We recently took a work / holiday to Melbourne as a family and it seems like everyone else I see on Instagram is heading there too. Possibly because I follow lots of fashion labels and style bloggers and they are all going to the Dior Exhibition (with good reason, it was AMAZING!)
Melbourne is such a beautiful city to visit and as a Fashion Designer I loved seeing all of the clothes and boutiques but there was so much more to the city so I figured I would blog about it and share our experience.
Since we had the kids with us we needed to find things appropriate for them that wouldn't leave us bored out of our brains.
So, here are my Top 5 Family Friendly Activities.
Legoland
Our kids love Lego and my husband and I grew up playing with Lego so naturally this was high on our list of things to do. (Tip - We got a discount on going by purchasing a combo pass since we were going to the Aquarium as well)
There was a cool little train to go on that goes through caves and you have to shoot the monsters which was quite fun, my husband and I had fun competing with each other as we went at a quiet time and therefore got to go on it twice without even having to wait.
It had a 4D Ice Age mini movie which was pretty cool, there was another little ride, a playground, a cafe and a few other things. Not quite as big as we thought it might be but it was still great.
My favourite part was the massive Lego version of Melbourne. It filled this big room and it was really impressive what they had done. There were also little tunnels you could crawl under so you could pop your head up inside the display.
Melbourne Star
The Melbourne Star is a massive ferris wheel that slowly takes you up really high and gives you a wonderful view of the city. It takes 30mins to do a full rotation so it is quite a leisurely ride and the cabin is really big and well air conditioned. It is lots of fun seeing everything from so high up and also trying to work out what everything is from a completely different view.
Friends of ours came to Melbourne for the weekend and came on the Star with us and one of them is very scared of heights but she was a real trooper. The cabin is big enough that she didn't have to be too close to the edge (except briefly for a photo)
I also loved that in a parking building very close by they were clearly doing a fashion photoshoot. Just wish I had been close enough to actually see the clothes.
Sea Life Aquarium
On holiday we always like to do a few educational but fun activities and the Aquarium is perfect for that. The kids loved looking at all the fish, sharks, stingrays, turtles, penguins and even a really big crocodile.
I usually take time to read as much of the information around so that I can relay interesting facts to the kids so they are learning more about them. We even saw a penguin fresh out of its egg while we were there which was very cool. The kids now understand more about penguins and how baby penguins are cared for and born.
The sea life on display ranged from absolutely beautiful, to quite funny and then downright scary. You'd think the huge Croc would be scary but actually the big shark was the scariest. He swam around looking very menacing, I couldn't take my eyes off him, nobody else seems to be bothered but I did not like him at all!!
Scienceworks
This place wasn't really on my radar at all but a friend of mine wanted to go there so we went together and I am so glad we did. It was so interesting and lots of fun for both the kids and the adults.
Lots of the exhibits were very interactive but the kids still learnt heaps! They created all sorts of digital things like flying cars and robotic body parts and then emailed it to themselves so they had could keep it.
One section was dedicated to the human body so they could test out speed, strength, how your arms relate to your height and so much more.
Another section was all about space exploration from a movie point of view. Part of it looked like something you would see on StarGate and it moved around the walkway but it made me feel like I was the one moving.
My kids really loved this big tube that spun around and opened up, it looked like some old move space transporter. Once I got inside it was lots of fun to trick them because I realise you could duck out the back and appear to disappear. Then I showed them how I did it and they just would not leave that thing alone!
Botanical Gardens
After landing in Melbourne and getting our hire car the first place we went to was the Botanical Gardens. It is so nice to have a walk around in the beautiful fresh air after getting up super early and then spending hours at the airport and travelling.
The Botanical Gardens are really beautiful and it is nice how close to town they are. There are lots of little areas to explore and my daughter loved that lots of people walk their dogs there so she got to have lots of cuddles.
My husband and I enjoyed looking at the different plants and how they have been arranged. I have to say though that I was super disappointed to see that people had carved names into some of the plants, like the bamboo and big succulents. Who graffitis a plant????
Aria, my 5 yr old, found a beautiful arch way and decided that she needed some modelling practise so she tried out all of her poses so we could take pictures for her! So cute watching her!
Melbourne was such a fantastic place to visit, so if you are thinking about a holiday you should consider Melbourne.
If you have already been, do you have any other family favourites to add to the list? I'm sure we will go again sometime so I would love to hear your top picks, please leave it in the comments section below.
xxDésirée
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