Exploring Melbourne Australia and the Great Ocean Road | Gibson Steps Beach | Family fun travel

The first stop on our Australian adventures was Melbourne. Melbourne is the capital city of the state of Victoria and is considered to be the second largest city in Australia with a population of 4.8 million people. We weren’t sure what to expect from this city as it is usually overshadowed by its sister City of Sydney, but none-theless we were excited to explore a new continent and country. Our ultimate bucket list was to check off the Great Ocean Road drive from our list, which created one of our most unforgettable travel memory. Aside from the Great Ocean drive, we also found many wonderful hidden gems within this cosmopolitan city, with such a variety of culture and languages, to immerse and experience.

The Vibrant Colors of the Brighton Beach Boxes

Brighton Beach is approximately a 30 minute drive from downtown Melbourne and is accessible by car or public transit. The most iconic beach in Melbourne, known for its 82 brightly coloured beach boxes, is a popular spot for photo opportunities for tourists and photographers. Each box is uniquely designed to maintain its Victorian appeal, wooden framing, and their corrugated iron roofs. The beach itself maintains clean water from the nearby harbor and waves are mild and cool to have a quick dip in. A great place to have leisure walk along the beach and have a picnic with the family. The beach itself could also be very busy depending on the time of day. There are also shops and restaurants not to far from the beach within the area. A fun fact: we’ve been told that one of those beach boxes have sold for over 300k AUD and does not even include running water or electricity. Maybe when we win the lottery it will be on our list!

St. Kilda Pavilion, the Beach & boardwalk area

The St Kilda Pavilion is a historic kiosk located at the end of St Kilda Pier and is a short drive from the Brighton Beach area (approx 10 mins). Many of Melbourne’s popular tourist attractions exist within the vicinity – Luna Park, Fitzroy Street, the Esplanade Hotel, and the most popular beach in Melbourne. The most interesting part of the St Kilda area, besides the kiosk itself, is the scenic coastal walk to get there and is packed with a variety of open bars and restaurants! One eatery in particular caught our attention — Paper Fish. This beachside kiosk is a must to try! The Paper Fish menu features fresh seafood (deep fried fish & shrimp), chips (or fries for North Americans) and salads. You will easily gravitate to the smell of the food from the boardwalk, and it will easily pull you in to appease your senses! While dining at their open air patio, you can enjoy a gorgeous sunset while watching some exciting live volleyball action from the locals!

Street walks, shops & alley ways

Our first stop in Melbourne, we were craving something sweet to beat our jet lag, and planned our first stop at the All Day Donuts. It was our first time trying a gourmet donut, and enjoyed every single bite of it. There were a variety of flavors available to choose from, so we couldn’t just buy one. Our favorite was the cookie crumble and original buttermilk glazed donuts. Afterwards, we enjoyed strolling around the rugged, artsy neighbourhood of Brunswick, which is located just a 15 to 20 minutes away from the city center. Many modernized, funky and unique cafes and shops can also be enjoyed in this area.

As we explored the core area of Melbourne, we came across a variety of fascinating distinguishing neighbourhoods and each one offering something so different from the other.

Hosier Lane & Center Place: Hoosier Lane also known as “graffiti alley”, a fun walk with the kids to admire and get inspired in urban street art and take fun photos. The alleyway could easily fill up with tourists and may get difficult to capture a decent photo, so I highly recommend going early to avoid the crowds. Hoosier lane is also close to Flinders Street Station and Federation Square, which are other nice landmarks to check out in the area.
Center Place: a iconic pedestrian laneway, filled with many outdoor shops, boutiques, cafes, and eateries leading to the Center Place Mall. Stop and enjoy a coffee in one of Melbourne’s renown alleys, to experience the vibrancy of the city.

Bourke Street Mall: An outdoor shopping plaza of shops for those individuals looking to fulfill their retail therapy. On weekends, street performers inject energy into this bustling city centre and entertain shoppers along the streets. Many shops including H&M, Zara, David Jones, and Melbourne’s GPO cater to a wide range of retail selections for just about any age group.

(We’d probably go out on a limb and say that this is the most classiest H&M building we’ve ever seen!!) 😉

Southern Cross Station : The main train hub of Melbourne connecting commuters through the many different suburban regions of the city and airport. Melbourne is after all so vast that it covers 31 municipalities. Head up to the second level, and enjoy a cool visual perspective of the train rail yard.

Coop’s Shot Tower

Southgate shopping centre & the Yarra river. The Yarra River runs south of the City center, spanning approximately a total of 242 KM west through the Yarra Valley and into the Bay. The promenade along the river makes for a nice jaunt and provides a very scenic city view of Melbourne’s skyliine. Many fun activities can be savored here, including boat and bike tours along the river, shopping, dining and a variety of street performers.

Spending half a day at the State Library of Victoria

The State Library of Victoria is located right in the centre of downtown Melbourne. On top of being a haven for book lovers, the library also acts as a gallery for arts and other exhibitions, and many of the exhibits are free of charge!

The best feature of the library is the Domed Reading Room. The largest of its type in the world, the dome can hold up to 600 people. Each of these 600 seats is equipped with a power point, where you can work or read for the whole day without worrying about your laptop or phone running out of battery. They also have board games (chess, checkers) available in their main level for anyone and everyone to enjoy. If you are bringing kids, the former courtyard is carpeted and roofed to a comfortable interior space, equipped with a children’s corner where they have plenty of toys and books to entertain themselves! You can easily spend half a day here at this library and if you ask us….it’s time well spent! 🙂

A gorgeous drive to the Great Ocean Road

Throughout the past few years of traveling, we’ve had our good share of driving by many coastal scenes and it never ceases to amaze us how each one of these drives are unique in their own way! After driving the Great Ocean road in Australia, we can now say that we’ve driven in both sides of the Pacific Ocean! 🙂

With our sights set on the main highlight of the drive, you can’t help but notice Australia’s famous
TWELVE APOSTLES creating a dramatic scene along Victoria’s coastline. Although not all of the original apostles remain standing (five have fallen since their discovery), this sight will pull you into a moment of tranquility and astonishment found nowhere else in the world.

Also, along the Great Ocean Road – the ever popular Loch Ard Gorge, only a few minutes drive from the 12 Apostles. Such sweeping views makes the Gorge a very picturesque spot and admire in mother nature’s beautiful natural wonders. Various walking trails are available, depending on how much you want to see allow about 2 to 3 hours to explore the area.

Accompanying all that is the Gibson Steps, which leads to one of the most gorgeous beaches we’ve ever seen! The drive from Melbourne is approximately 3 hours one way, so we’ve dedicated an entire day just for the Great Ocean Road.