Sunny days in Melbourne
Two Fridays ago I headed down to Melbourne with my friend Soph to spend some time with our friend Alex. While Melbourne is normally a bit cooler than Sydney, our recent spell of cold and rainy weather meant that the trip south netted us a reprieve from unpleasant weather and a taste of summer-like conditions.
Like most Australian domestic travel experiences, the trip was very easy (leave the house, arrive at the gate in 20 minutes), and we made it to Alex's late in the evening and headed to sleep, ready for an action-packed weekend.
Saturday morning we headed out for a day trip to the Yarra Valley, stopping in Collingwood for breakfast at an amazing hybrid cafe-florist, before hitting the motorway. Located about an hour northeast of the city, the Yarra Valley is known for its vineyards (and wine).
The drive out the motorway soon led us to smaller roads that took us to our first stop at Domaine Chandon—one of the large wineries in the area. After soaking in the views of the vineyards, we headed into their tasting room for a tasting journey across their range of sparking offerings. Needless to say, we enjoyed our time there and ended up leaving with a few bottles.
We then headed a few minutes down the road in search of a smaller experience in the form of a tiny local vineyard: Madden's Rise. The experience was very different than that of a large winery, but we enjoyed tasting a few very unique offerings and hearing about the process to make the small batch wine.
After our second tasting, we decided it would be good to head up the road to the small town of Healesville, where we found a filling lunch at Monroe's Burgers—a nice change of pace as I often don't have burgers down here! To round out our afternoon in the Yarra Valley, we headed across the road to Four Pillars Distillery, one of the craft gin distilleries that has popped up in Australia in recent years. Out of our three stops for the day, Four Pillars definitely turned out to be the most informative.
Content, we made our way back to the city for the afternoon.
Following some afternoon regrouping (and a bit of reading), we struck out in search of dinner. We weren't disappointed in a spot just down the street, Milk the Cow, where we got to try wine and cheese pairing flights (well, I actually went with beer and cheese) before a hearty meal.
Needless to say, we didn't go to sleep hungry on Saturday night!
On Sunday we again made our way out of the city, hampered greatly by road closures for the Melbourne Marathon, to Fairfield Park along the Yarra River. The trip wasn't too far, but when we arrived at the Fairfield Park Boathouse, it was as though we had traveled back in time.
Riparian entertainment was the goal of the day, and the three of us (plus the dog, Dude) were in for an old-timey rowboat experience around the Yarra Bend. Once on board (it took a bit of coaxing to get Dude in the boat), we took turns navigating the old wooden boat along the river, enjoying some snacks from home as we attempted to avoid collisions with the shore and other boats out on the river. I must admit that Alex and Soph were far better at acheiving the mission than I, so I spent much of the time sitting with Dude and enjoying the ambiance.
And when it was time to return the boat to the dock, my skills at running into land came in handy.
After our rowing excursion, it was time to get Soph back to Sydney. She flew out of Melbourne's small secondary airport located south of the city, which allowed for a side excursion by Alex and I to Victoria's second largest city. After dropping Soph at the airport (which is located in the middle of a farm field, no joke), Alex and I headed 20 minutes further down the road to Geelong.
We spent a bit of time in the coastal city and enjoyed a walk along the waterfront and a bite to eat at a cafe adjacent to a nice park. As the sun began to set, we headed back up the road an hour to Melbourne to call it an early evening: we both had school in the morning.
On Monday, we headed over to Monash University (where Alex teaches), for a day of student crits at the architecture school. I have always enjoyed working with students as they prepare for reviews and begin to hone their presentation skills and final designs; the afternoon flew by.
In the evening, we found a Mexican restaurant back in the city (Melbourne has much better Mexican food than Sydney) and debriefed from the day. All in, the experience made me quite happy to have at least a foot in academia.
Tuesday I stayed in St. Kilda with Dude, getting a lot of reading and work done on my PhD stuff before it was time to head back to Sydney. Wednesday promised to kick off a busy week in the office.
As usual, the trip to Melbourne made for a fantastic way to spend the weekend.
