As I was staying in St Kilda, I felt the need to have at least one day in the centre of Melbourne so I could explore some of the sights. I had prebooked a trip that left from the centre of Melbourne and began with a cruise down the Yarra River and back. I travelled into the centre by tram and was able to get a tram ticket from the shop over the road from the hotel. This was a lovely trip and was helped enormously by the fact that the weather was beautiful! The Yarra River scenery was stunning, and if you were sitting out on the deck at the front of the boat, like I was, you had to duck down quickly to get under most of the low bridges safely – it was extremely close at times and a good job an alarm sounded to prewarn you!
After the boat trip, it was off to the coach again to carry on with the excursion which went to the famous Melbourne Cricket Club, the Botanical Gardens, and out to Brighton to see the beautifully painted beach huts. The beach huts are now selling for a staggering 3,000 Australian dollars – a sound investment for anyone who bought one of these a while ago! The Botanical Gardens were truly beautiful to meander around: well-kept and offered plenty of great photo opportunities. Before going to see the beach huts, we ironically travelled to St Kilda to visit the famous cake shops, which simply can’t be missed – even if you are on a diet! There are literally too many cake shops on the road to choose from, but they are all worth visiting and make extremely delicious cakes!
