Melbourne on a Skateboard

Exhausted from the guidance of travel books, we threw them aside. My friends and I knew three things:

• We had 8 hours to explore before catching our plane to SYD.
• It was Good Beer Week in Melbourne- which I kept emphasizing.
• We wanted to do as much as possible.

So here is what we did:

1. Skateboarded to Fed Square

Fed Square hosts art galleries, shopping, and  dining to create a "hipstery" experience. It is worth checking out the contemporary architecture against the more conservative metropolitan style.  Catching a bite at one of the numerous cafes is a good choice.
Cafe Chinotto, main dishes for under $20

2. Hosier Lane Cruise

Here in the U.S., we might call it quality graffiti but down under their perspective is a little more evolved. Urban art lines the laneways throughout Melbourne pairing with equally unique cafes. 
www.hosierlane.com

3. James Squire Brewhouse

Greeted by monster-sized wooden barrels full of my favorite stuff, beer. They offer six in-house beers, from an English Style Summer Ale, Bohemian Pilsner, and Brown Porter. In the spirit of "Good Beer Week" we indulged four different choices. $30 Tab
www.jamessquire.net.au

4. Op Shop
Ever heard of the saying "You want what you can't have?"  That doesn't seem to apply in Australian thrift shops. Maybe it was good luck, but their secondhand clothing was my buried treasure.
Double Lens glasses $5






5. Young and Jackson's Pub

With three bar options, we landed at the Long Bar. The hotel the pub sits in says it is "the most Iconic Hotel in Australia." Whatever that means, it does serve as a good escape to get out of the rain. www.youngandjacksons.com.au

6. Brunswick Street in Fitzroy

Architecture is somewhat divided, storefronts on the bottom and European housing on the second story. I don't know if it was the weather or the brick structures giving off chilly vibes. I found  comfort in the retail stores. 

Sweaters $25 and leotard $15 (it had a unicorn and the moon!) 

We even passed the bar from the night before our road trip, Perseverance. It was a total fraternity joint. 

Can't take this on the plane

Great Ocean Road, 12 Apostles, and Loch Ard Gorge

Left the driving, Start on the right (Melbourne) to left 

Three friends and I took four days off to explore the expanse of pavement on the edge of the Southern Ocean. As soon as we landed we would leave town in the morning to go down the Great Ocean Road. One of Australia's top road trips. 

Lets Go To Melbourne

But a night in Melbourne- the greatest city of Australia in my opinion. More worldly than Sydney but less extreme than Perth, it sits on the southern part of the country, across from Tasmania.

We decide to go out and canoodle with new friends at roof top bars. The artistry of the city, from the graffiti on the walls to the dramatic interior design, makes it the San Francisco of Australia- I am told.

We rise early to check out the Queen Victoria Markets. I grab a baby chicken and a David Bowie t-shirt, not really but you could get both.  Its time to get our Wicked camper, which are these cool vans with murals on the side. Should get popular in the states soon.

Queen Victoria Markets 

Cable line outside Discovery Hostel 

Driving Great Ocean Road

Walter White was our guardian angel for the weekend. We headed  south, hoping not to fall off the planet. Apollo Bay was four hours away. On the way you have to see Bells Beach, which is the iconic setting for Keanu Reeves "Point Break".  The other unforgettable spot is a hillside treasure in the town of Lorne, Teddy's Lookout. Constructed with a compass detailing the surrounding locations, it comes with a view of a sea inlet and homes that make you reverie.

Bells Beach

View from Teddy's Lookout

Our spirits were so lifted we jumped on top of the van for a photo shoot.

An arrow pointed us toward Erskine Falls, a great bonus stop off the G.O.R.  Time to get back on the road, we had an hour until the misty town on the ocean, Apollo Bay.  With a population in the 2000s, we thought we would have a quiet night but that wasn't the case. 

Morning called for a good breakfast as we saw hundreds of runners crossing the finish line for a marathon. 

Pit stop: Great Ocean Road Wildlife Park is a self-sustaining park with Australian wildlife like kangaroos, wallabies, and dingos.

12 Apostles & Loch Ard Gorge

On the southern edge of Australia's coast is a rocky cliff rim with giant limestone stacks that bear the brunt of the Southern Ocean. The 12 Apostles, now 8 after multiple collapses turned these formerly attached caves, to archways (eroded from waves), into  rock stacks.

On the sunny and breezy day, I drifted off to my own little spot to take in the beautiful coastline. The site is very popular with tourists, even arriving on helicopter.

If you have time to see more, drive three minutes west to Loch Ard Gorge. A hidden beach sits deep into the gorge. With winter  and our stay here in Australia approaching, we decided to jump in the ice-cold water.

As we headed back towards Melbourne the sky started to darken with lilacs, corals, and blues.  We found refuge off the highway next to a farm with horses and cracked a bottle of whiskey to warm our bodies. The whiskey was turning us into cowgirls because later into the night, we tried to mount one of the horses next door.