Like most Australian domestic travel experiences, the trip was very easy (leave the house, arrive at the gate in 20 minutes), and we made it to Alex's late in the evening and headed to sleep, ready for an action-packed weekend.
Saturday morning we headed out for a day trip to the Yarra Valley, stopping in Collingwood for breakfast at an amazing hybrid cafe-florist, before hitting the motorway. Located about an hour northeast of the city, the Yarra Valley is known for its vineyards (and wine).
The drive out the motorway soon led us to smaller roads that took us to our first stop at Domaine Chandon—one of the large wineries in the area. After soaking in the views of the vineyards, we headed into their tasting room for a tasting journey across their range of sparking offerings. Needless to say, we enjoyed our time there and ended up leaving with a few bottles.
 |
| The vineyards at Domaine Chandon. |
We then headed a few minutes down the road in search of a smaller experience in the form of a tiny local vineyard: Madden's Rise. The experience was very different than that of a large winery, but we enjoyed tasting a few very unique offerings and hearing about the process to make the small batch wine.
After our second tasting, we decided it would be good to head up the road to the small town of Healesville, where we found a filling lunch at Monroe's Burgers—a nice change of pace as I often don't have burgers down here! To round out our afternoon in the Yarra Valley, we headed across the road to Four Pillars Distillery, one of the craft gin distilleries that has popped up in Australia in recent years. Out of our three stops for the day, Four Pillars definitely turned out to be the most informative.
Content, we made our way back to the city for the afternoon.
Following some afternoon regrouping (and a bit of reading), we struck out in search of dinner. We weren't disappointed in a spot just down the street, Milk the Cow, where we got to try wine and cheese pairing flights (well, I actually went with beer and cheese) before a hearty meal.
 |
| Beet and cheese pairings made for a lovely start to dinner. |
Needless to say, we didn't go to sleep hungry on Saturday night!
On Sunday we again made our way out of the city, hampered greatly by road closures for the Melbourne Marathon, to Fairfield Park along the Yarra River. The trip wasn't too far, but when we arrived at the Fairfield Park Boathouse, it was as though we had traveled back in time.
 |
| A bridge over the Yarra River at Fairfield Park. |
Riparian entertainment was the goal of the day, and the three of us (plus the dog, Dude) were in for an old-timey rowboat experience around the Yarra Bend. Once on board (it took a bit of coaxing to get Dude in the boat), we took turns navigating the old wooden boat along the river, enjoying some snacks from home as we attempted to avoid collisions with the shore and other boats out on the river. I must admit that Alex and Soph were far better at acheiving the mission than I, so I spent much of the time sitting with Dude and enjoying the ambiance.
 |
| My attempts at rowing weren't great, but I'm great at posing with the Dude. |
And when it was time to return the boat to the dock, my skills at running into land came in handy.
After our rowing excursion, it was time to get Soph back to Sydney. She flew out of Melbourne's small secondary airport located south of the city, which allowed for a side excursion by Alex and I to Victoria's second largest city. After dropping Soph at the airport (which is located in the middle of a farm field, no joke), Alex and I headed 20 minutes further down the road to Geelong.
We spent a bit of time in the coastal city and enjoyed a walk along the waterfront and a bite to eat at a cafe adjacent to a nice park. As the sun began to set, we headed back up the road an hour to Melbourne to call it an early evening: we both had school in the morning.
On Monday, we headed over to Monash University (where Alex teaches), for a day of student crits at the architecture school. I have always enjoyed working with students as they prepare for reviews and begin to hone their presentation skills and final designs; the afternoon flew by.
In the evening, we found a Mexican restaurant back in the city (Melbourne has much better Mexican food than Sydney) and debriefed from the day. All in, the experience made me quite happy to have at least a foot in academia.
Tuesday I stayed in St. Kilda with Dude, getting a lot of reading and work done on my PhD stuff before it was time to head back to Sydney. Wednesday promised to kick off a busy week in the office.
 |
| Dude wasn't too keen to have me around the house on Tuesday. |
As usual, the trip to Melbourne made for a fantastic way to spend the weekend.
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