It was a short flight from Sydney to Melbourne on Qantas Airlines – about 90 minutes. We had originally planned to rent a car but changed that plan when we decided to spend much of our time in a city which everyone had raved about. So again it was an Uber from the airport to our hotel – but unfortunately we confused the Holiday Inn and the Holiday Inn Express Little Collins, an error we learned about when we arrived at the former and found that they had no reservation for us. Fortunately they did at the latter, and while it meant some lost time and yet another Uber ride, it turned out to be a great location within walking distance of several places we wanted to see and also convenient to Melbourne’s excellent tram system. Not fancy but comfortable and quiet with a “free” breakfast that was adequate, if basic. We had dinner that first night at “The Bank on Collins” – cavernous, convenient and ok food.

There was a giant surprise awaiting us in Melbourne. When we planned our trip the NFL had not yet finalized its 2026 schedule. Surprise – the day after our arrival the hated Rams and hated 49ers (we are solid Seahawks fans) were going to play in Melbourne and the city was full of fans in NFL jerseys and hats – more SF than LA but with many fans of other NFL teams as well including Seattle. Many fans had come over from the US but many were Australians who were fans of “American footie” as well. We were almost constantly among some of the fans – restaurants, parks, trams, everywhere. Everyone asked if we were there for the game and we always responded that we were not, that we had not even known about it when we made our plans, that we were Seahawks fans and that we wanted both teams to lose (which would mean a tie) but if we had to choose, we wanted the Rams to lose more. It was a very fun environment. We later watched a few moments of the game on a screen at a restaurant that was visible from outside. Rams were losing – good!

There were three things that were definitely on our Melbourne agenda. One was that we were going to rent a car for one day and drive at least part of the famous Great Ocean Road. Another was that I had arranged a day of birding with a local bird guide, Christian Doerig, originally concentrating on the Werribee Water Treatment Plant, but unfortunately access was closed due to an Avian flu scare, so it would be elsewhere. The third key item on our to-do list was to drink coffee. As said before, everyone who had been there told us that Melbourne was a fantastic city, one of if not the best they had visited. And they almost always put coffee at the top of their list of its assets.

After those three “gottas”, we wanted to be part of the city, taking in a museum or two, a park or two and some of Melbourne’s funky/arty/cool neighborhoods. On our first morning in Melbourne after breakfast at the hotel, we visited a cafe/restaurant that several people told us had the best coffee in Melbourne – Brunetti’s – officially Brunetti Oro – an Italian Pasticceria founded by Giorgio Angele in 1991. It surpassed our very high expectations and may rank as our favorite food experience anywhere, anytime. Not only was the coffee totally exceptional, so too were the desserts, the pastries, the pizzas, the cakes, the cheeses, the cornetti, the wine, the cannoli’s, the everything!!! And it is beautiful!! Their coffee is a special Brunetti/Lavazza blend and their espresso drinks – we favored the lattes – were different than anything we had ever tasted – although many of the coffee drinks in Melbourne and Sydney were similar and extraordinary – rich, thick, frothy, blended, strong, smooth and many other adjectives. I admit being a great fan of pastries and particularly almond filled croissants. The problem here was that while the croissants looked amazing, so did a multitude of other pastries and cakes. If I lived in Melbourne I would visit every day and gain many many pounds.

Our next stop was close by – Federation Square which is described as a major cultural and civic center. Among other things it is home to the ACMI, Australian Center for Moving Image and the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia. We visited the latter, the world’s firs museum dedicated exclusively to Australian Art. It has a wonderful collection including some wonderful aboriginal art.

Time again for food and we found a cool restaurant offering “American Food” which fortunately included tacos which we ordered and enjoyed. Melbourne is a very foodie place and we saw restaurants offering food from – well, anywhere and everywhere. Fancy and not – fast food and formal. The architecture was also wonderful with super modern buildings, solid edifices from the “colonial or Victorian period” and artsy touches that made our visit much fun. This was enhanced on this day by the enormous number of football fans that seemed to be everywhere, often 49er and Ram fans in the same crowd – no fights. As was often the case, little details made parts of our visit memorable – including some pretty cool toilet paper (I have never included that in any blog post but as is befitting if you look at the photo – Who gives a crap!!).

