Melbourne Coffeeshop Hunting: Brother Baba Budan

Apalah arti pagi tanpa kopi di Melbourne? Saat itu bulan April. Melbourne bersiap menyambut musim dingin. Saya menginap di daerah downtown, dan pagi sebelum memulai aktivitas, saya jalan kaki ke Brother Baba Budan.

Ini adalah salah satu coffeeshop yang direkomendasikan mr.husband. Karena mr.husband tidak ikut ke Melbourne, jadi saya coffeeshop hunting sendirian, karena teman-teman yang saya ajak, memilih sarapan di hotel.

Jalan yang saya lalui dari hotel, seperti pada gambar di bawah ini. Duh, kangen Melbourne!

Melboure di pagi hari

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Melbourne Coffeeshop Hunting: St.Ali Yarra

Perginya kapan, nulisnya kapan? Sounds familiar? Hahaha, maaf ya... asli lagi kangen banget Melbourne. Scroll foto di handphone, jadi ingat St.Ali Yarra di South Melbourne kok belum ditulis ya? Padahal ini coffeeshop "incaran" saya.

Biasanya hanya bisa ke St.Ali di Setiabudi One Kuningan (Jakarta), dan karena saat itu saya melakukan kunjungan singkat ke Melbourne, pagi-pagi sebelum memulai aktivitas, saya naik tram ke Yarra, South Melbourne.

Menunggu tram datang

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What To Do if You Have One Day Transit In Melbourne

After our 8 days holiday in New Zealand, we had to transit in Melbourne before flying back with Air Asia (Melbourne to Jakarta via Kuala Lumpur). We intended to visit Melbourne Zoo, and stayed in Ibis on Therry St. which is located near the zoo. During school holiday, zoo ticket is free for children. We only had to buy adult ticket which cost AUD 30 p.p.

We walked from Ibis to the tram station. We were waiting for the free circle tram in Melbourne when we met a family from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. "What is your plan today with your kids?" the mother asked me. "We'd like to go to the zoo. How about you?" She answered "We're planning to visit Melbourne Museum" Then the City Circle tram (free tourist tram), both of our families stepped into the tram.

Kiddos were happy to see the tram

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Review of Ibis Therry Street, a Family Hotel in Melbourne

I was looking for a kids friendly hotel or apartment in Melbourne through booking.com when I found a reasonably priced family hotel in Melbourne: Ibis Hotel on Therry Street. Ibis has standard double or twin rooms, and it also has one or two bedroom apartments. The two bedroom apartment was above our budget, but the one bedroom apartment was not. 

Our budget for a night stay at Melbourne was at maximum AUD 150, and the one bedroom apartment was AUD 139. It has a separate living room, provides a kitchenette with a microwave and refrigerator, and a bathtub. Just perfect for our kiddos who love swimming so much.

at the lobby of Ibis

I sent an email to the hotel prior to the room reservation asking whether we were allowed to take two kids, because in the hotel's policy which is written on booking.com, only 1 child was allowed. The email was promptly replied and yes we could take our both of our kiddos to the one bedroom apartment:) I made the reservation through booking.com after receiving the email.

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Transit Hotel in Melbourne Tullamarine: Cilom Airport Lodge

Do you have a plan to transit in Melbourne Tullamarine Airport and looking for an affordable hotel or motel to stay? Our flights from Indonesia to New Zealand transit in Melbourne, as we took Air Asia from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne. We arrived at Melbourne Tullamarine airport at around 12.20 am, and our connecting flight from Melbourne to Queenstown was at 10 am. After a long flight from Jakarta, we didn't intend to wait or sleep at the airport. We needed a room for our short sleep.

Ibis Hotel which is located near the budget terminal of Tullamarine Airport was my first choice. I walked passing this hotel when I was looking for a cheap public transport from Melbourne Tullamarine to the city. So I thought, it would be easy to find the hotel as I knew the place already. A room at Ibis Hotel cost around AUD 130, it was within our budget. But I changed my mind after reading reviews on tripadvisor regarding the self check-in process and the lift. Guests checking in after 11 pm will have to do their self check-in, and there was one review saying the hassle of a traveler who failed to do the self check in, and had to make several calls to the hotel staff. Other reviews mentioned that this hotel doesn't have a lift. 

Then I searched for another hotel with better reviews. I came across a motel called Cilom Airport Lodge. Although not in a walking distance from the airport, the reviews say that the motel provides free return shuttle bus from and to the airport. How about the price? Double room cost AUD 138 while Twin Room cost AUD 148. We took a twin room as it provides one single bed and one queen bed. 

