Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! This past week was Spring Break aka “Easter Break” to Australians, and I had the opportunity to spend it in beautiful Melbourne! Melbourne is a large city in Victoria, which is south of Queensland (where I live on the Gold Coast) and New South Wales (where I visited my roommates family) So this is technically the farthest south that I have been in Australia! 

The difference from the Gold Coast to Melbourne was very noticeable; I enjoyed seeing a city so diverse and rich in culture. During our trip, our hostel accommodation was located in St. Kilda, about a thirty minute ride away from the Central Business District of Melbourne. I really enjoyed staying a bit away from the city, and we got the chance to explore another part of Victoria in the process.  There was quite a bit to cover in one week, so I will start with St. Kilda!

St. Kilda was a small beach community located right on the water. It is technically part of Port Phillip, not Melbourne, but it is so close to the city that many people suggested staying there instead, and I am glad we did! St. Kilda was a very festive town with lots of cafes, restaurants, music, and a local market called the Esplanade, which reminded me of my Uncle Bob and all of his flea markets. It was fun to walk through and see local artists and vendors. I picked up some postcards to remind me of the city after I leave.

Downtown St. Kilda

Some of the shops and cafes

Some additional highlights included going on the world’s longest running wooden roller coaster at Luna Park! The roller coaster was fun, they actually have a ride attendant who stands up in the middle of the cart and steers the ride and controls the carts with a hand held lever for breaking. It was kind of scary actually, but on the ride you get to see the view of the entire town which was cool. 

Theater and Theme Park

Luna Park Clown Entrance- home of the world oldest wooden roller coaster!

We also saw the Port Phillip penguins, which was amazing! They come out every night after a long day of fishing out in the ocean and crawl under the rocks for the night. They make some of the strangest noises to each other it was funny! It was hard to get a decent picture at night because the flash disturbs them, but it was my first time to see a wild penguin in its natural habitat. 

Penguin climbing the rocks at the pier

 We watched the sunset on the pier that night, and the city skyline as a backdrop to the bay was a stunning way to spend our last night in the town! It was quite hard to say goodbye to that town it will be missed!