Melbourne (city) with Sweethearts ❤ Part 1

It's the 10th year anniversary for the sweethearts, hence the trip to Aussie in celebration of our friendship still standing strong :) I know it's cheesy to call our group, Sweethearts but true to us, we value and treat each other like sweethearts ლ We don't get to meet as often as we'd like to since Michelle and Emy are based in KL (Malaysia) while Huan, Yen and myself are based in Singapore so this trip was really a time to bond.

To save time, we took the midnight flight also known as red-eye flight on 30th Apr after work and arrived bright and early the next day before 10am. The food served onboard Qantas from Singapore to Melbourne was a little disappointing so we were literally starving when we arrived at Melbourne (Tullamarine) Airport. The whole flight took about 7.5 hours and it's a nightmare if you can't sleep on planes like me :(

Among the flurry of activities at Melbourne Airport

If you are opting for cheap local prepaid sim cards, you can get the Optus 5GB for 5days package @ $10 at the Optus outlet in Tullamarine airport. They actually very kindly let us use it until the 6th day, I suspect that's because we told the counter person during the purchase that we are leaving on the 6th day, 12pm flight.

From Tullamarine, you can take SkyBus, the cheapest alternative to the city. For $38, you get to purchase return trip tickets at any of the counters located in Tullamarine Airport T1, T3 and T4 for the shuttle service between Tullamarine and Southern Cross Station, the drop-off point in the city. You get to save $2 per return trip ticket if you purchase your tickets online. While we were there, we noticed that we can get return trip tickets for $33 only with Union Pay, not sure when the promo ends though.

For those who are arriving at Avalon Airport, the return trip tickets for SkyBus costs $46 online and $48 for purchase at the airport counters. More information on SkyBus tickets  can be found here: https://www.skybus.com.au/fares/

In charge of guarding the luggage while the others get the car

Once we reached the city, we went to Apex Car Rental (just 1min walk from SkyBus drop-off point) to pick up our 8 seater ride that turned out to be Kia Carnival although we were promised Hyundai Imax (we picked this car due to the large boot space). The car rental was $385 for 3 days, 1 May, 12pm to 4 May, 12pm. If you are able to pack light, which none of us except for Michelle can, you can save another $100 here!

Car trunk (boot) space of Kia Carnival

We checked in to our AirBnB at Nick's place, just 3 mins drive from Southern Cross. It was a very lovely and clean unit, and Nick was the perfect host who can speak very good English and Mandarin. He was very helpful and attentive so do go for his unit if you are planning on visiting Melbourne city. He provided free parking for our rented vehicle and also allowed early check-in (3 hours early), something we were really grateful for.

PS: It's best not to drive in the city as the speed limit at certain places is very low like 40km/hr, traffic lights change very quickly and the fine is hefty. For example, running a red light in the city would cost you $403. 

First things first, we fed our tummies with delicious burgers from Grill'd, a franchise business with more than 10 outlets in the city. Their burgers are known to be fresh and healthier compared to others. Their beef burgers (Wagyu Wunder and Sir Truffle) were awesome with juicy patties but the chicken burgers, a tad dry. We shared 4 burgers among the 5 of us and the cost was around $12 per pax.

 

With our hunger sated, we explored the city on foot. Free tram service is available within the free tram zone. We visited Flinder Street Station, ACDC Lane & Hosier Lane for street art, and St Paul's Cathedral. It used to be free, but photography is now chargeable inside St Paul's Cathedral for $5 which I personally think is very worthy as the cathedral was just too beautiful.

Follow me to...

Flinder Street Station (building)

ACDC (street art) Lane

Street Art @ Hosier Lane

St Paul's Cathedral

Lovely stained glass art

We wanted to get croissants from the famous Lune Croissanterie but unfortunately, they close by 3pm so we just went to a nearby Chemist Warehouse instead to stock up on some cheap supplements (compared to Singapore) and famous local face serums, by the name of Eaoron.

PS: You can get a tourist tax refund of 10% from your purchases with GST if the amount adds up to $300 (can combine multiple receipts of different dates) from the same business number (ABN). More info can be found on Australian Border Force website.

We headed home tired but happy, loaded with our bags of purchases. We did some grocery shopping at a nearby Coles Supermarket for dinner and wine shopping at a liquor store just below our AirBnB.

$5 for this bottle of good rose wine!

Note: 
1. Expenses are stated in Australian Dollars $. 
2. Information correct at the time of writing this post.

To be continued...