A week in my life, part six: Marlborough, Christchurch, and Melbourne

welcome back to my WIML series, where each week i detail out how i spent the prior week as an american temporarily living in new zealand! this past week was spent in new zealand and australia; i traveled with my parents to marlborough (new zealand’s biggest wine region) and christchurch on new zealand’s south island, then melbourne with my parents and in-laws. this post summarizes march 10th-16th.

favs of the week:

all the details:

Activities

• Marlborough wine tour: We booked an awesome half-day wine tour with Marlborough discovery wine tours while we were in the region and loved it. The tour included stops at four local wineries: Allan Scott, No. 1 Family Estate, Gibson Bridge, and Framingham. more details on my in-depth marlborough post!
• Drove through Kaikōura: on our drive between Marlborough and Christchurch, we stopped in Kaikoura for lunch and to see the seals. looooved the seals!!
• Visited Christchurch: My parents and I spent a night in christchurch before heading to Melbourne. The city is essentially all new and modern because of a series of catastrophic earthquakes in 2010-2011.
• F1 Australian Grand Prix: We went to Melbourne to go to the F1 season opener! We just went on Saturday for the qualifying round.
• Melbourne Markets: Visited the Queen Victoria Market for the first time and went back to the South Melbourne Market. got a cute necklace from Kadio in Queen Victoria Market!

Eats

nothing like eating every meal out all week!! but i hardly have the photos to prove it sooo…

• Melba Cafe (auckland): love this cafe on Vulcan Lane. ordered the habibi bowl this time and 10/10 rec.
• Herb and Olive (Blenheim): This little cafe in Blenheim (town in Marlborough) was amazing for breakfast on both mornings we were there.
• Raupo (Blenheim): One of the “nicer” restaurants in Blenheim (but still very casual and laid back). Beautiful views from their back porch too.
• Dainty (Christchurch): such a cute cafe in Christchurch cbd. Loved the atmosphere and the food was unbelievable!
• Taxi Kitchen (Melbourne): Pretty good restaurant with stunning city / river views. Food was maybe an 8/10? service was slow!
• Lady of St. Kilda (Melbourne): very cute restaurant in the St. Kilda neighborhood of Melbourne. got its name from a boat that was moored outside of Melbourne in the 1840s. The menu is an eclectic mix of Mediterranean food – the Sambousek (greek calzone?) was my fav. absolutely hatedddd their falafel though I must say.
• Chin Chin (Melbourne): This was such a cool restaurant and the food was unreal. We did the tasting menu since we had such a large group and literally every single thing was incredible. The only issue we had with this place was that they did not space out the timing of each course correctly, which was annoying!
• Tippy-tay (Melbourne): very cute Italian restaurant in Melbourne CBD. it is Kind of hidden away through a hotel, so you don’t feel like you’re in the heart of the city once you’re inside. the cacio e pepe arancini, burrata, Roast Chicken, and Lamb pappardelle were all veryyyy good.
• Code Black Coffee (Melbourne): got an amazing almond croissant here because obviously had to add to my croissant research.
• Commonplace Coffee Brewers (Melbourne): another croissant stop… again, for research purposes only!!
• Flour patisserie (Melbourne): omg these macarons in the south melbourne market… dare I say best I’ve ever had?
• Hardware Société (Melbourne): was super excited to try this place and it didn’t disappoint. The croque madame was to die for.

drinks

All the fun bars, cute coffee shops, etc!

• Marlborough wine…: We drank a lottt of wine in Marlborough (duh). full recap on my Marlborough post here.
• The Church pub (Christchurch): it’s exactly what it sounds like – a bar built in an old church. many of the churches in Christchurch were severely damaged in the 2010-2011 earthquakes, but this one was able to stay standing. super cool, lively place for pre-dinner drinks.
• Coffee Culture (Christchurch): really liked this little cafe, reminded me a lot of WatchHouse in London!
• OMO (Melbourne): a unique, japanese cafe in Melbourne CBD. good coffee!!
• Code Black Coffee (Melbourne): a cool coffee shop in Melb – latte was great, did not like the flavored cold brew lol.
• Middle Park Hotel (Melbourne): ended up at this bar after our day at the F1 race. It was very crowded (in a good way) and fun!
• Kicks (melbourne): watched the F1 race on Sunday here. cool sports bar!

stay tuned for part seven <3

More week in my life content to come! if you have comments or questions, please let me know below.