Melbourne Australia

In May I was lucky enough to visit Australia with 300 other travel agents from all over Europe as part of the Aussie Specialist Programme. I took a flight from Heathrow to Singapore and then connected on to Melbourne. The flight was much more comfortable than I anticipated and time passed by much faster than I expected. If you have ever considered going to Australia and the length of the flight has stopped you - please reconsider.

I arrived in Melbourne and was transferred to my hotel. I was staying at the brand new Crown Metropol which is part of the Crown Entertainment complex. It's a very contempory 5 star hotel in a perfect location for making the most of Melbourne.

After unpacking we hit the streets of Melbourne. The Yarra River runs through the heart of Melbourne and on the south side it feels more modern, high-rise and business like, and on the other side it’s more traditional with shops, bars, theatres and street cafes. It felt like America and London all in one city.

We started touring the city and eventually arrived at the Eureka Tower. This is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. We took the lift to the 88th floor where you have amazing views all over Melbourne. I went one step further and took ‘the edge’ challenge where you step inside a glass lift that protrudes out of the side of the building 88 floors up. Wow – what a fantastic experience but not for the fainthearted. Afterwards, we crossed over the river and checked out the street cafes in the lanes of Melbourne, a complete contrast to the other side of the city and very European feeling.

Later using our Melbourne Metcard we took a tram to St Kilda which is the beach side area of Melbourne. It has quite a British feel to it, with a funfair and tourist shops. St Kilda is also famous for its cake shops which display their delicious mouth-watering temptations in their windows. A short tram ride back to the city and we were outside Federation Square in the centre of Melbourne. This is the cultural heart of Melbourne with street entertainers, shops, museums and visitor centre.

In the evenings we were treated to various events. The Long Room a popular meeting place on Collins Street, Flemington Racecourse – home to the Melbourne Cup and a race that stops a nation and Melbourne Park – home to the Australian Open.

Over the next 3 days we had a number of business sessions to attend and met more than 100 Australian suppliers to gain as much knowledge as possible. The funniest part of the trip had to be a trip to Ramsey Street and the set of Neighbours. We toured the set walked the street and even met a member of the cast.

On our final day in Melbourne we took a trip along the Great Ocean Road. It reminded me very much of Wales or Cornwall as we zigzagged our way along the coast and through the coastal towns of Lorne and Apollo Bay. We passed through forests of Eucalyptus trees with koala sleeping in them and stopped at a pub for Fish and Chips. Our ultimate destination was the iconic twelve apostles: a collection of limestone stacks over 10 million years old standing in the Southern Ocean. On the way back to Melbourne we stopped at the Otway Fly where you can take a tree top walk and lastly called in at one of the local brewery’s to sample the local beer. The perfect end to a very enjoyable day. The next morning we checked out and made our way to Melbourne Airport for our flight to Alice Springs and the red centre.