October 14, 2024

Today… we woke up with a flat tire! Turns out one of our tires had a slow leak. We had a couple of people come ask us if we were okay and if we needed help. It was so nice. Luckily, the park we were staying in had a compressor and helped us out. We decided to return the van earlier than we had planned and hang out at the airport until our flight at 4pm. Normally it would have bothered me to miss a whole day of vacation… but since I have a year here, I was able to relax. I actually really enjoyed reading my book and drinking hot chocolate while we waited for our flight.

Our flight was on time and we ended up landing in Melbourne around 6pm. We headed to our AirBnb in St. Kilda and were so impressed! It’s a beautiful little apartment with stunning views of the water. We ended the day by going for Thai food (😊) and getting groceries for our breakfasts for the week. Tomorrow we are going to explore the surrounding areas near our AirBnb!

October 15, 2024

We started today by going to the gym!!! The building we are staying in has a gym, sauna and pool in it. For anyone who knows me, I love going to the gym. I try to go at least 4 days a week at home on top of my sports. So the last three weeks of not going was starting to wear on me. The gyms in Sydney were just so expensive in the area we were staying, and finding a gym in Tasmania wasn’t easy while camping. It felt good to go!

After the gym we got ready and headed down to St. Kilda beach. At first it was a little windy and cooler, but by the time the afternoon came around it was pretty warm 😊 I got my first tan while in Australia!

We walked back to our place and made dinner, just chicken and rice. It was nice to have a home cooked meal. After dinner we went to the Christopher Reeve movie. It was sad, but a good documentary.

October 16, 2024

Today we went on a wine tour with Dancing Kangaroo Tours to the Yarra Valley. It was one of the best wine tours I have been on. Our guide was funny and informative and did such a great job of making the tour social. We got to know the other people on the tour and it was so fun. If you are ever in the area, I recommend booking a tour with them!

The first winery we went to was Yering Station:

Then we went to Soumah – this was my favorite of the day. We also had lunch here as a group and the food was delicious. We had barramundi, which is a popular white fish in Australia. We also got a glass of wine with our meal.

After lunch we headed to our last winery, Helen and Joey Estate. I may have had a little too much vino by this point and forgot to take pictures, but it was a lovely family owned winery.

We then went to the Coldstream Brewery and had a flight of beer.

Finally the tour ended at a chocolate factory where mom and I had ice cream.

All in all, this was one of the best days yet! The weather was beautiful and we met a lot of cool people on the tour.

October 17, 2024

Today we went on a tour of the Great Ocean Road and to see the 12 Apostles. We decided to try our luck with the Melbourne trams to get to our pickup point by 7am. If anyone is ever in Melbourne and wants to give this a go, you have to purchase a Myki card from a corner store (7/11, etc.) and load a balance onto it. It was super easy and we made it to our pickup spot in the CBD on time!

The tour brought you all along the Great Ocean Road and we stopped at a couple cool points of interest, such as Torquay beach, Mait Rainforest, the 12 Apostles and Gorges Bay. We had fish and chips in Apollo Bay for lunch. And on the way back we finally got to see some Kangaroos in the wild! After a great day of exploring, we got back to Melbourne around 7:30pm.

October 18, 2024

Today was a rainy one. And apparently when it rains, it pours in Melbourne. So we avoided going outside most of the day and hung out in our AirBnb and went to the gym! In the evening we met up with my cousin Darla’s friend, Emma. We walked down by the Yarra river and stopped at a couple restaurants for some drinks and food. She showed us some sites in the area, and it was a really fun night. I am super happy I got to meet her. I will be messaging her to ask about the Aussie slang while I am here. Hanging out with her made me realize I have a lot to learn!

I loved Melbourne, and definitely want to head back sometime in the next year!