Touchdown
Three firsts on this trip: the first since we got married, the first since COVID, and Minmin’s first time in Australia. I’d been to Sydney once, years before we met, but Melbourne was new for both of us.
Our Melbourne trip started the way most of our trips do: on an overnight flight. We left Singapore just after midnight, ate supper somewhere over the ocean, slept a bit, and landed in Melbourne in the morning.
After dropping our bags, we went straight out to walk the city. Melbourne’s CBD is a neat grid of streets, so it’s easy to cover on foot, and the free tram zone covers the rest. First things first: coffee. Melbourne takes its coffee very seriously, and the first flat white at Puzzle Coffee set the bar for the rest of the trip.
Flinders Street Station and St Paul’s
Then the classic Melbourne postcard: Flinders Street Station, with its yellow front and green dome, right across the road from St Paul’s Cathedral. The church is free to go in, and the inside is all stripes and patterns.
Hosier Lane
Just a block away is Hosier Lane, Melbourne’s most famous street art lane. Every wall, door and bin is covered in graffiti, and it changes all the time, as new pieces get painted over the old ones. Of course we took way too many photos.
The Arts Centre Sunday Market
We wandered down to the Yarra River and across to Southbank. It was a Sunday, so the Arts Centre had its weekly art and craft market going under the canopy, with paintings, prints and little handmade souvenirs.
And it was autumn! Coming from Singapore, walking through a park full of orange and yellow leaves was a treat in itself.
Royal Arcade, Bourke Street and the State Library
Back up through the city: Royal Arcade, Melbourne’s oldest shopping arcade, with its black and white floor; Bourke Street Mall; and the old Magistrates’ Court building on Russell Street.
The last stop was State Library Victoria. From the outside, it’s a big columned building on Swanston Street. Inside is the La Trobe Reading Room, a huge octagonal dome with desks fanning out underneath. We climbed up to the galleries to look down on it.
Dinner was a sushi takeaway, and an early night. We’d been awake since somewhere over Australia.
Tomorrow: wine tasting in the Yarra Valley.
Information About State Library Victoria
Free to walk in. The La Trobe Reading Room is the big domed room in the middle, with desks fanning out under the skylight.
PS: Take the stairs up to the galleries around the dome. The view down into the reading room is the photo everyone comes for.