What to do in Melbourne

I'm setting off for Melbourne today and then to Alice Springs for a tour of Uluru. I got in touch with a friend of mine from South Carolina who studied at Deakin University last year. Here are a few things she recommended that I do:

Great Ocean Road:

It's not actually in Melbourne but about three hours down the coast. Find a tour bus and go down the Road and see the Twelve Apostles. You definitely don't want to miss that!

Flinders Station/Federation Square:

When you're actually in the city, you should either tram or train for Flinders Station, right in the middle of the city. From there, you can check out Federation Square; it's right across from the station. It's just this big plaza that has cafes & galleries and often there are festivals occuring there. There's also the Centre for the Moving Image, so you should check that out if you have time. It's free and there's just some cool things down there if you're into that kind of thing.

Eureka Tower/Crown Casino:

It's the biggest residential tower in the world. Go up to the Skydeck and see the entire city; it's amazing. They have student discounts so make sure you get those. I recommend going during the day and at night, but if you only do it once, go at night for sure! I'm pretty sure the tickets are good for all day, so you could do both. It's right behind Flinders Station and you can't miss it. It's the tallest building. To get there, you cross the bridge over the Yarra River which is cool. I also suggest going into the Crown Casino while you're there! It's just down from Eureka. It's a hotel and casino but it's super nice and soo much fun. I won a lot of money there actually! :) And if you're walking from Eureka Tower to the casino along the river, look for a place called World Bar. We went there a couple of times and it's really cool. Pretty expensive, but hey, it's Australia.

Melbourne Cricket Ground:

Oh and you HAVE HAVE HAVE to go to the MCG and watch a footy game!! Aussie rules footy is hugeee in Melbs so you have to go to a game. The MCG is the biggest and most famous cricket pitch in Austalia but they play AFL there too. Different teams play there all the time, so just check the MCG schedule and get a ticket. Student tix are only like $13 and it's soooo worth. I am a Richmond Tigers fan if you get to see them play :)

Chinatown:
Okay so I also recommend going to Chinatown in downtown Melbourne. They have tons of BYO restaurants and we would take in goon and get hammered for cheap before we went out on the town. Soo much fun. So if you're at Flinders Station, go down Swanston Street towards all the American fast food places and just keep straight. I'm prettyyy sure Chinatown is on Lt. Bourke street but I could be mixed up. Either way, you'll know it when you see it. There's a big like pagoda entrance thing. Anyways, the further you go down that street, the cheaper the restaurants get, so don't stop at the first couple!

Shopping:

Oh! The Queen Victoria Market is awesome too, so I would do that while you are there. If you go one tram stop past the major Flinders Station stop and go pretty far down Elizabeth Street, that's where it is. You can just ask anyone for directions. Melbourne people are so nice!

Okay so yeah I gave you a lot of things. I just love Melbourne so I want you to see fun things :)

Whew.... She obviously had such a great time studying aborad there. I am so excited to try out everything on her list.

Cheers for now,

Kim