Who's moving to Melbourne?
I am a week back from an excellent trip to Melbourne, Australia. One of my dear Australian friends in Portland was throwing a big bash in Melbourne to celebrate her milestone birthday, so naturally, seven of us bopped down because we couldn't bear to miss out on the fun. (if anyone is ever interested in hearing about my many epic international airline mileage redemption stories, hit me up).
We settled into our South Yarra neighborhood Airbnb, and hit the ground running (no jet lag!). Lou chose a great spot for us to land- it was perfect for easy walking access to anything you might need- grocery, pharmacy (one of my favorite travel stops), restaurants, cafes, and most importantly, the Royal Botanic Gardens. With its streetcars and independent businesses, Toorak Street felt a little like San Francisco. We had to keep reminding ourselves that we were on the other side of the earth, but the wild cockatoos and flying foxes helped.
We had a spectacular time being hosted by our friend. We visited visited all of her old haunts, her favorite restaurants, wine bars, and shops. They all surpassed her enthusiastic hype! We were especially lucky to be welcomed by her vast Melbourne community, who opened up their homes to our giant gaggle of gals, cooked for us, regaled us with stories and shared their Melbourne lives with us.
After the big bash, I made my way back to wintry Portland and the girls continued on the see more of the country. I am sad to have missed the kangaroos but am very happy to have spent a good amount of time getting to know another city. Melbourne, I'll be back!
ART + CULTURE
+ The Royal Botanic Gardens were a frequent destination for our morning stretches, and the hilly terrain was perfect for some ambitious sprints! Collectively, I would wager that our group made at least three dozen trip to or through the gardens. During the summertime, they host live music shows and after dark movies, and telling from the many picnics, holiday work parties, romantic meetings and exercise groups, it was clearly a beloved place for Melbournites.
+ The National Gallery, Victoria was also walking distance from our house, I made two trips to the gallery. It's free! I got a taste for the Yayoi Kusama exhibition that was about to open, and am so sad that I missed it!
+ Heide Museum of Modern Art - a little bit of a drive from downtown Melbourne, the Heide was top of my list of places to visit. It did not disappoint! I love a museum that is also house, and also a garden that also has a great shop and restaurant. The story of John and Sunday Reed and the life they created at Heide is the stuff of dreams, and learning for the first time about Australian based artist greates like Mirka Moya, Sidney Nolan and Sam Atyeo was pretty cool.
+ The Night Cat - on recommendation of a local musician friend, we headed to this old club on a weeknight to see jazz musician, Allysha Joy. She was phenomenal! She was backed by a string trio, three backup singers, a percussionist and a drummer. Being surprised by new music is such a gift! From the stories we were told, this was the venue was the spot for many sweaty dancing nights!
SHOPPING!
+ Mud, is a really beautiful well-known Australian pottery brand, with several locations around the city. We picked up some gifts here, and popped next door to Filly's Stable. I fell in love with this Ganni dress, but resisted!
+ There is really big Bjork moment happening in Melbourne- she was everywhere. I was delighted to see this blanket collaboration amongst all the beautiful pieces at Alpha60 Chapter House concept's store.
+ Stumbling upon Friends of Frank on our way to a Marion Wine Bar was a fun treat. Scarlet found this gorgeous, tailored, many hooked vest!
+ As far as consignment shopping goes, we checked out two shops. There are several locations for Goodbyes, which is bigger and feels a little like Buffalo Exchange, but with brands we don't see in here which was fun. For the real good stuff, we went to both Bruce locations. I picked up a sweet pair of block heeled Halmaneras and really fun pants by Y's by Yohji Yamamoto as a gift. We were lucky to meet the owner of Bruce, who hails from New York!
FOOD!
+ The South Melbourne Market is a must visit if you're into food markets. This is a massive indoor food hall where you can buy the freshest of everything. We had a big barbecue to shop for so we got whole Barramundi, red snapper steaks, many giant prawns, fresh veggies, pineapple, mangos. We topped off the buying frenzy with a little lunch- freshly shucked oysters, the most delicious sashimi, and the famous market dim sim. For a pre or post shopping pick-me-up, I recommend stopping by St. ALi for a flat white.
+ CIBI! This Japanese owned cafe/design/home/grocery shop was on our regular rotation. The food is delicious, and the design shop requires several visits. This is where I picked up my souvenir t-shirt, which should tell you everything!
+ Builder's Arms. This was our very first dinner in the city, and a place that was recommended by every local we talked to. It's located on Gertrude Street, which was also a frequent spot for us to land for browsing around ALL the shops like HAVN, Bruce, Megan Park, Handsom (got some great shorts here), Mud, Kowtow....
+ My favorite dinner out was for Lou's birthday. We landed at Julie Restaurant, which is a gorgeous space located in a former convent that has been converted into a community of galleries, shops and a gorgeous garden. We had amazing martinis, the most delicious lamb I've ever had, and the most mind-boggling dessert! It was a very special place.
DAY TRIP!
We snuck in one day trip from Melbourne while we were (mostly) all together. We caravanned to the "back beach" in Sorrento, a sweet little beach community where Lou spend her childhood summers. We sun tanned, people watched, played around in the Pacific and ate ham and cheese sandwiches.
+ We left the beach and drove about 10 minutes along the Mornington Peninsula where we visited a wonderful winery called Ten Minutes by Tractor. Here, we schemed about how to live in this place where we could be at the beach one minute, and at a nearly 30 year old vineyard the next.....
+ And then we drove another 10 minutes to Peninsula Hot Springs where our minds exploded, but were quickly recovered in the healing waters of the springs. I've been to a fair number of hot springs in my life, but hadn't experienced anything quite like this! There were over 70 pools to explore around this vast property- amazing!
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