After lunch we visited two beautiful shopping arcades with splendid mostly high-end stores and architectural touches that were feasts for the eyes. The Royal Arcade, dating back to 1870, was the first shopping arcade/mall in the City. The Royal Arcade was grand, but The Block Arcade was grander – with marvelous detailing including fabulous floors. Interesting that the website for the Royal Arcade has a listing of “our stores” while The Block Arcade website lists “our boutiques”. Both had lovely retail shops with mostly expensive options interestingly including a men’s shop with an onsite barber and “shaving products” (Royal) and Truefitt & Hill – advertised as the world’s oldest barbershop (The Block) among many jewelers, food options, chocolates and spices.

Our day had provided a great mélange of urban delights but it was time for some birds. Ebird research suggested that a visit to Albert Park with a large lake might be good. Uber time again, and again a bit of a mix-up. Just as we had the wrong Holiday Inn to start our visit, we also had Uber go to the wrong Albert Lake location – a neighborhood rather than the intended park. Our driver added a new route and we finally arrived around 3:30 p.m. I only added three new birds for the trip: Little Raven, Long Billed Corella, and Red Wattlebird, but all were both lifers and life photos. I also got life photos of Black Swan, Crested Pigeon, Australasian Swamphen, Little Pied Cormorant, and Red Rumped Parrot. We misjudged some distances and ended up walking several miles – but worth it for the birds and good exercise to work off our caloric intake. Dinner was at the Doju Restaurant in Melbourne – nice atmosphere, good Korean-style food – pricey.

Our second full day in Melbourne was our day to travel the Great Ocean Road, an Australian National Heritage-listed 240-kilometre (150 mi) stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia, between the Victorian towns of Torquay and Allansford. Torquay is more than an hour from downtown Melbourne. Built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and dedicated to soldiers killed during World War I, the road is the world’s largest war memorial. It provides incredible ocean views, swimming and surfing beaches, and some curvy two lane roads. To do it justice from start to end requires at least a full day (not including return) to cover it all. We knew we would only be able to experience maybe half the road, but with yet more good weather, it was a can’t miss opportunity that would provide beautiful scenery, birding opportunities, good food and some off-road attractions that might provide opportunities to see wildlife like kangaroos, wallabies, and koalas. We found a car rental not far from our hotel and after breakfast were on the road – my first driving experience on the left side of the road since my last visit to Australia in 2003, when I was admittedly somewhat younger. It took some serious concentration and it was particularly hard on Cindy as passenger as we were on very narrow roads with no aprons and some challenging spots. But we persevered and had a great trip – despite some GPS challenges.

In addition to the many scenic spots, surfer views, nice restaurants and great weather, there were also super birds and without really trying too hard, we had 38 species including 4 lifers and 21 life photos. Cindy found a “kangaroo tour” at the Anglesea Golf Club. We took a chance and arrived before the next scheduled group tour and got a private tour for just the two of us. Kangaroos were plentiful and not the least bit bothered by tourists which enabled us to get up very close even to females with joeys in their pouches.

Day 3 in Melbourne was again an urban day with just a little bit of birding at one city park – Carlton Gardens. On that day we braved travel in the City on the tram system. It is free within a central area and then pretty inexpensive for further travel. We learned from Melbourne riders that it was common practice to add a couple of stops onto the “free area” without payment. We happily obliged and travel was easy. Our main objective was to visit the Fitzroy neighborhood – actually a bohemian inner-city suburb of Melbourne full of artsy shops, many restaurants, tattoo clad denizens and a very chic trendy vibe. Melbourne is a big city (population over 5 million) and in the CBD and downtown retails areas, it certainly felt that way with crowds on every street. Fitzroy was less hectic but exciting and we were not even there at night. We had a good lunch at a Colombian restaurant and also visited Carlton Gardens which was fairly close by and contains the imposing and stately Royal Exhibition Building. I added a life photo of a Chestnut Teal at one of the ponds, but replaced it with a much better photo the next day.

When I knew I was going to visit Melbourne, I was excited for many reasons. I had heard over and over how it was just a great urban place and I also knew that it was new habitat for me – for new birds and new photos. A birding friend, Bruce Berman, said that I had to visit the Werribee Western Treatment Plant – a can’t miss place. Birders are often attracted to STP’s (sewage treatment plants) mostly for water related birds – waders, ducks, shorebirds etc. But my research showed that this location offered more than water birds and it quickly got to the top of my list. Our initial plan was to rent a car for the entire time there so that we could drive the Great Ocean Road and also bird places like Werribee among others. But as much as I enjoy birding on my own, I have learned that it is not as productive as birding with a guide who knows the area and the local birds and where to find them – specifically not generally, so I reached out to find a guide. I had success contacting Simon Starr at Firetail Birdwatching Tours https://www.birdingvictoria.com.au/melboure-birdwatching-tours who hooked me up with Christian Doerig for September 14th, the last day we would be in Melbourne. Christian was a great communicator and turned out to be not just a great guide but also great company. As our trip approached, Christian told us that unfortunately access to Werribee was closed but assured us that we would have good birding near the plant and elsewhere along a route that would include some repetition of our own Ocean Road travels.

