Adventures in Australia: Last Day in Melbourne

On our last day in Melbourne we decided to go to St. Kilda, the beachfront area to the south of Melbourne.

It is a very artsy and eclectic area, which is hard to do considering Melbourne is already very diverse.

There are a few main shopping strips full of boutiques, bars and bakeries. Then we found the beach. It was nothing compared to Manly and Bondi, but still a great place to be on a hot day. And it was very close to the city.

Here is the boardwalk

They also had a great park area overlooking the water

This is the famous pier in St. Kilda. It dates back to the early 1900's and recently burnt down. It is such an iconic part of the city's heritage they decided to rebuild it.

I loved seeing the rocks on the pier. One interesting fact is at night, the Little Penguins, same as we saw at Featherdale, come back into nest on the rocks off the pier! So cute!

After exploring the beach, we headed back into the city to explore the lane ways a bit more. While there, we picked up some cupcakes in celebration of my birthday!

They were so good!

Before heading to dinner, we headed to a local favorite - Madame Brussels. It is another rooftop bar that the locals love. The name comes from a well know Brothel Owner (brothels are legal here in Australia) who lived in Melbourne in the late 1800's. You can read more on her story on the website.

Here is the view looking onto the rooftop patio and the skyline view.

The bar is basically 1970's country club chic. The waitstaff is dressed for it. The boys in shorty-shorts and the girls in tennis skirts.

They are know for their punches so we had to try them! They were amazing!! They mix several ingredients to make delicious drinks!

This was called Pearl Essence - it was good.

You can see a bit of the garden decor behind Jeff. He enjoyed the punch too (no matter what he tells you!)

They even had astro-turf for grass! Love how well they kept the theme.

I was a bit disturbed by the guy thigh appearing in the male waiters. It did go with the theme but I was a bit grossed out!

After a few punches, we headed back to Lygon street for some more fabulous Italian food. We decided to keep looking for a place several people told us about that we could not find the other night. Apparently, the streets are numbered funny, but we found it!!

The place is family run and is called Il Tiamo. It started as a coffee shop but quickly turned into a restaurant. It is pretty small but mouth-watering good! You could see the family still working in the back!