Melbourne

Stop #1

And we're off! After much planning, budgeting and talking about it (as described here), we have reached the first stop of our journey: Melbourne, VIC.

The drive from Sydney to Melbourne is about 880 km, which took us approximately 10 hours including all the stops along the way. It was Summer's first long drive, and she coped with it very well: we took her to the park before the drive, gave her a good run to make sure she was tired, and that seemed to do the trick just right. She slept for most of the drive and was overall very relaxed about the long day on the road. We also decided to shuffle things around in the car and ended up piling up all our stuff into the roof box and the backseat, so that Summer and her bed can go in the boot:

Overall, we had a very good and uneventful drive down, which is exactly what we wanted. Thanks to Geoff and Thai for the good recommendation for a lunch stop, the Long Track Pantry in Jugiong, NSW.

It was about 6pm on Sunday, 14 May 2023 that we have reached our first destination and our journey officially began.

Maribyrnong River, Ascot Vale

Thanks to the incredibly generous offer from Alex's uncle's (hi Fook Fui!), we were able to settle into his place in Ascot Vale, an inner-west suburb of Melbourne. We couldn't have asked for a better place to stay. Not only the apartment was incredibly spacious and comfortable, but the suburb was idyllic. Settled by the Maribyrnong River, we were surrounded by parks, golf courses, residential streets and the occasional cafe. Needless to say, Summer was incredibly happy, as we were living across the road from a fantastic dog park where she made some friends.

As for us, humans, life was very good as well, thanks for asking. We set up our offices in the dining room which worked well, and Alex could also go into the city and work from the WeWork office (perks of working for a remote-first company). Fernando managed to catch up with some of his colleagues and also headed into the city for some working-from-the-office time, just like the old Aztecs used to do.

And of course, being in such a bicycle-friendly city, we made sure we explored a bit of Melbourne on our bikes and were very pleased with the infrastructure: apart from the extensive bike lane network, Melbourne also has incredibly functional bike trails that usually follow the rivers and take you right into the city without barely crossing paths with cars or buses.

During our time in Melbourne, we had a couple of very special events back home that we happily flew back to Sydney for: Lou (Alex's sister) and Alec's farewell before they moved to London, and Clovis' (Fernando's friend) 40th birthday meant that we had a fantastic weekend in Sydney, filled with emotions and music.

We enjoyed a fantastic picnic with some of Lou and Alec's closest friends, and we were so glad to share this day with them. Everyone is so nice and lovely and a true testament to the great people you are and the friendships you build. It was a very happy day with a hint of sadness saying goodbye to them, but with the certainty that they will have the best time in London!

As for Clovis, he had a very clear view of what he wanted his 40th birthday to be like: a great day surrounded by friends and drinks, where his two bands (Warehouse and The Brazil Nuts, which I'm proudly part of) could come together, jam and play. So here we went, off to help him on his dream day, and by 10am we were loading up his car with a full backline gear, including PA speakers, mixer, generator and a full drum kit. Despite a touchy start, with some locals and park rangers coming to ensure we wouldn't make any noise, it turned out to be a fantastic day, with the bands jamming just like he wanted, and a great after-party that kicked on until late at night.

We were very lucky that not only Alex has a lot of family in Melbourne, but her immediate family also took this opportunity to come down for a visit as well. So during our short time in Melbourne, we managed to pack a lot of family time with dinners, nights out and even a little day trip to the Mornington Peninsula to enjoy the hot springs. Here are some of our favourite moments with our family in Melbourne:

♨️ Hot Springs & Mornington Penisular with Thai & Geoff

We visited the Peninsula Hot Springs and couldn't recommend it more: almost like a water park made out of hot springs, the property has numerous pools of varying temperatures, as well as a sauna, a cold room and the fantastic cold plunge to cool you down between sessions.

🐾 Dogs + Dinner with the Melbourne fam

It's so nice to visit a city where you have so much family! We were treated to a cozy dinner at Pei & Alex's home with many of our Melbourne fam in attendance. Summer was also invited & she got to meet her Melbourne crew too: Snoopy (Bern and Denise's dog) and Chewie (Alex & Pei).

👩🏻‍🍳 Gourmet cooked meal with Denise & Bernard

While my parents were still in town, we were invited for a Thai feast at the beautiful home of Bernard and Denise (shout out to Denise for her amazing spread + check out her incredible art here)

🍳 Brunch with Yeanny & Peter

We were lucky enough to have a classic Melbourne brunch (is there any city that does it better?) with my cousin Yeanny & her partner, Peter. We went to Code Black in Brunswick and I was introduced to a new drink: The Melbourne Fog (Like a London Fog but with coffee!)

🍽 A final meal with the SGM crew + Mun & Gordan

It's always sad to say goodbye, but the farewell was made a little bit better with the help of delicious food at Clover in Richmond and great company with the SGM crew (Sago Gula Melaka) - Pei, Alex, Luke & Ari) plus Mun & Gordan.

🏈️ An AFL match with Mun & Gordan

Finally, we couldn't finish off our time in Melbourne without a sporting match of some kind. Mun and Gordan were kind enough to take us to see an AFL match: Melbourne vs. Carlton at the MCG - a freezing but fabulous end to our time in Melbourne!

Apart from that, during our spare time we tried to enjoy a bit of Melbourne as much as we could, by going out for drinks and dinners, seeing family and friends and even managing to catch a Harry Potter play, which was surprisingly good, even for Fernando, who gave up on this whole wizardry stuff only after the 3rd book. Much to Fernando's delight we also got to check out ACDC lane in all is graffiti'd glory.

Final thoughts

Firstly, it became very clear that 3 weeks was a very short time in Melbourne, and we both left the city wanting to spend more time.

Secondly, and more importantly, we were both pleasantly surprised with how much we enjoyed being there. Melbourne is a very fun city, with so much to offer, an incredible nightlife, food scene and entertainment, that we couldn't help but notice how boring Sydney can be. Don't get us wrong, we absolutely love Sydney and the outdoorsy life there, but come on SYD, step up your game!

Apart from the freezing cold weather, we both thought we could see ourselves living there one day, even if for some time?

And finally, thank you to everyone who came to see and hang out with us during our time in Melbourne, it is always a treat to see family and friends when you're on the road!

PS: and a quick odometer check in our car (something I personally enjoy keeping an eye on), we clocked up ~1,600km driving to and around Melbourne in these first 3 weeks. Pretty solid. I'll try to keep tab on this as we move west and see how much ground we cover!