We’d heard lots of good things about Melbourne with it’s cool laneway cafes, street art and hip hangouts, but in all honesty the main reason for us heading there was to catch up with friends…. since neither of us are even remotely cool, arty or hip.

We’ll start by thanking Tez and Sze-Ee for hosting and looking after us so warmly and generously throughout our time in Melbourne. We arrived about 1am at their apartment bleary eyed and looking (and smelling) like we’d spent a month in a camper in the wilds of New Zealand. They immediately made us feel at home, and we immediately made there beautiful home look like a bomb site. 

The next morning was spent scrubbing off the grime from camping before heading into the city to wander the cool laneways (far too cool for us). The following day was a public holiday for the Melbourne Cup so the city had the bubbling atmosphere of a town getting ready to party. Not being part of the celebrations but not wanting to miss out we met up with Siobhan one of Mum’s friends in a cafe with a good vantage point near the Yarra river to watch events unfold.

The next day we headed out of town South to Mt Martha on the the Mornington Peninsular to meet Jodie, one of Dad’s old friends for brunch.

From there with full bellies and recommendations of places to visit from Jodie we headed to Arthur’s Seat which has an amazing view point over the peninsular. Then of course on to a vineyard (Stonier Wines) to compare what the peninsular has to offer using our newly NZ educated palettes.
The next stop was the Moonlit Wildlife Sanctuary for some marsupial spotting. The idea was to give Baby Barrett his first view of kangaroos, wallabies, wombats and koalas however we are not sure who enjoyed it the most, Mum or BB?… Especially since BB slept through the koala feeding session where Mum seemed to think she was a koala whisperer.

Our final day in Melbourne was spent chilling out and preparing for the next leg of our trip, up into Australia’s red centre. We also hit a milestone marker in our travels by posting home our cold weather clothing. It’s +28 degrees from here onwards as we slowly make our way North toward the tropics 😎

We are sooo grateful Tez and Sze-Ee for looking after us during our stay in Melbourne. Like with all the friends and strangers we have met along the way, their generosity, kindness and brilliant company (and Tez’s Japanese whiskey stash) has made us realise that we need to up our hosting game when back in the U.K. So upon our return we declare our house an always open house to friends and fellow travellers in need.