This is the last travel post of my Australia trip. Fhewww finally finished writing it after 2 months plus. (a total of 16 posts hehehe)
I felt much better on day 7. Nausea… gone 98%. YippeaiiOOOO
Our breakfast was at Cafe Andiamo in Degraves Street; a cool place which we found yesterday during our car parking adventure in Manchester Lane.
Degraves Street.
If you want to soak in the Melbourne lifestyle this is the place!
After our fulfilling brekkie we head to the post office in Manchester Lane. Then we walked to Flinders Street Station to get tram tickets.
On board the tram. We’re heading to Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne which is about 10 minutes away from Flinders Street Station by tram.
Weather on day 7 was quite gloomy. A little rain here and there.
Taken outside of Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.
Taken near the ladies’ washroom in Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. Hehe
Very lovely purplish-pink magnolias.
Plum blossom. They’re one of my favorite flowers of all time. Can’t believe I actually touched it.
My first encounter with plum blossom was at Great Wall of China.
The many beautiful flowers and plants in Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.
The red and pink flowers are camellia. So pretty!
Rose Pavilion. A nice place to get married. Hahaha
A lovely garden to chill and relax. Backdrop is the Government House.
This is like heaven! 
I thought walking in botanical garden will be a pain in the a$$. This experience has totally changed my view on botanical garden.
Now I love botanical garden. Hehe
Make sure you drop by Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne when you’re in Melbourne ya.
We made friend with a black swan in Ornamental Lake…
Which seems to follow us everywhere…
Including to muddy place like this. In the end we bade the lovely swan goodbye!
When we exited the botanic garden, it started to rain quite heavy. We waited for the tram under the rain for quite sometime. Cool experience. Haha
Around 1.30pm we walked around the fame Yarra River. It was still drizzling.
It was cold and gloomy.
Had lunch at Southgate.
Then we crosses this foot bridge to the other side which is Flinders Street.
We shopped around to get last minute stuffs like food and souvenir. Dinner was at Old Beijing Dumplings Restaurant. That was how we spent our last day in Melbourne.
The next day (day 8), we woke up as early as 4.30am. Time to go back home!
The main reason why we stayed at Elephant Backpacker is due to its close proximity with Southern Cross Station.
Waiting for tram just outside of Elephant Backpacker at 5.30am. Tram arrived at 5.55am.
Taken with TZ-7.
Reached Southern Cross Station at 6.05am. This is me heading to the Sky Bus platform. We were just in time for the 6.10am bus which will bring us to the airport. Need to run a bit though. Wohoo!
Taken with TZ-7.
The plane back to Malaysia was delayed for 30 minutes but we didn’t really feel it.
Goodbye Melbourne!!!
Taken with TZ-7.
So that’s it! I know my 2010 Australia travelogue is quite lengthy. Thank you for reading them. Hope you enjoy reading my experience, tips and I hope I managed to bring back the good old memories of your own Australia adventure.
I had a fun time changing accommodation 4 times (first in my travel experience)! At Melbourne twice, Port Campbell once and Geelong once. Never thought it could be this easy because all these while I envisioned lugging my bags from hostel to the next is BIG TIME nightmare.
Would you like to know how much I spent on this trip totally? (everything including air fare, accommodation, car rental, transport, food, souvenir)… it’s about RM3.9k. Cheap? expensive? I say worth it. (note: a big chunk of it went to accommodation) Perhaps next time I would knock at my aunt’s door when I go to Melbourne again. Haha
Now to my next adventure… coming soon woh.
My complete 2010 8D/8N Australia travelogue:
Melbourne Day 1: Federation Square, Hosier Lane & Flinders Street Station
Melbourne Day 2: Queen Victoria Market, Royal Arcade & Block Arcade
Melbourne Day 3: Victoria Hall & Queen Victoria Market Again (Part 1)
Melbourne Day 3: St. Kilda Beach, Luna Park & Acland Street (Part 2)
Great Ocean Road Self-Drive Day 4: Car Rental, West Gate Freeway & Point Addis
Great Ocean Road Self-Drive Day 4: Anglesea, Aireys Inlet’s Split Point Lighthouse & Lorne
Great Ocean Road Self-Drive Day 4: Stunning Great Ocean Views, Apollo Bay, Almost Cape Otway Lightstation & Wild Animals!
