Blogs from CBD, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Oceania

Eight days to go and counting! Today I started writing a bucket list - here's what I got so far: ride a camal in egypt see the prymaids in egypt hot air balloon in egypt sing karaoke at mauer park germany smoke weed legally in amsterdam eat a croissant or something from local bakery in front of the eiffle tower wear a hijab in egypt learn how to say at least one word in the national language of every country I go to cruise in croatia buy rosary beads from italy skydive in switzerland visit a concentration camp see whats left of the berlin wall taste frog legs in france eat belgium choclate in belgium sing a song from the sound of music while in austria order a duna kebab in german language while in germany ... read more

Only 9 days to go until take-off!! Last night we started writing our check list of things we are going to take and things we still need to buy for our trip. We anticipate that we will probably have to sleep for a few hours at airports and train stations sometimes so folding/sleeping mats are on the list of things to buy. All I keep imagining is the moment I step out of the airport and feel the hot eygpt air on my face - seriously cannot wait! I can already tell this is going to be a long 9 days!! How am I going to sleep when I'm this excited?!! - Shama... read more

It was back to the important matter of beer drinking today as we had lined up tours of 2 breweries. The first brewery tour was at the Carlton Brewery which was a 15minute walk from the flat.Given that it was 10am on a Monday morning we expected the tour to be very quiet but we were surprised at how many people were actually there. When we arrived we donned our health and safety High Vis vests and met our tour guide. The tour took us through a couple of the Production Areas in the site. The first stop was one of the brewing areas where the beer is sent through the four tanks (mill, mash tun, draining and kettle) when the kettle is operating at full capacity it can get up to 40 degrees in the ... read more

We decided to take a closer look at one of Melbourne’s oldest tourist attractions, its Jail (or Gaol as they spell it!). The first part of our visit was a tour of the old police cells with a guide playing the role of a police officer. We were then split into lines based on gender and then locked in cells, although only for a few minutes. We were shown the different cells that they used to use, including a padded cell for those they thought might harm themselves, and the very small exercise yard. We walked around the old prison buildings and found out more about Australia’s notorious criminal Ned Kelly and his family. We were also shown and told about how they used to tie inmates to a device for whipping, and learnt about those ... read more

We caught the tram into Federation Square where we picked up a couple of bikes which we rented for the day. They provided helmets and a small saddle bag and sent us on our way. We decided to ride the Studley Park Boathouse trail which is a 20km trail which runs North along the river back towards Richmond. The start of this track is the same path that we had used to walk into the city the day before, but then continues on further past Richmond. We stopped at Victoria St and parked up our bikes whilst we walked to the local shops to pick up some sushi which we would have for lunch later in the day. Back on the bikes, we continued North along the Yarra river passing Collingwood Childrens farm, where you ride ... read more

As Will’s still looking for work we have decided to cram in as much touristy stuff as possible, so we’d booked ourselves on a free personalised tour of the city via the Melbourne Greeting Service. We met Ken at the Tourist Information Centre on Federation Square at 9:30 and introduced ourselves. There was supposed to be a third person on the tour with us, although we guessed the slightly unpredictable weather scared her off, so we set off. Ken initially led us up through Degraves Street which is where a lot of cafes were serving breakfast that looked and smelt amazing; Will did well to restrain himself, although you could see him getting food envy! Along the way Ken explained how Melbourne’s layout and wider roads differed from the more conventional design of other Australian city’s ... read more