As Kids See It: Kangaroos & Koalas

My family went to Melbourne during the holidays, and here’s a little peek into what it was like!

Went to Melbourne for a week and we flew back to this sunny little island to a cooler country, for the first time. The weather in Aussie is really hot now, 29 deg – 30 plus, anddd the best thing is we didn’t bring shorts along cos we thought the weather would fluctuate. Anyway, the trip was more exciting than I thought it’d be :) To those who think Melbourne is a little boring (me too, initially), it’s not! Melb + surrounding areas were awesome. Before flying over I didn’t know much about Melbourne, and yeah it doesn’t have famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower but it’s still a great place and it was a great trip. Actually, every trip out of the country is a great trip, because it’s just different from Singapore.

Some things I liked about the trip in no particular order:

1. Self-drive

We didn’t go on a booked tour, self drive was awesome! Got to navigate ourselves, experience and explore life in another country genuinely instead of going around in a coach.

So we rented a car from Hertz and off we went. Arguably the most important device/application of the trip was the great GPS system, because with it, you can conquer the country (by car)!!! We all loved the GPS app on the iPhone because it’s so so detailed and it’ll read out to you ALL instructions to your destination. There’s even a little ring to remind you if you go too fast, out of the speed limit. Plus it’ll warn you of speed cameras along the roads. And if you go the wrong direction, it immediately adapts to where you are and proceeds almost immediately to tell you any alternative routes to the destination. Awesome.

And with the GPS being a great help, we navigated the streets of Melbourne. There are lanes specially designated for cyclists, so that residents can cycle from one place to another with relatively higher safety. And there are rent-a-bike kiosks along the roads of the main city area, so convenient right?

2. Interesting sights in the city

In the city centre, besides tram services and public buses, there are horse-riding services for tourists. Kinda like a carriage. And here they are, the horses, and they’re real okay! Quite a fun addition to the busy streets of the shopping district/CBD area but the downside was that it smelled like a zoo.

Explored the shopping area but shopping wasn’t the highlight of the trip. Anyway, saw some familiar shops – Subway!! In Melbourne you get to choose your sandwich’s cheese flavour – Cheddar, Old English Cheese and something else I can’t remember, but cool right! We’ve got BreadTalk in Singapore, they’ve got BreadTop in Melb. With a similar logo design somemore haha. Here it is:

3. The people there are really, really friendly.

Every time you walk into a shop or store or are buying something, the cashier never fails to greet you with a huge smile and ask about your day. They go, “Hi, how are you?” and it feels genuinely warm, and it’s a little sad that Singapore service has still quite a long way to go.

4. The tourist attractions are not teeming with people

Usually, tourist attractions that we’ve been too would be packed with people, but not this time! There were no crowds at all and you don’t need to fight for a spot to take photos or anything, so visitors can really take their time, no hurry/rush, to soak in the surroundings and enjoy everything about the place before moving on.

5. The Great Ocean Road

This is a must see in Melb + surrounding areas, also where The Twelve Apostles are. I’ve only seen them in pictures but in real life, they are really amazing formations. It’s at the coastline beside the sea, like really a perfect picture. Felt sooooo good to be admiring those formations with the wind in your hair and a sea of blue before you.

I couldn’t miss the opportunity to walk barefooted along the shore of Australia’s famous beaches! The sand was hot but the seawater was cold. Hot & cold~ It’s a very nice feeling because the sand is fine and soft, very unlike the beaches at East Coast haha.