Great Ocean Road Day Self-Drive 4: Pee Story, Port Campbell National Park & Trouble Finding Twelve Apostles
Great Ocean Road Self-Drive Day 4: Twelve Apostles At Sunset [+Video] & Port Campbell
Great Ocean Road Self-Drive Day 5: Port Campbell Hostel, Post Office, Refuel & Port Campbell Town
Great Ocean Road Self-Drive Day 5: Loch Ard Gorge
Great Ocean Road Self-Drive Day 5: Thunder Cave, Broken Head & Twelve Apostles
Princetown Road-Colac-Geelong Self-Drive Day 5: Apostle Whey Cheese, Cute Towns, Greeneries & Hello Geelong!
Geelong Self-Drive Day 5: Geelong Riverview Tourist Park & Waterfront
Melbourne Day 6: Return Car, Hook Turn & Elephant Backpacker
Melbourne Day 7 & 8: Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, Yarra River & Goodbye
Related Entries:
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Great Ocean Road Self-Drive Day 5: Loch Ard Gorge
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Great Ocean Road Self-Drive Day 4: Anglesea, Aireys Inlet’s Split Point Lighthouse & Lorne
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Great Ocean Road Day Self-Drive 4: Pee Story, Port Campbell National Park & Trouble Finding Twelve Apostles
-
Great Ocean Road Self-Drive Day 5: Thunder Cave, Broken Head & Twelve Apostles
Hi! My name is Amy. I'm a dog lover. I have a golden retriever named Chester. He's a very intelligent dog. I love food, travel and taking pictures. Am also a 'hopeless' Korean dramas addict! Currently busy challenging my biggest fear. 
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
3.9k is cheap for such a great holiday. really worth it
Hey. Really a nice Mel travelogue
Im on going Mel on may as well.. 8N
we have 8ppl in total.
Might thinking to spend 8N only in mel or spend some days in sdyney
do you think 8N is about more for mel only? or you think its worth it to spend 8N in mel?
Need some suggestion.. in order for me to plan the itinerary in advance.. hmm..
hope to see your reply
thank you! =)
Beng, not bad ya? That’s why I love to backpack.
Pino, hi there.
I think 8N is too much for Melbourne alone. But if you have lots of things to do in Melbourne then it’s more than enough. If I were you, I would go to Sydney or maybe somewhere nearer. But it all depends on what you want to see there.
Hi there, appreciated your reply
however I was really intend to go Sdyney.
But 8pax in total really make me down.
too much of travel mate will cause the travel a trouble..
this is why I think stick in mel only.
do you think your tour is smooth in terms of routing?
I might consider your way of backpack as well =)
How much is your AK air ticket yA?
Pino, I agree, it takes quite an effort for 8 people to travel together.
My tours were smooth all the way. Navigating in Australia is very easy.
My air ticket cost almost RM1.5k return. What about your ticket cost?
I think i should just stay in Mel after reading your blog.
Maybe need some help from you in the future =)
I got it very early and the fare is low.
about RM 554 =) hehe
Pino, sure no problem.
Wah that’s a steal!!!
Do you mind to share why you rent the car in town? instead of at airport?
is it more expensive?
You did not go to philips island?
Pino, I rented the car in town because I stayed in Melbourne for few days before going to Great Ocean Road.
Yup didn’t go to Philips Island. Wanted to but no time and because Great Ocean Road is our no. 1 priority.
The entire Aust write up was good. I really enjoyed it…thanks! I have to say my memories of the Botanical Garden is quite blur, think becoz I don’t fancy plants/flowers. The best was the 12 Apostles and the penquins at Philip Island.
Dawn, thanks for reading my Aussie travel from start to finish. Hehe
Philip Island is on my list(next round).
Really like all the photos you took. So beautiful!
Adino, thank you thank you
Ya, accommodation is the headache. Hope for new branch of Tune Hotels in Australia in the future.
Jam, ohh yeah Tune Hotels all over the world. Haha