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Boxing Day in Melbourne

We heard from our friend Martin Handy about all the shopping madness during the boxing day in Australia, and were suggested to shop during that day as there will be discounts everywhere! So when we made our itinerary in Australia, we decided to go back to Melbourne from Tasmania on 26th Dec. Especially to enjoy the boxing day in Melbourne:p

We arrived at our hostel in Melbourne at 11.30 am, left our luggage, and went directly to the Bourke Street. It was really crowded, so many people around to do their shopping.

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Great Ocean Road Sunset Tour

We were looking for an affordable Great Ocean Road Sunset Tour, the normal price is about AUD 120 for the peak period of December. The sunset tour is slightly more expensive than the day tour. Finally we found a deal from a website called OZnet, where we got the cheap Great Ocean Road Sunset Tour for AUD 77,5 per person, including sandwich for lunch! On the next day of our booking, we got an email confirmation from bunyip tour. That time we knew that Bunyip would be our tour provider.

On Dec 27, we were picked up at our hostel in Melbourne at 10.30 am. There were only 6 tour participants on the bus when we jumped in. We made some stops at other hotels, and stopped at Bunyip office to pick up some other groups. We left Bunyip office at 11.30 pm, and started our tour. Unfortunately we had to pass the traffic jam just outside Melbourne. Our driver and tour guide, Steven McDonald is a lovely guy.

We stopped first at Bells beach (one of the famous Australia's surfing beach) at 1 pm and had our toilet break and also the coffee break (biscuit, coffee, tea). 

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The Greenhouse Backpacker Melbourne

As it was our first time visiting Melbourne, we were looking for a hostel which is very centrally located. And we were fortunate to find the Greenhouse Backpacker hostel on Flinders Lane, 5 minutes walk from Flinders Station.

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Penguins and Cakes at St.Kilda

After a window shopping on boxing day in Melbourne (on 26 Dec 2012), we went to St.Kilda to see the sunset. We took tram #16 from Federation Square, and prior to getting on the tram we bought Myki card at Seven Eleven of Federation Square.

Arriving at St.Kilda we walked directly to the Pier, and stayed there to see the penguins. It was very cold that evening, even with a sunshine! We enjoyed a great view from St.Kilda overlooking the Melbourne city.

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Exploring Melbourne with Melbourne Bike Share

On our 1st day in Melbourne, we went to Queen Victoria Market using tram #57 from Flinders Station. We were not sure whether we had to pay for the tram (we were mixed up with the free circle tram), we asked two person in the bus saying that we wouldn’t need to pay. But we saw everyone tapping their card on a machine inside the tram (oh yeah, we asked the wrong person!). So we didn’t pay anything on that ride, and lucky us there were no inspector:p

Arriving at Queen Victoria Market, we passed the meat and seafood section, the dairy section, and to the colorful section of fruits and vegetables. Of course we also buy the traditional doughnuts cost AUD 1 per piece. Aaah how we love this market!

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The Cheapest Public Transport from Melbourne Tullamarine Airport to the City

It was our first time ever visiting Australia, we took Garuda Indonesia which flies directly from Jakarta to Melbourne. We arrived just 3 days before Christmas, the airport was not that busy when we arrived at around 9 am. The immigration process was fast, and the officer were really friendly. The only complaint upon arrival in Melbourne Tullamarine Airport was that we had to wait for 30 minutes to get our luggage. I don’t know whether it’s normal or because it’s holiday time? Anyway, we could get out of the airport directly after taking our luggage. There weren’t any inspection as I thought it would be.

Having read the Tripadvisor review regarding the cheapest public transport from Melbourne Tullamarine airport to the city, we wanted to give it a try. We had plenty of time that day and of course we’d like to save our budget. From the review that I read, it cost only AUD 6,20 per person (compare that with a one way ticket of Skybus AUD 17!). I also read that there were no sign at the airport to the public bus stop. It seems that the airport recommend visitors to take the express Skybus which can take you to the city within 20 minutes (excluding the waiting time).

When we exit the international airport, we followed the direction to T4 (Tiger Air Terminal), because it is the closest terminal to the public bus stop. At T4, we were confused where to go, as there was no public bus stop around T4. We asked a guy, who showed us that we should take Skybus. No thanks. Then we asked a lady, who didn’t really know where the bus stop located, but when I told her that it is should be in front of Toll Dnata building, she said that we have to walk a little bit further from T4, and cross the road. And yes we could see a bus stop, with its sign on the grass. Lucky us the bus was waiting for the passengers when we walked to the bus stop.

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