This is the last day of the Australia Winter Trip, time indeed flies so fast when you're having fun. My partner went to Queen Victoria Market after breakfast to buy souvenirs for his family. Then we left the hostel together as soon as he returned to hostel. We went to buy packed lunch at Queen Victoria Market before heading for Docklands. For your info, this famous market is not only home for souvenirs, fresh vegetables and fruits, fresh meat but they also sell cooked food. We bought roasted chicken with fries and Kangaroo meat marinated in red wine and garlic and they offered us to roast it for free. We waited around 5 mins before we were able to get our food.
Then we boarded the free shuttle bus on Stop 8 - Queen Victoria Market to Stop 9 - Harbour Town, Docklands. Docklands is unique to Melbourne. The huge area is a short trip from the inner CBD area and is surrounded by stunning water views. There's lots to do at Docklands - wandering around the shopping area, watching the Southern Star Observation Wheel being mended! You can get a free cup of tea or coffee here in the Tourist Lounge before about 3pm - it's a great place to relax for a bit.
Walk a bit and look at the great modern architecture, see statues of famous Australian showbiz people at Waterfront City and find art exhibits. Look for the inverted cow outdoor art exhibit, it is the icon of Docklands Park.
Opposite Docklands Park is Etihad Stadium. Etihad Stadium is one of Australia’s leading multipurpose venues, designed to cater for major sport and entertainment events hosting up to 55,000 fans. In the heart of Melbourne’s Docklands precinct, the stadium was formerly known as Telstra Dome and is the only football stadium in the Southern Hemisphere with a fully retractable roof. All up, it takes only eight minutes to close. Etihad Stadium not only hosts AFL, cricket and rugby, it’s also staged shows by some of the entertainment world’s biggest names, including U2, Robbie Williams, Barbra Streisand and Bon Jovi.
Next we rode free shuttle from Stop 10 - Etihad Stadium and Victoria Harbour to go to Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). MCG is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth-largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light towers at any sporting venue. Unfortunately, Stop 3 - Sports precinct wasn't part of the bus route that day since there was a scheduled match that day between the Brisbane Lions against the Richmond Tigers. Instead we were asked to alight at Stop 2 Federation Square, from there we walked to MCG. It wasn't hard to find as group of people were walking towards the same destination to support their favorite cricket team, with the Lions fans wearing red and Tigers fans wearing yellow. There were statues of famous players outside the stadium but we are not fans of the sport, we don't even know the rules, so we don't have idea who those people are. Cricket is more famous on Commonwealth countries around the world.
From MCG, we walked towards Stop 4 - Chinatown precinct to ride free shuttle to Melbourne University. Along the way we passed by Melbourne Museum, the Little Italy, then finally Melbourne University.
Then we boarded the free shuttle bus on Stop 8 - Queen Victoria Market to Stop 9 - Harbour Town, Docklands. Docklands is unique to Melbourne. The huge area is a short trip from the inner CBD area and is surrounded by stunning water views. There's lots to do at Docklands - wandering around the shopping area, watching the Southern Star Observation Wheel being mended! You can get a free cup of tea or coffee here in the Tourist Lounge before about 3pm - it's a great place to relax for a bit.
Walk a bit and look at the great modern architecture, see statues of famous Australian showbiz people at Waterfront City and find art exhibits. Look for the inverted cow outdoor art exhibit, it is the icon of Docklands Park.
Opposite Docklands Park is Etihad Stadium. Etihad Stadium is one of Australia’s leading multipurpose venues, designed to cater for major sport and entertainment events hosting up to 55,000 fans. In the heart of Melbourne’s Docklands precinct, the stadium was formerly known as Telstra Dome and is the only football stadium in the Southern Hemisphere with a fully retractable roof. All up, it takes only eight minutes to close. Etihad Stadium not only hosts AFL, cricket and rugby, it’s also staged shows by some of the entertainment world’s biggest names, including U2, Robbie Williams, Barbra Streisand and Bon Jovi.
Next we rode free shuttle from Stop 10 - Etihad Stadium and Victoria Harbour to go to Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). MCG is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth-largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light towers at any sporting venue. Unfortunately, Stop 3 - Sports precinct wasn't part of the bus route that day since there was a scheduled match that day between the Brisbane Lions against the Richmond Tigers. Instead we were asked to alight at Stop 2 Federation Square, from there we walked to MCG. It wasn't hard to find as group of people were walking towards the same destination to support their favorite cricket team, with the Lions fans wearing red and Tigers fans wearing yellow. There were statues of famous players outside the stadium but we are not fans of the sport, we don't even know the rules, so we don't have idea who those people are. Cricket is more famous on Commonwealth countries around the world.
Melbourne University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Commonly considered to be Australia's most prestigious university, Melbourne is currently ranked as Australia's best university by Times Higher Education, Academic Ranking of World Universities and National Taiwan University Rankings. Times Higher Education currently ranks Melbourne as 28th in the world, while the QS World University Rankings places Melbourne 31st in the world. I like the ambiance of this university, it should be inspiring to have group study session inside the campus. The buildings of the campus have very unique classical designs, it looks like you are being transported back in time.
From here we took shuttle back to Stop 8 - Queen Victoria Market, with that we were able to took full circle of the free shuttle bus. Basically this was shuttle tour day. We rested a bit in the hostel before visiting Aldi Supermarket to buy some local snacks for souvenir. Little did we know that this supermarket is so environmental friendly that they won't provide you with any plastic / paper bag. So we tried to put as much of them in our backpack and some we hand carried.
The most unique food we bought was the lamington. It is a dessert of Australian origin. It consists of squares of sponge cake coated first in a layer of traditionally chocolate icing, then in desiccated coconut. Should have bought more of it.
This is our last night at Australia, so we drop by the hostel lobby to book for Starbus shuttle pickup to airport, unfortunately Starbus office is already close. And just to let you know, we weren't able to book shuttle the following day as it is full. So please note for all of you to book the shuttle days before. As it was our last night, we visited the rooftop to enjoy view of the city...
Till our next travel adventure!!! Hope you had enjoyed spending time with us! :) Do leave us comments or share anything :)
The most unique food we bought was the lamington. It is a dessert of Australian origin. It consists of squares of sponge cake coated first in a layer of traditionally chocolate icing, then in desiccated coconut. Should have bought more of it.
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