My flight from Auckland to Melbourne on April 9 was direct when I booked it, but annoyingly my direct flight got canceled and they rebooked me on one that went through Sydney. By the time I got to my hostel, it was almost 9:30pm, so I didn’t have time to do any sightseeing that day.
In the morning, I set out early to sightsee. Melbourne, delightfully, has a “free tram zone” that covers basically all of downtown Melbourne, so I walked over to get the tram from in front of the Royal Arcade (and couldn’t resist a peek inside).
Inside the Royal Arcade
My first stop off the tram was the Royal Exhibition building at Carlton Gardens, which was built in 1880.
It was raining, so I found another arcade where I had a couple of pastries for breakfast and also bought an umbrella (So naturally, it immediately stopped raining and I never used it).
On the way to my next stop, I passed this former Magistrates’ Court, built in 1913, that is now part of RMIT University. You’re going to start seeing a theme of me fangirling over the architecture in Melbourne, which I absolutely loved and couldn’t stop photographing.
I then did a self-guided tour of the Old Melbourne Gaol, which I thought would be a really interesting glimpse into Australia’s history as a penal colony. Turns out the Melbourne Gaol is more of a look at Melbourne’s criminal history, but it was still interesting!
I also did a guided tour of the City Watch House, a part of the prison that was still used into the 1990s. Can you imagine??
The State Library of Victoria
I then explored the famous Block Arcade and decided to have tea and scones at the Hopetoun Tea Rooms.
Hopetoun Tea Rooms window display
I had strawberry tea and scones with jam and cream and it was even more delicious that I expected.
I then joined a food and coffee tour that included sightseeing as well. We had Chinese dumplings, Vietnamese banh mi, macarons, handmade chocolate, gelato, coffee, and wine. I absolutely love food tours and I’ve done them all over the world, and this one was definitely a good one. My guide was extremely knowledgeable and she was willing to take pictures of us, which I always appreciate as a solo traveler.
Melbourne Town Hall
Melbourne is famous for its laneways so my guide, Monique, took this picture for me while we were walking around.
Melbourne’s 1864 postal building, which is now an H&M
Flinders Street Station
Hosier Lane, famous for its graffiti and street art
The Forum Theatre, built in 1929
St. Paul’s Cathedral
I took an Uber to St. Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne that is famous for a fairy penguin colony that lives on its pier. Naturally, the pier had been shut down for renovation about 3 weeks earlier, so I couldn’t walk out to see the penguins.
Thankfully the view of the Melbourne skyline was lovely!
Back in downtown Melbourne, I went up the Melbourne Skydeck to see the city lit up.
The next day, I of course had a tour booked, so I started by getting breakfast from Queen Victoria Market before I got picked up for my tour down the Great Ocean Road.
Entryway to the Great Ocean Road, an engineering marvel connecting the small coastal towns in southeastern Australia that was completed in the years after WWII. It’s widely considered to be one of the most scenic drives on Earth.
Walkway to the beach
On the beach!
Views for days
On the Shipwreck Coast
According to our tour guide, he swears these circles are dinosaur footprints. Not sure if he’s right but thought they were fun either way!
Grave for a sea captain lost on Shipwreck Coast
Koala sighting!
Our tour also included a stroll through Great Otway National Park
So many cool trees in the national park
Loch Ard Gorge
The Tom & Eva Lookout at Loch Ard Gorge
The Razorback
The Twelve Apostles (which will all eventually topple, and currently there are 8 or 9 still standing)
Posing with the Twelve Apostles
Back in Melbourne, I had some tacos for dinner and then I went to see Urzila Carson at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, widely considered to be one of the best comedy festivals in the world and I didn’t even know it was happening until I got to Melbourne, so lucky me!
Stupidly, due to poor planning on my part and the airline changing my flight to later, that was all the time I had in Melbourne. I really could’ve used another day (or maybe even two!) but alas, I was headed north to Cairns. It's an excuse to go back to Melbourne someday.
My flight was indirect, from Melbourne to Gold Coast to Cairns, and both legs ended up getting delayed so I didn’t get to my hostel until late enough that I, true to form, basically went to bed when I got there.
In the morning, I got picked up from my hostel and driven down to the marina to join a scuba diving tour on the Great Barrier Reef. I’d dreamt of seeing the Great Barrier Reef since I was a little girl, and it did not disappoint.
For me personally, scuba diving was the scariest thing I did on this trip. I’m not a very strong swimmer, and this was a “beginner” dive on the reef, so we didn’t have a chance to practice in a pool or anything. I just put the regulator in my mouth once we were already in the water and that was it. I panicked so badly when we started going down that I immediately came back up and almost jumped ship, but my (incredibly kind) dive instructor talked me into staying in, and I’m really glad he did. We got close enough to a sea turtle that I could’ve touched it (if that wasn’t unethical, that is). But half of my brain was so focused on breathing the entire time because I was trying to keep myself from panicking about drowning that I don’t think I would rush to scuba dive again. I think I’ll just stick to snorkeling in the future!
Scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef
View from the boat
There was a professional photographer on board, so I bought a few of his photos. This is the sea turtle I saw!
Clown fish on the reef
Beautiful corals and fishes
Had to get a picture in the ridiculous stinger suits. Talk about high fashion!
It was an amazing day on the reef, and now I’ve seen three of the seven natural wonders of the world! It would be a dream to see all seven someday.
The following day, I had a waterfalls tour booked. The first stop was a swimming hole at Babinda Boulders. It was a beautiful spot but I was being eaten alive by mayflies the whole time we were there so I don’t have the fondest memories.
Josephine Falls
Visiting the waterfalls took us on a scenic drive through the Atherton Tablelands, some of the most verdant farmland in all of Australia.
Millaa Millaa Falls
Pretty enough that it deserves two photos
The Curtain Fig tree, which is more than 500 years old. James Cameron came to Queensland to do research when he was making the Avatar movies and the rumor is that a Curtain Fig Tree in the Daintree Rainforest was the inspiration for the tree homes in Avatar.
Other side of the Curtain Fig Tree
Lake Eacham, which was the best swimming spot of the day
We got back from that tour early enough that I did some exploring in Cairns. I had sushi for dinner and then found my way over to the Cairns Night Markets to do a little shopping and exploring. It was a nice and chill way to end a couple of days in Cairns, because the next day I was zipping down to Sydney to see my friends, Kate and Alex!
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