarah paying for the fuel whilst I sped up the road to drop it off, fully topped up.

Spring sunshine

So we started two days in the city. Melbourne is famous for it's melting pot of cultures and it's lovely little laneways, the thin lanes connecting up the main streets. This mix of cultures has created a great collection of restaurants and music filling the laneways.

Enjoying some Aussie bubbles with a good Italian dinner

The food and drink adventure continued in the morning at Melbourne's Victoria Markets, the biggest open air market in the Southern Hemisphere. We stuffed ourselves silly with good bread, fetid cheeses, peppery meats and stuffed vine leaves. Yum.

MINE!

Followed by a trip to the shops (NZ doesn't have GAP, UniQlo, Topman, Topshop or H&M) - some purchases were made. Some Melbourne fashion was too avant garde even for this little trend setter:

Hashtag Dork.

Melbourne's Skyline

And the sun started to set on Melbourne's tramways...

Victoria State, home to Melbourne, is Aussie Rules Football obsessed. The league had just finished, but the knockout stages for the grand final had just begun. We got straight in there on draw day and competed against the rest of the Melbournians to try and get a seat for one of their many local teams.

Catching the city loop to the big game

The game we saw was at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a huge ampitheatre for 100,000 people - absolutely incredible. The game is fast, the scoreline changes frequently,the pitch is full of players and refs, the guys are fast and the hits are pretty big. Sarah also noted their vest tops and short shorts. Well worth catching a game if you ever get the chance. And Aussies know how to spectate - with plenty of beers and meat pies for good measure.

Up in the rafters - but the atmosphere was amazing

The MCG

Waking up on our last day, we headed to the Melbourne Museum - when I visited 10 years ago the old Neighbours set was in the museum on display. A photo of this was my way in to impressing a 19 year old Neighbours loving Sarah. We had to go back...

Melbourne's Museum

Sadly (!) the exhibits had changed in the last 10 years! But the new ones were good...

Why does England have lions on it's crest?

Time for one last tram trip...

Before one last riverside beer...

And maybe one more snag...

Before saying good bye to one of our favourite cities we've visited, and one of the most fun-filled months ever.