Australia 2025 Part 2: Melbourne
- Howie Chia
- Dec 24, 2025
- 12 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Recap of Sydney
The first half of the trip was in Australia, Sydney. We saw the famous Sydney Opera House, enjoyed delicious Australian steak, and appreciated beautiful sceneries at Megalong Valley. To read more, click here.
Part 2: Melbourne
Day 6
After a short 1.5hr flight from Sydney to Melbourne, we checked into our new accommodation, Pegasus hotel. Mom, dad and sis were a bit tired, so we just strolled through the nearby Chinatown and had a simple dinner at a food court. We then returned to the hotel for an early night’s rest.
Day 7
Over the next 3 days, we would have consecutive buffet breakfast at Pegasus Hotel. This turned out to be a wise strategy because the food in Sydney and Melbourne was so expensive. On average food items were about 2.5 times what it cost in Singapore. E.g. At a nearby Korean restaurant one person serving of fried chicken (x2 pieces) set meal was AU$33. The family meal was AU$82. Yikes.
Our bellies full, we took a 20-mins walk to the Grand Marriott hotel. There, a tour operator was waiting to bring us for a full day excursion. First to Puffing Billy Railway, then Melbourne zoo, and finally Philip Island. Our bus driver cum tour guide was Mr Ricky. He was about 30 years old and somewhat proficient in both English and Mandarin. While he was not fluent in English, he more than made up for it with a good sense of humor. As he explained the attractions, he injected jokes and delivered them using a deadpan style. It brought much laughter to the whole tour group.
Our first destination was “Puffing Billy Railway”, where a charcoal powered train awaited us. The interesting thing about this train experience is that passengers are allowed, encouraged even - to sit on the train's ledge!
Puffing Billy went past picturesque forests, beaches and crossed a number of traffic junctions. As the train chugged along, we saw some nice houses near the tracks and waved back at the friendly residents! Today’s temperature was a record scorching 37°. Fortunately, the cool winds and shade made it much more bearable. The whole train experience was only an hour, but felt much longer than that. Ricky was already at the end station to pick us up. We would learn later from Ricky that due to high risks of forest fires, on high temperature days like today, it was likely to be cancelled. We got lucky.
Our next stop was the Zoo. But my sister and mom has an aversion to animals, so passed on it. Instead, we sat at a cafe and enjoyed coffee with fish and chips while waiting for other tour members to finish exploring the zoo.
Our next stop was Philip Island. Here, we first stopped at Cowes Beach. Its a relatively clean beach and popular among the locals. From the jetty, we saw many teenagers jumping off the jetty. Seagulls and cute rabbits were also spotted by the beach side. Everyone looked so relaxed.
After this, we finally reached the main event of today’s tour, Phillip island’s main attraction “March of the penguins” 🐧. Visitors can literally see little penguins come in directly from the sea. The sight of these little fellows slowly waddling up the beach was so cute! From the shore, these penguins can climb up to the slope to return to their habitat where their chicks were waiting. One particular large grey young penguin was seen following it's mommy penguin around. Even after the mommy penguin fed him, he continued to bug her for more food. My Dad joked that the grey fat penguin resembled me. We then saw another pair of penguins dancing. Then before we knew it, they were mating. After completing the deed, the male penguin just stood at one side. The female penguin then dusted herself and went her own way.
I did a quick google search and found that many penguin species are often described as “mating for life”, but these little penguins on Phillip Island are more like “serial monogamists” than strictly lifelong partners.
Fun fact: Most little penguin pairs reunite with the same partner each breeding season and often use the same burrow, especially if they successfully raised chicks together. However, if breeding fails or one partner doesn’t return, “divorce” rates of roughly 18–50% per season have been recorded, so changing partners is quite common.
To ensure that the penguins were not disturbed, visitors were not allowed to record but were instead provided with a link to download images / videos of these cute penguins. Time passed by so fast as we watched these fascinating creatures. It was soon approaching 10pm and time to leave. Ricky did a headcount for all passengers and drove us back to the Grand Marriott hotel. By the time we reached our accommodation and washed up, it was close to 2am. Tired but so worth it.
Pro tip: Australia’s weather can change very drastically. Even in summer, afternoon temperatures can vary between 15 to 37 degrees celsius (yes, it was 37 degrees when we visited Philip Island!) and in the evenings drop to below 10 degrees. So, it might sound silly to bring a windbreaker in summer, but you have been warned.
