We made it! And to reward ourselves for such a mighty adventure, we decided that we would stay at the Westin right smack in the middle of down town Melbourne and celebrate the end of a wonderful vacation with a big Australian steak dinner. Delicious! Kangaroo was also on the menu.... but it just didn't seem right, so we settled for some fabulous Aussie steak paired with some yummy Shiraz from Tasmania. Then, because we were feeling super fancy, we returned to our posh hotel for a nightcap at the Martini bar. A well deserved reward for surviving our dirt road trip.
A Kiwi martini!
View of downtown Melbourne from our hotel room.
Our last day in Australia was unfortunately a grey, cold, rainy day, which put a bit of a damper on our big plans to explore Melbourne on foot. Luckily, Melbourne is not actually that big, so we still managed to see the highlights thanks to the help of the free tourist trolley.
Trolley time.
The funniest thing about the tourist trolley is all the locals that use it as a free lift for a few blocks. It goes in a big loop around the city, and we were literally the only people that stayed on for the duration (we're lazy) but as we passed through a busy business area, the ridership on the trolley would balloon with locals taking advantage of the free lift. I mean, why not, right? Free ride out of the rain. It wasn't the fastest mode of transportation I have ever been on, but it was a great and dry way to see the highlights of Melbourne.
The very cool Melbourne train station.
Enjoying the dry ride around town.
The last thing we HAD to do before we left Australia, was eat a meat pie. We searched around downtown Melbourne before happening across a whole meat pie shop and settled in to try the native food.
Pretty good stuff. We sampled two different varieties, both of which tasted like pasty and mushy meat. Maybe not the best lunch food, but after a few pints of beer, I can see how this would be delightful.
We had a GREAT time in Australia, and are already looking forward to a return visit someday. It was SO nice to break out of Singapore and escape the unbearable heat for some cold weather. I have been experiencing a little post-vacay blues this week, but never fear, we are off to Bali next week to celebrate our first wedding anniversary!
Xo-E
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