Road Trip 2015 | Melbourne

After leaving Wagga (first time around), we drove on down to Melbourne for a short 5 day holiday... Our plans were to visit some museums, eat lots of good food, drink lots of good coffee, catch up with friends and have a great time.  All round it was great.

As this is such a big post, we'll keep it fairly simple!

We stayed in a nice little apartment in St Kilda, which to the kids amusement had a glass wall between the main bedroom and the living area (definitely a bachelor pad)...

First day in Melbourne we headed over to the Melbourne Museum to meet up with some friends from our days in Singapore.  Oskar & Alex (and their mum Abbey).  We did the good Melbourne thing and got the tram into town, and enjoyed a yummy breakfast in a local cafe.

 It was surprisingly cold (less than 20 degrees)... which made us believe all the stereotypes about Melbourne weather!

 The kids had loads of fun in the museum...

 Keira spotted this and instantly said "Dreamworks" and posed!

 After the museum we spent the afternoon wondering the laneways of Melbourne's CBD... Enjoyed a nice coffee and then a pizza / pasta dinner near home.

Next morning and the kids had a go at sketching the views from the balcony...

And then artistically...

On Friday we went to Federation Square to meet Caleb and Donna (Claire's BFF from Singapore).  The kids had their own picnic on the hills and enjoyed playing in the gardens.

Once again we explored the CBD streets and stumbled into Chin Chin for a very nice lunch.

On the way back to St Kilda we stopped in a tunnel to get an obligatory street art photo!

After a short rest, we headed to Half Moon Bay, as the kids were keen to swim, and the fish and chips were rumoured to be great there...  As you can see, the weather wasn't ideal for swimming, but that never stops our girls.

 Turns out the fish and chips was very yummy!

 The kids bought themselves some ice blocks....

 Sunday came around and we enjoyed fresh sourdough bread for breakfast, before heading over to Scienceworks.  Before getting in, we had to stop for a brownie and doughnut to keep the kids going.

We headed to Yarraville for lunch, and then as we had nothing else in mind to do, we went back to Halfmoon Bay for another swim at the beach!

 This time though, when we left we headed over to see the famous bath-houses!

For dinner, we walked some 2km to Claypots... When we got there, Claire quickly ate half a loaf of sourdough and fell asleep!  What was a great dinner was worn off after mum and dad carried Keira and Claire all the way home.  Claire was so out to the world she didn't even realise we'd left the restaurant as we put her to bed!

Sunday and it was time to catch up with Damian...

The girls were trying to decide the crazier man at the table...

We enjoyed a walk around the St Kilda market, before heading back into town to explore some more.  We enjoyed gelato at Brunetti...

We visited the moving pictures museum, and then wondered over to the Arts precinct to frolic in the grass for a while before heading back to the apartment.

And then as quick as that it was time to head back to Wagga Wagga.  After a nice breakfast at Fitzrovia, and while mum and dad enjoyed the coffee, the kids produced some sketches of their mum!

 On the way back to Wagga, we stopped at the Brown Brothers vineyard and factory (to play a little chess), and then at the Milawa Cheese Factory (for some cheese obviously!)