I’m back in Melbourne after a seriously indulgent weekend in Hobart. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a Sunday stories post – partly because now that we’ve settled in, we’ve had a quiet couple of weeks (apart from Hobart!) and partly because I’ve been working on a number of different projects that have kept me indoors.

The trip left me hungry to see more of Tasmania, a beautiful, wild state which is now on my doorstep. It also means I’ve seen one more state in Australia! Four states down, two to go!  I’ve been checking out cheap flights to Adelaide, the capital of South Australia because David & I are thinking of going early next year for a weekend!

This weekend has been the calm before the storm. Next weekend, our friends from Brisbane are visiting (SO excited!), after that I’ll be spending a weekend in the Macedon Ranges, then it’s David’s birthday, then my little sister visits (Yay!!!) and then I return to Brisbane for my last visit home before New York!  The second half of the year is filling up quickly, but I’ve still got a couple of months near the end in which I hope to swing another regional Victoria day trip or weekend away.

Out & About

This week I went to the Queen Vic Markets with some friends, for the Winter Night Markets. I liked these markets much better than the summer night market, because it was a little less crowded – I think the cold keeps more people away! It wasn’t cold inside the markets however.

I had a couple of lunch and dinner dates with friends this week and spent the weekend exploring Fitzroy & Richmond with David. Unfortunately it’s getting a little too chilly now to sit outdoors in the afternoon, but we still found plenty of cozy places to go for a bite. After our weekend in Hobart, we swore we wouldn’t eat out this weekend, a noble goal which we failed at miserably. I regret nothing! At most places we’d grab a drink or a share plate or two to split, so we could graze and see a few places, without spending too much money.

If you’re visiting Melbourne, head to Gertrude St & Smith St in Fitzroy (which turns into Collingwood somewhere along Smith St), and go for a wander – you can’t go wrong!

Favourite finds:

• Restaurant Dansk, Little Bourke St – Upstairs in Denmark House, go for the most delicious meatball of your life ( I don’t even like meatballs normally!) and the cute Scandinavian decor.
• Happy Valley – Bookstore in Smith St full of cool design, travel & lifestyle books. Picked up the Monocle NYC city guide. I don’t usually buy city guides, since I find so much online, but I couldn’t resist Monocle’s tightly edited list of NYC suggestions
• Po Boy Quarter, Fitzroy – I couldn’t come close to finishing my enormous pulled pork Po Boy, but I would definitely return for a drink in the bar out the back
• The Noble Experiment – This cocktail bar has been on my list for a long time, I loved the Smith St Fizz, which came with a side of popping candy!

• Apple pie ice cream at Gelato Messina – the best!
• Mr Scruff’s – Eatery & bar by day, club by night!
• KereKere Green, the cafe inside the Fitzroy Gardens – near Captain Cook’s cottage, this bright & breezy little cafe is a great spot to warm up with a coffee and enjoy garden views
• Cafe Three One 2 One – Cute cafe in Richmond, love their take on smashed avocado with blood orange & pistachios

Fresh off the press

Stay in Hobart: Hadley’s Orient Hotel

A Quick Guide to Eating & Drinking in Hobart

Snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef on Green Island

Postcards from Skypoint, Gold Coast

Hipmunk City Love: Penny Pinching Guide to Toronto

Digging in to the Queen Vic Winter Night Markets

Melbourne

Winter has well & truly arrived. Most of the autumn foliage has dropped, but I still think South Bank is really pretty. The little nuts on the plane trees still make a striking silhouette against the city, don’t you think?

InstaLove

This photo of beautiful Green Island was my most popular photo on Instagram this week. Follow me on IG @wanderbug_world for daily travel inspiration in your feed!

Reading

Sinning through Spain, Ailsa Piper

After reading Wild, I was really keen to read about another epic journey on foot. This Australian author walked 1300km solo, on a lesser-known Spanish pilgrimage, carrying the sins of her friends and family “donated” to her, on her back. She’s not religious, but was interested in the trail and this ancient practice of carrying the burdens of other people’s sins for them.

I’m only about a third of the way through so far, and am enjoying it, but will admit I was hoping for a little more vivid detail about each of the cities she stops in. An interesting read, but not ideal for those wanting to escape to Spain – it’s more so about her inner journey, with these Spanish towns as a pretty backdrop.

Watching

After struggling through the Game of Thrones season finale, I’m a little burnt out by the show. The show runners consistently over-do it on the gore and violence. After reading this article on The Atlantic, I gotta wonder – is this really what I want to watch? Is this the kind of entertainment I want to be investing my time in? The balance between good and evil in this show exhaustingly out of whack.

On a  lighter note, I FINALLY was able to rent Wild on iTunes. I loved Cheryl Strayed’s book of the same name, and though Reese Witherspoon was fantastic. However, it didn’t move me like the book did, probably because it’s harder to get inside the protagonist’s head and watch her transformation from a screen.

Words

“Live every moment fully, because you’ll never live it again”

I reminded myself of my mum’s favourite phrase a few times this past week, as I caught myself waiting a little too eagerly for the weekend. Will definitely try and squeeze in some more fun stuff this week, rather than keeping it all for the weekend!