Day 8
My mother was so excited to visit Queen Victoria Market (QVM), she often talked about it even before the trip. We walked through the souvenir section which was rather uneventful. But once we reached the food section, my mom’s eyes lit up. She excitedly went around trying out many of the different samples. From bread, cheese to salami, she was like a little child in a candy store. Speaking of salami, I got my first taste of Kangaroo salami and it was so aweful. Probably the most gamey piece of meat I've tasted! My sister who took it was also traumatised. But mom took it with gusto and downed it with another 6 freshly shucked oysters. Dad who watched our horrified looks from taking Kangaroo salami quietly slid away to buy himself a AU $6.50 coffee (flat white). I gratefully took a sip to wash away the after taste of the salami. But mom eventually found him and rallied my sis and I to force a piece of kangaroo salami into Dad’s mouth. Despite his protests, he could not overpower all 3 of us, and we literally stuffed it into his mouth! As compensation, Mom would find the famous “Bratwurst” sausage stall and give everyone a treat. It was the best sausage I ever tasted!
We then visited State Library Victoria, one of the key attractions in the area. Upon entering the dome where the library books are kept, it's easy to see why. We were left in awe of the architecture. However, impressive as it is, I do not consider this a conducive place to study because of the many tourists walking about and taking pictures.
Did you know this is Australia's oldest public library and one of the first free libraries in the world?
From here, we took a short walk to Melbourne museum where we learnt about aboriginals' origins and dinosaurs through their interactive exhibits. We saw that “Avatar: Fire & Ash” was showing and wanted to watch it. But an iMax ticket at AU$42 per person was too expensive, so my family agreed to catch this movie back in Singapore.
After this point, Mom and Sister went to DFO south wharf for shopping, while Dad and I took a tram to Flinder's street, to check out the Yarra river cruises. Many restaurants lined the banks of the river and the pick up point for the cruise boats were conveniently located alongside the river backs. We would all rendezvous later at the hotel where mom would cook us a great meal using the grocery bought from a nearby Woolworths.
Day 9
Today we visited the Royal Botanic Garden: which had an impressive stone monument overlooking the whole garden. Many instagrammable moments.
We then went to National gallery Victoria (NGV) before splitting into 2 teams. NGL, NGV is a little boring...
Basically just a few squares, right?
At this point we again split into 2 teams. The ladies would return to DFO South Wharf for shopping (part 2) while Dad and I proceeded to Federation Square (ACMI) which had a cool interactive exhibit about movies, video games and film-making in general. I would see many of the stuff taught by SP’s MAD featured here. E.g. stop motion graphics, storyboarding, animation, video-editing, game design, etc.
Dad had to pry me from ACMI as he wanted to visit St Patrick's Cathedral. In hindsight I was glad he did as this church was so beautiful! We walked around the cathedral then inside it. There was a comforting and peaceful feeling as we sat down and closed our eyes. The organ music filled the room with a sense of wonder. When we broke out of our trance, we felt completely refreshed.
With plenty of time to spare, we took a long walk back to Yarra River Cruise, berth 2 where we arranged to meet Mom and sis. However, they had underestimated the time and could not make it in time for our 6:30pm cruise. Fortunately, Dad saw some passengers requesting to board the 6:30pm boat but had purchased tickets for a later cruise. Quick-thinking Dad approached them and successfully negotiated a deal to swap tickets with them. Due to the long summer days, it turned out that the 7:30pm cruise was the only time to catch the sunset. Nice move Dad!
We had dinner at a restaurant near Federation Square and took a mandatory wefie in front of the famous Flinder's station before calling it a day.
Day 10
Today is the start of our long drive along Melbourne’s Great Ocean Road. We quickly packed our luggage, had an early breakfast and were on our way. Mom and Dad picked up their rental car from AVIS car rental. It was a large SUV, model: Mitsubishi Outlander. Easily big enough to seat 4 people comfortably with 2 large luggages. Mom and Dad had planned a route with specific pit-stops along the way before we ended up accommodation, The Beachfront Motel at Apollo Bay.
Unfortunately, soon after we started driving, it began to rain. And this rain - although just a light rain - would persist stubbornly throughout the day. When we reached Geelong waterfront, we could hardly see the sea view as it was compromised by long-skinny-type rain.
We carried on in our journey, now to Torquay’s famous rip curl outlet that specialises in surfing equipment. By now the rain was getting heavy, so we decided to explore these outlet shops a bit more. To my shock, surfing is actually an expensive activity. Used and second hand surf boards were selling “cheap” at AU$700. The new ones ranged between one to two thousand Aussie dollars! This is excluding the “fin” that you need to attach to the underside of the board, as well as some sticky mat placed on the front of the board to give your feet better traction.
When the rain finally died down a little, we quickly drove to our next destination, Bell's beach lookout. Fortunately for us, the rain finally stopped just as we reached here. Magnificent views.
Next was Angelsea golf course; where we saw golfers playing golf right beside the Kangaroos! Just as what the travel brochures mentioned. From here, we drove to Teddy's lookout, Lorne. The rain and mist returned so we could not see much from this otherwise famous lookout spot.
Erkskine falls (waterfall that we can go all the way down). Be warned that the 150m of stairs down to the water fall is quite steep. Not for those with knee problems. However, if you do make it all the way down, you’ll be rewarded with a cool view from the base of the waterfall.
