Melbourne to Adelaide road trip
Four wineries, the Great Ocean Road, The Grampians, A German settlement, a strawberry farm and two great friends cum tour guides - Greg from Melbourne and Giselle from Adelaide. I am genuinely grateful to these two friends: Greg for making my road trip possible and enjoyable, and Giselle for bringing me around Adelaide and its suburbs.
Brunswick is in the north of downtown Melbourne and is now a magnet for the evening hip crowd due to restaurants and bars housed in old shophouses. Many say that Brunswick isone place which best reflects the heart of Melbourne. Visit Chandom Bar and Restaurant, if you'd like to have a glass of wine beside an old fireplace.
Two weekends: Sydney and suburbs
Places of interest within the city of Sydney
1)
Place of interest outside and near Sydney:
1) Blue Mountains
2) Hunter Valley (wineries and cheese shops)
3) Lake Macquarie
Road Trip Itinerary: Mt Eliza-Melbourne-Yarra Valley/
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| Moet et Chandon winery, Yarra Valley, Healesville, South Australia; the person on the left is my friend tour guide. |
Places of interest within Melbourne city:
1) Melbourne Lanes, Flinders Station and Federation Square - walk through the lanes near the historic Flinders Station and the modern sprawling Federation Square (refer to the Melbourne Official Visitor Guide which has a two-page map dedicated to these interesting lanes). You ay walk through the whole area in a day, but that would really be a fast-paced walk and you won't have sufficient time to appreciate the arts and culture in this area, not to mention the shopping that you might want to do. If you have more time, do the lanes walk in two days at a leisurely pace, sipping great coffee in quaint charming coffee shops and/or tastng various culinary delights in cozy restaurants. For the first day of the walk, Federation square is a good starting pont. There is an impressive Visitor information Centre in Fedearion Square worth checking out. You may grab your Melbourne Official Visitor Guide from here, and consult the staff about travel ideas in an out of the city. For the second day Flinders Station is a good starting point. From Flinders Station, cross over to Degraves St for coffee and/or brunch. Degraves is a short street lined with coffee shops and restarant/bars. Then, armed with a map, walk up north passing through the Block Arcade, the Royal Arcade and The Walk Arcade, at the end of which you'll find a Visitor Information Centre, where staff can tell you the other interesting interesting lanes to visit. You can't help but fall in love with the elegant, centuries' old Royal Arcade. The south end centre of this heritage building has a Gaunt clock, flanked on each side by the statues of Gog and Magog.
To the right of The Walk Arcade is Union Lane and to its north are Postal Lane, Driver Lane and Drewery Lane. Just before reaching the Melbourne Central Station, turn left to head towards Hardware Lane, Niagara Lane, Racing Club Lane and Warburtion Lane. From the start of your walk, take time to appreciate the graffiti art on the walls of some of these lanes and check out the small boutique shops.
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| The historic Flinders Station (faded orange pointed buildings), which in itself is worth checking out. |
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| The train tracks inside Flinders Station |
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| One of the coffee shops in Degraves St. |
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| Inside Royal Arcade,a Victorian-era building; notice the floor and ceiling art details. |
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| One of the lanes in Melbourne. |
2) The bohemian Brunswick St at Fitzroy, northern Mebourne
Brunswick is in the north of downtown Melbourne and is now a magnet for the evening hip crowd due to restaurants and bars housed in old shophouses. Many say that Brunswick isone place which best reflects the heart of Melbourne. Visit Chandom Bar and Restaurant, if you'd like to have a glass of wine beside an old fireplace.
3) The Melbourne Cricket Ground
4) Queen Victoria Market
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| Melbourne Cricket Ground facade |
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| Melbourne's cricket field |
The fruits, vegetables, cheeses are just amazingly fresh and cheap in this market. Buy some fruits, cheese and bread and have your breakfast in the restaurant stalls located just beside the market, and you'll have chirping birds as your background music!
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| Queen Victoria Market |
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| The meat area of Queen Victoria Market |
Places of interest outside and near Melbourne:
1) Mt. Eliza
Mt Eliza is a suburb located 50 kilometers southeast of Melbourne. It's the I got to go to Mt Eliza because my office sent me for training. The live-in training was housed in the Executive ducation arm of Melbourne Business School,which is part of the University of Melbourne. It was so far, for me, the best training venue. And I was even luckier that the training programme included a tour-cum-cocktails at T Gallant winery.
2) Yarra Valley
Mt Eliza is a suburb located 50 kilometers southeast of Melbourne. It's the I got to go to Mt Eliza because my office sent me for training. The live-in training was housed in the Executive ducation arm of Melbourne Business School,which is part of the University of Melbourne. It was so far, for me, the best training venue. And I was even luckier that the training programme included a tour-cum-cocktails at T Gallant winery.
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| Scenic Mt Eliza Executive Education centre |
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| Mt Eliza Executive Education training centre |
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| T Gallant winery |
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| T Gallant winery |
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| T Gallant's Chef and Sommelier, descrining each dish and the paired wine, prior to being served. |
Yarra Valley is home to Moet et Chandon winery. the views here are just gorgeous and soothing to the eyes.
3) Dandenong Ranges and Daylesford area
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| Moet et Chandon winey @ Yarra Valley |
3) Dandenong Ranges and Daylesford area
The road trip from Melbourne to Adelaide:
1) Dandenong Ranges
2) Daylesford
2) Daylesford
3) Ballarat (gold mining area)
4) Torquay-Anglesea-Lor
5) Great Ocean Road-Apollo Bay
6) Warnambool
7) Halls Gap/Grampians
8) Tailem Bend
9) Mclaren Valley
10)Adelaide
4) Torquay-Anglesea-Lor
5) Great Ocean Road-Apollo Bay
6) Warnambool
7) Halls Gap/Grampians
8) Tailem Bend
9) Mclaren Valley
10)Adelaide
Two weekends: Sydney and suburbs
Places of interest within the city of Sydney
1)
Place of interest outside and near Sydney:
1) Blue Mountains
2) Hunter Valley (wineries and cheese shops)
3) Lake Macquarie
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