The adventure begins in Melbourne

(Friday 27th) Our Asian holiday began for me in Melbourne. I finished work a day earlier than Dom and so flew to Melbourne in order to pick up a postponed Melbourne-Singapore flight with Jetstar. Dom will depart tomorrow on Etihad from Brisbane.

My friend, E, agreed to spend the day with me in Melbourne so we set off with Qantas, arriving ahead of schedule, to a lovely, cool Melbourne morning. I left my bag at the Parkroyal Melbourne Airport (formerly the Hilton) – the most conveniently located hotel at the airport. We caught the SkyBus, which was waiting at the kerb, to the city ($28 return). It’s a swift ride and by 10am we were strolling down Spencer Street toward the new South Wharf shopping precinct.

We had lunch at a riverside restaurant adjacent to the casino and then continued our wandering through the pleasant Melbourne afternoon. Coincidentally, there was a display by the Singapore Tourism Board on the riverside, so we chatted to Singapore locals making traditional rice packets, and entered a competition to win a shopping trip!

When we were shopping-weary we returned to the airport (on the SkyBus which was again waiting for us) and I checked into the hotel to be rewarded with a magnificent view of the terminal and runways from the top floor! I’ve stayed here three times and this is the best view I’ve had. I know that I’m a plane geek, but I still think it’s special to see a dynamic airport at work. 

Tomorrow I depart for Singapore, where Dom and I will meet up. On Sunday we travel to Langkawi in Malaysia, then later in the trip to Bangkok and Singapore again. I have not been to either Langkawi or Bangkok and am very excited to be exploring new places.