I know some people who are originally from Melbourne. They are always going on about how good Melbourne is and how better it is compared to Brisbane, Sydney, etc. I used to roll my eyes and say ‘if it’s so good, why did you leave? Why don’t you just shut up and go back there then?’

I was in Melbourne only 3 hours before I ‘got’ it. This weekend I fell in love with this city!

I cannot wait to go back and I’m already looking in to getting back there for longer ASAP. I didn’t want to leave. Despite the chill, Melbourne felt so warm and welcoming! Melbourne felt so right. Melbourne felt like coming home. Which is weird, cos I’m a very homely, family-oriented kinda girl. Technically, Melbourne is not ‘my place’ at all. I’m a Queenslander born and bred, a Brisbanite my whole life.

And yet, Melbourne felt like happiness in a place. All the best things about life, all packaged up into one amazing city. I MUST go back. I’m even considering moving there. But must go back for longer first…just to make sure I’m not totally romanticising the whole thing ;) But I don’t think I am.

I think Blogopolis should have been joint sponsored by Melbourne Tourism because the amount of people I have heard raving about this city has got to be worth a tourism campaign!

But I digress…slightly. This post is really the first in a series about the weekend. A series in which I will try not to gush too much about Melbourne. Though that will be difficult!

Friday was a HUGE day! Up at 6:30 for an early-ish flight. Got in to Melbourne around 11:30 am and it was pretty much GO, GO, GO from then!

A flying stop at our hotel to check in and dump our bags then we caught a tram out to Prahran for some shopping and eats.

Friends of ours, Mimsy (Trailer Trash Tattoo) and Pony (The Ten Fours) recommended an awesome place for us to check out while we were down there and Misty’s Diner was AMAZING!

The place is covered in 50s memorabilia with loads of American candy and is a ‘traditional’ American diner run by US expats and the menu is to die for – literally I’m pretty sure this is how Elvis died but damn is it worth it!!


This drink was AMAZING! Jim Beam and Dr Pepper with cherry and chocolate syrup. HEAVEN! And then there’s the food. Oh God! I need to move to Melbourne just to work my way through the menu. SO much stuff and it all sounds amazing…I need to try each thing once. After much debating we settled on taco fries (yep, just what they sound like), the Jack Burger with bourbon sauce, mayo, mozzarella, bacon, mushrooms, onion, lettuce and tomato and served with a pickle of course!

And then there was the Monte Christo ‘Elvis would be proud’ and I can tell you right now it didn’t get that name for no reason! Holy mother of God this sandwich is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, heard of or tasted!

Think a club sandwich on steroids – sliced ham, sliced turkey, 3 cheese, 3 slices of bread all dipped in an egg batter, deep fried, dusted with powdered sugar and served with a side of raspberry jam. This clogged up my insides for the entire rest of the trip but was totally worth it!

Then we had to walk off that monumental effort with HEAPS of shopping in Prahran. First stop was Route 66 where we bought some cool patches and an awesome Creepy T model car featuring a big skull that glows in the dark! Can’t wait to make that one! Then we went to the Kit store where I blissed out on all my fave products, including Soap & Glory (I am obsessed!)

 After much wandering we finally found the AMAZING, super cool, ‘hole-in-the-wall’ Tiki Bar & Lounge in Richmond. On Swan St, this is easily the coolest bar I have EVER been to! Dave and Diane, the owners and operators of this AWESOME place are hands down the nicest people I have ever met! So so lovely and welcoming, they were fabulous hosts giving us a private tour of the bar before the place was even open.

Unfortunately we couldn’t stay too long as I had to get back to the hotel to get ready for the Hello Blogger Events which was a bit of a shame that we ran out of time because I felt like I had walked into Tiki heaven and I did not want to leave! Weirdly enough, I actually felt a little like crying as we were walking away because I knew we wouldn’t have time to come back. Hopefully I’ll be back in Melbourne soon and I think I’ll just set up camp in the bar ;)


I quickly got ready for the Hello Blogger Events pre-drinks which were held at Match Bar & Grill. It was a great night and I got to meet heaps of fantastic bloggers. I have a great collection of business cards that I can’t wait to go and check out! I didn’t win any prizes but that’s probably a good thing as by the end of the weekend I was running out of space in my suitcase from all my shopping!

The photos stop here as I was not only having too much fun to remember to take them, but after a while I ended up having too much to drink to take them as well. Whoops! After the pre-drinks I met up with my boyfriend at Yak Bar where his mate Ross aka Mr Kicks of Route 66 was spinning some awesome tunes on vinyl. It was a great bar with friendly people and fantastic music, all the old classics with some funky REAL RnB and old Soul thrown in for good measure.

After here we headed to the Cherry Bar, which I remember getting into and sitting on a couch harassing people with my business cards (hee hee!) and then after that it gets a little blurry. I don’t remember getting back to the hotel, but I must have made it somehow! There was also a little bit of embarrassing late night drunk tweeting going on but more on that tomorrow.

That’s all for today, I know it’s a long one already and that’s only the first day! More to come on the rest of the shenanigans…now you see why I’m so exhausted!!