Melbourne by Train

This trip was a little bit of a spontaneous one. I had a week of leave coming up and wanted to go somewhere for a few days. Originally it was suggested that I look at Coffs Harbour. Unfortunately for the short time, I was planning to go for, the cost of flights just wasn’t worth it. The next place I considered was Adelaide as I want to visit every state capital in Australia. I ran into the same issue especially on the way back as this is a public holiday. My partner then suggested the idea of going to Melbourne by train. The price was reasonable especially for the trip back on the public holiday.

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Our journey to Melbourne was booked for the overnight train on 1^st class so we could maximize our time in Melbourne. We headed to central and dropped out bags off to be checked in. We then headed towards Haymarket for dinner followed by ice cream from Max Joy. Dinner was ok but we certainly had food envy after seeing all the new places around the edge of Hay Market and Darling Harbour.

After dinner, we still had a fair amount of time to kill so we decided to grab a coffee from Auvers who have just opened a second location in the CBD. The coffee was just as good as the Rhodes venue.

We then headed back to central and waited about 20 minutes for the train to arrive.

Finally, our journey was underway. I didn’t realise that dinner was available on the train. I was glad to learn this as it would be great for our return trip. For the trip there I entertained my self by doing a few bits on my phone. When the tuck shop opened we also grabbed a white wine with cheese and crackers each because well why not.

In case you get thirsty there are water stations at the end of each carriage just big enough to refill a small water bottle. I found I got quite dry so make sure you drink plenty of water.

Not too long after having the wine I ended up falling asleep. It wasn’t a perfect night sleep but with enough caffeine the next day I’d be fine. Unfortunately, my partner didn’t get much sleep waking up every 20 minutes so if you’re a light sleeper a sleeping cabin might be the way to go.

We arrived in Melbourne at about 7.30 am. As we went to get our luggage, it reminded me of being in the airport with everyone crowding around and blocking the way to our bags. We then headed towards the hotel.

Brunch at Operator25

As it was way too early to check-in we dropped our suitcase at the hotel before heading towards the Queen Victoria markets when Operator25 is located to meet up with some family. Most places will let you leave your bags, which is great as I really didn’t want to drag the suitcase all over the city. We then walked towards Operator 25.

After about a 15 walk, we arrived at Operator 25. It was nice to walk there after sitting down for so long. We nearly walked straight pas Operator 25. It’s quite hidden and unless you know it’s there, you can easily walk straight past. I choose a Rendang eggs benedict and my partner choose the fried chicken burger. My aunt and uncle also had the same, so I guess we have pretty good taste in food.

The eggs benedict flavours worked really well and the bread that it arrived with was huge yet very soft and fluffy. The chicken seemed to have some soy sauce or similar added to the batter that added a really nice flavour to the chicken. I’ve never had fried chicken like this. It worked really well.

For a drink, I ordered the hot peanutella that arrived with a small pasty. I might have created a little food envy with this. It was well worth delaying much-needed caffeine. If you’re planning to checkout Operator25 I recommend making a booking as when we left there was a line out the door.

Queen Victoria Markets

Following breakfast, we headed into the Markets with uncle whilst my Aunt and cousins checked out a nearby park. The Market has two sections a produce section and a clothing/other objects section ranging from books, toys, bags and home décor. We focused on the fresh produce area which I hadn’t explored very much. The meats, cheese and vegetables looked amazing I just wish I could have taken some back to Sydney with me but I don’t know if they would have survived the trip.

With our catch up over, we headed back into the city luckily via tram this time as it just started raining. For the rest of the afternoon, we decided to relaxed as we were quite tired.

To be continued…

This was just part one of three of our adventure in Melbourne by Train trip. Keep an eye out over the next few weeks for the next two parts.

For my 2018 Melbourne adventure checkout my post: Day 2 in Melbourne – Exploring and Sea Life

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Melbourne by Train – 2019 – Part 1