Our day with Christian was great in every way even though there were gray skies around Werribee in the early morning. He picked us up at our hotel at 6:15 a.m. and we were at the Werribee WTP around 7 a.m. and started seeing birds – not as close as if we had full access and the gray skies hindered some photo ops, but we were getting new birds. I could not tell the areas apart but we were also at Avalon Beach and I am combining those two areas here. In about an hour and a half, we had 59 species – 5 lifers and 20 life photos. The temptation is to include photos of them all but I am going to restrain myself and just include faves or special ones – still alot.

Our next stop was at Coogoorah Park near the Anglesea Golf Course that we had visited two days earlier on our Great Ocean Road sojourn. In addition to some species we had seen on our earlier visit, we added a super new lifer Blue Winged Parrot – which came in to a very specific nesting location known by Christian and we also got life photos of Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Gray Teal and the lovely little Spotted Pardalote.

Our next stop was very special as we went onto the beach at Point Roadknight, a beautiful spot, and by the time we had reached the coast, the gray skies had been replaced by blue skies and with the surf coming in, it was glorious. And so were the birds which were found only due to Christian’s knowledge and diligence. Christian thought there was a chance to find the quite uncommon Hooded Plover, a South Australian endemic. At first we found nothing on the beach but did see a very distant white spot on the ocean that turned out to be a White-Capped Albatross, a bird I had seen and photographed on a Capetown pelagic trip in 2014. Undaunted we crossed some rocks on the beach and moved to a different spot where Christian pointed out three more dots – this time on the beach and they were the Hooded Plovers, gorgeous little black, white, and brown plovers about the size of our Semipalmated Plovers and with a red eye ring and a mostly red bill. We were able to get quite close and got great photos. Further along the beach we had distant views of two more lifers, Pacific Gull and Sooty Oystercatchers and in shrubs near the beach, we found a lifer Singing Honeyeater. What a collection!

One more great bird before lunch – at Split Point, where there is a famous lighthouse, Christian knew that a Rufous Bristlebird was a good possibility. We heard it and then coaxing in with some brief playback – Bingo! We had struck up a conversation and the Bristlebird ran along a driveway with a gate. It went back and forth several times giving a chance for a crappy photo and then it finally perched on a branch in the open and serenaded us – a much better photo op for this uncommon skulking endemic lifer.

Continuing on just off the Great Ocean Road we ventured onto the Iron Bark Drive Nature Trail in the Great Otway National Park where we ate the sandwiches we had picked up for lunch and I added three life photos – White Throated Treecreeper, Eastern Yellow Robin and one of my favorites, an Eastern Spinebill. I also got a much better photo of the beautiful Crimson Rosella.

There would be two more stops – each with a water feature. At the Aireys Inlet Water Reclamation Facility. I had a lifer Australian Shelduck and at Lake Lorne, I got a lifer Blue Billed Duck, really good photos of two other ducks, Hardhead and Chestnut Teal and the Royal Spoonbill, and a lifer photo of the strange looking Pink Eared Duck.

That was it for the day, and quite a day it was: 11 hours with 9 stops, 97 species, 14 lifers and 37 life photos. Christian had a good time and we could not have asked for more. Below is a picture Cindy took of Christian and me perched precariously on some rocks watching the Pacific Gull and Sooty Oystercatchers. And I know I have posted a photo of the Superb Fairywren from two days earlier but I want to include a fun photo of one for this wonderful day, too.

The next morning we would be flying off to Uluru in the Australian Outback. We truly loved Melbourne and environs for food, people, birds, and its fun vibe. Being there for the first NFL game in Australia was a weird but fun bonus – especially since the L.A. Rams were throttled. We highly recommend Melbourne to all Australia visitors and would definitely include a visit on any return trip. We met many young people from other countries during our visits – mostly wait staff at restaurants there on short term work visas as there is a shortage of workers in many areas and many fields. Many liked Melbourne but we often heard that it was just too cold there – it is in the South (equivalent to our North), but we had great weather (sweaters a couple of days/nights) and think its weather is most like San Francisco which is similar in many other ways as well. Birding was fun and excellent: 108 species, 22 lifers and 67 life photos. The trip list was at 110 species and we were barely a third into it…many more birds, and much else to come.