Our last stop of today’s drive was our accommodation at Apollo bay, i.e. Beachfront motel. When we finally checked in, I was so glad to change to the flip flops we bought in Sydney. Even though it was cold, it beat wearing wet socks. Dad joined me in switching to flip flops but not Mom and sis because they felt it looked too “unglam”.
We were all famished and had dinner at a nearby restaurant called “George's diner”. Typical order of fish and chips + pizza + burger + ice-cream. Then returned to our motel for the night. As we walked back in the freezing cold, I caught a few glances of people looking at me wearing flip flops… haha!
Day 11
Mom and Dad woke up early to walk along the beach. The beach was quiet, the sand was powdery and waves were gently crashing to shore. They decided to give the local delicacy “Scallop pie” a try. It was so good, they would buy one back for me and sis.
Hearing how nice the waves were, I quickly wore my flip-flops, and convinced Dad to go back to the beach with me. The waters felt nice and chilly. My dad stood in the waves and I tricked him into posing for me to recreate the famous "AoT" scene.
On the way back, we saw an interesting wooden structure and had some fun with it. Can you guess the anime? Hint: "transmutation"
Guess the character my dad is posing in this picture
We checked out at 10am and headed for Marriner's lookout. From this vantage point, it had a nice panoramic view of Apollo bay. But the downside is that there were so many house flies. And most of them followed me around because they were attracted to my black sweater. My sis took a picture of me and counted up to 30 flies on my back!
Marriner’s lookout is the best place for wefies
Before leaving this area, we stopped by the famous ice cream store "Dooley's" and tried out the crazy vegemite flavoured ice cream!
For those who dare… vegemite (aka marmite) ice cream!
Next stop was Maits Rest rainforest walk. This place is famous for its unspoilt flora. It is said that the temperature suddenly falls when you walk through this forest. The large leaves and tall trunks gave a mystical feeling as you walked among these ancient plants. Felt like we were in the world of Avatar, almost.
Cape Otway light station was next. When we arrived, we realised that its under renovation, so visitors could only see from a distance away. To compensate for this, all tickets were sold at half-priced. So, we only paid AU$28 for a family pack (2 adults 2 children). Per person is usually AU$32, student AU$30 and children AU$9 each.
Our next attraction was the most famous 12 apostles. It was insanely crowded. I was surprised that something this popular is FOC. Only the helicopter flights are chargeable AU$200 per person. The stone structures have been weathered down and what used to be 9, now lie only 7 of these massive structures. Contrary to popular belief, there were never 12 structures. To have a closer look, we took the Gibson steps, which was a 1-hour walk to the edge of the beach.
As we concluded the last attraction of the day, we made our way to our accommodation for the night. It was an Airbnb at 31 Canterbury road, hosted by Matt. My dad found this spacious Airbnb. It was a large house with 3 separate but spacious bedrooms and a gigantic living room, as well as an island-concept kitchen. My family loved the huge space but didn't like the fact that it's not fenced up. Dad and I did the laundry (yes, washing machine and dryer machine were provided) while Mom and sis prepared dinner.
After dinner, we sat around the living room and played some board games. Our Airbnb host was thoughtful enough to leave these family bonding games, as well as some food (bread, cereal, milk). Mom liked this place so much that she lamented that we should have stayed in this house for at least 2 more days. Right before bed time, we completed ALL our laundry. This would make our packing tomorrow so much easier.
Day 12
And so we are on the final day of our holiday. As usual, everyone joined in to clean up the place and also pack our luggage. Having done so in record timing, we used our spare time to check out the nearby beach. One of the more well rated ones was “Swimming Beach”, which was a 7-min drive away, near lake Pertobe. There I saw 2 men wearing only swimming trunks walk nonchalantly from the beach into the sea. Dad and I only stood in the chilly waters for a few minutes and already found it too cold.
We soon returned to our Airbnb for our final breakfast. After taking out the trash, we checked out and headed for the Melbourne airport. As we had to detour to pump petrol, it took us about 3 and a half-hour to reach Melbourne airport’s car rental return. Mom and dad took turns to drive throughout this trip. I look forward to getting my driving license soon so that I can help out with the driving soon.
So, that’s the end of Part 2. Large open spaces, friendly Aussies and cool weather. It's been a wonderful 12-days experiencing different parts of Sydney and Melbourne. Till next time!
Epilogue
This year's family trip was a microcosm of my 2025. At the start of the drive, it was smooth, then came bends and rocky terrain and magnificent views from some lookout positions. Similar to my ups and downs throughout the year. Though rocky at times, 2025 is coming to an end rather smoothly.
Just like this road above... I may not be able to see what lies beyond 2026, but I am excited to see what new destination my skills take me.
Chia Howie
24 December 2025
TLDR
Part 2 of our Australia trip, Melbourne! Explored CBD, got to see penguins up close! and family bonding on road trip along Great Ocean Road, Saw the 3 sisters and 12 apostles, tried vegemite ice cream.
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