Backstory: I was meant to travel to Australia in March 2018 but the visa process was just a mess, I received my visa approval letter 2 days before my proposed travel date and by that time I’d already changed travel plans to go to Thailand instead. Finally, in March 2019 we finally travelled Down Under. 

I travelled with my BFF from Johannesburg to Melbourne via Perth (where our connecting flight was delayed for 5 hours, urgh!). The main reason we wanted to be in Melbourne in March was for the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and also just to eat!

Before I break down our days let me sum up my thoughts on our entire trip and my experience of Aus…

• Loved it more than I thought I would, I was pleasantly surprised
• Didn’t eat a bad plate of food, even once! And every restaurant we went to was giving peak Instagram aesthetics
• Everyone we met / interacted with was amazing, we met only the best people in terms of being friendly, open and helpful
• Thoroughly enjoyed the 1st world comforts: great public transport, feeling relatively safe, wearing short / revealing clothing within the people
• The number of people living on the streets shocked me, there weren’t too many but were noticeable. I don’t think I associated such with Australia
• Dranks are expensive! Think >R100 for a single G&T, Corona, glass of prosecco

Day 1
We booked a rooftop event (the sub-theme of our trip, Aussies love a rooftop) that was part of the MFWF cos we felt like it was our first day in the city and we’d rather go for an organised event so we can get our bearings. This was such an inspired idea because we met locals who gave us sooo many good recommendations which we worked through during the rest of our stay in the city.

Day 2
We started working through the restaurant recommendations from our list and went for lunch at an American barbecue-esque restaurant, Fancy Hanks. The food was sublime, wow! We ended off the afternoon by going to the rooftop (see!) of that restaurant and having drinks in the Melbourne sun. In the evening we headed off to a bar/club in China town.

Always such a lovely time at the Fenty Beauty stand at Sephora

The swatch life

Day 3
This day was shopping day, I needed to buy the items that were on my Australia wishlist. We picked the wrong day to shop because it was a public holiday in Australia and the city was packed! So many people! We ended off the day at an Afrobeats party which was so much fun. I haven’t been to a club/party in soooo long and it was nice being out again, though I need 2 more years to recover 🙂

In the train on our way to Richmond

The sous-chef bombing my photo

The restaurant gifted us the night’s menu and some tea 

Day 4
After the rough night we had an easy morning and went to check out the area of Richmond and had brunch at a place called Holla. In the evening was the highlight of our trip, we had a booking at The Press Club. We had 10 course tasting menu and we got to go see the kitchen and meet the chef and the sous-chef after our meal. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

The spread at Chin Chin was ah-mazing

Day 5
On our last full day in Melbourne we walked around the area of South Yarra and eventually made our way to St Kilda Beach. The beach was  a bit of a let down, there wasn’t much happening (it was a chilly mid-week afternoon) and the restaurant options weren’t so many. We ended up taking advantage of happy hour and having a snack at one of the places. In the evening we had our last Melbourne meal at ChinChin (another restaurant recommendation from the first day). Because we were unsure of what to eat we went with the Feed Me option which gives you a taste of all their best dishes to share… what a gastronomical delight! I can’t say enough how all the food we ate in Melbourne was out of this world!

On the last day we packed our bags and headed to our second destination, Perth which was (thankfully!) much warmer than Melbourne and a totally different but wonderful vibe.