Spontaneous Melbourne Road Trip

Somehow all my trips this year have been spontaneous. From booking/planning Europe stuff within 2ish weeks to big fam Tassie trip around 1 wk before. HK was booked 2mths before but Japan was around 2ish before departure. I've always wanted to go away somewhere during mid sem break as a mini getaway, but in sem 1 it's always before mid sems, and sem 2 it's when all assignments are due, so never was game enough to not do uni work since mid sem breaks are made to catch up on study/notes. So when an opportunity presents itself just the weekend before to road trip to Melbourne, why not? 

Last time I was in Melbs was in 2013, and last time road trip was actually 10 years ago. Even it was only 7 hrs in Melbs, somehow managed to fit in 5 diff places to eat. Feeling very grateful meeting new people, who are not only kind but also generous. There needs to be more friendly people in this world...So glad I came on this road trip. 

on the road (I just wanted my thumbnail pic to be something bright)

Chronological order of the trip. Hopefully I'll end up doing some food reviews for Melb places I ate at. 

Max Brenner: White choc chai + dark mocha

First time trying the white choc chai, and wow, it's so good. It sounded sweet but they put in so much chai tea in it, and it's just bursting with chai flavour and actually not really sweet. The mocha did taste more like a hot choc, and couldn't taste much coffee. I guess it is a chocolate place after all.

Capp at XS Espresso

Coffee was alright, could have had a stronger coffee flavour. The only time I drink coffee in the afternoon is when I'm driving or I know I can afford to stay awake and not wake up early the next day.

Hungry Jacks: The Aussie

This deserves a photo since it's been literally years since I last had HJ. Same with KFC, which I hope to keep up my non-KFC streak. Last time I had Maccas in Aus was when they released the Big Mac chicken, but I've had more Maccas this year cause my thing of trying a cheeseburger in every country I visit, and I've been lucky enough to visit multiple countries (and compare multiple cheeseburgers at the same time).

blurry failed sunset photos

Ended up driving 2.5ish hours there before reaching to motel. Then another 2.5ish hours the next day, and then 3 hrs straight at night. It takes around 8.5 hours (well 9+ including pit stop breaks), but I think it's do-able with only 2 drivers if you switch around every 2.5hrs. Thank goodness I enjoying driving and also love driving fast, so driving on freeways is perfect. Although it's less 'stimulating' driving at night since there are no views compared to during the day. Night in a way is safer since there's less cars on the road, and less chance of reckless people tailgating/cutting in front of you. The whole road to Melbourne was super smooth, although NSW roads are a bit more well paved and have more occasional lights. Melbs not only had less lights when passing through the small rural towns, but also less light reflectors on wooden posts. Also discovered how great Waze is even though I have the app but never used it. Pretty much beats GPS since most of the time you know if a police car is ahead. I would totally use it since you don't have to update the in car GPS, but too bad not enough data.

First time having Korean coffee in a can (forgot to take a pic) for the morning drive. Also, who new kimbap is actually a pretty food road trip food since it's filling and healthy, unlike the usual road trip junk food...

driving into Melbourne, I did recognise some architecture on the freeway into Melbourne from 10 years ago

Melbourne skyline, reminds me of this NYC skyline, which was also taken on a bridge/overpass

First up was picking up a Mac Pro. I think everyone secretly knows Aus Post just chucks stuff/even if marked fragile, people don't really take care. Mainly the reason why I picked up my iPhone in store, to reduce the whole delivery/sorting process. 

We also should've researched where to park in Melbourne, to help save a bit of time, but we managed to find an ok place in the end.

did you really travel if you didn't use a geo filter?

Hardware Lane

This was my 4th time in Melbourne, but I think the cafe/food trend really grew popular after Insta and after my last trip when I just went for the tennis. So I haven't actually done a food run of Melbourne yet (God willing, hopefully next year on placement, more on that in another post).

their latte art is so pretty

Food spread at Hardware Societé

Not going to lie, going to a cafe in Melb was partly the reason I came. It does help if everyone is a more avid photographer than you, so you don't feel bad taking up time to take photos of food (or more like can take my time to take photos lol).

Matcha Intensity 8

Came here since I remembered Dandelion couldn't sleep from the matcha in it, and I needed more caffeine in a non-caffeine way. The intensity is similar to the one I had in Japan, but Jap's level 8 was actually bitter that I could only have half of it. This one is the most intense I've had in Aus, but probs a level 6.5/7 compared to the level 8 in Tokyo.

loving the pastel colours

bought some macarons to take back to Syd

they actually didn't crack surprisingly, but some water content from the filling did start to seep through to the shells

Would have liked to buy more cakes from Melbourne cafes, but they were all way too far/closed too early, and not enough time to get them

afternoon tea

meeting more new people over cute cupcakes on pretty plates

loved the cooler weather

tram lines to show it's Melbourne

Dinner at Chin Chin

Another reason to come was to try this fancy Thai restaurant. They're actually opening one up in Sydney next Monday, so I guess don't have to drive down there for this anymore haha.

Soy Matcha Ice cream

Not my ice cream since I was way too full to have any. You can taste the subtle sweetness from the soy even in the little bit I tried.

Left around 7pm, and started the drive back. Second time sleeping/napping in a car. First time was in the 12ish hour (including pit stops) road trip with the fam coming back from the Gold Coast. Maybe I'm getting old, but didn't have the energy to drive more than 3 hours even after napping. I really do need proper sleep to survive. 

would've been nicer if the clouds didn't block the sunrise

Marrickville pork roll

Pork roll for brekkie was pretty good. This was another place on my too eat list, but first time coming to this side of Sydney.

I think I've become decent at packing lightly after all the travel I've done this year. Like packing everything into a normal day bag because anything heavier I can but just ceebs lugging around on public transport. 

Ended up sleeping before 9pm and slept for almost double the amount of sleep I normally get to help 'catch up' on sleep.

I've told everyone I know this, but still need to do a proper Melbourne food run. I think next time I'll fly there to save time.