With my only previous holiday experiences consisting solely of a stay in Newquay, numerous rainy camping trips and a holiday in a caravan on the Isle of Wight when I was four, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect from a holiday in another country.
Fortunately there was no time for feeling lost or disorientated as the majority of the trip was planned well in advance, leaving little time for it to sink in - actually it still is. A taxi picked my mum and me, and one other British couple up. They, just like my mum and me were in Melbourne primarily to see the Australian Grand Prix.
That couple weren't staying in the same location as us however, their hotel was one of the grandest I've ever ever seen and sitting in the taxi at the grand entrance is probably as near to staying at a hotel of that calibre as I shall ever come. Needless to say our hotel that followed seemed somewhat underwhelming following that.
We barely had time to take in the hotel though as we were already heading off to Albert Park for the first of five days at the Grand Prix - the first one being fairly exclusive with a walk along the pit lane being the highlight.
With the Grand Prix filling up the daytime we only really had a bit of the morning and the evenings to experience Melbourne but the city centre is a nice place, planned streets and trams everywhere and very clean.
Aside from the layout of the streets they aren't afraid to experiment with building styles in Melbourne, old buildings next to ultra-modern new ones. Shopping Centres that aren't just boring and clinical - I wish we'd take a leaf out of their book over here.
I can't say much more about Melbourne because we really didn't experience all that much of it but it is somewhere I'd return to one day for a proper look, without the distraction of the Grand Prix.
The weather was good to us in Melbourne, just off of the average British summer. We did leave just in time though as the morning we left the heavens opened.
Comments 3April 25 2010, 6:57pm
A nice enough hotel, but it was underwhelming after seeing where some other lucky buggers were staying!
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