Melbourne is the perfect gateway for your Aussie adventure – and the easiest way of getting there is with Singapore Airlines. On this multi-award-winning airline, known for its impeccable service standards, even economy class feels luxurious, with roomy seats that feature adjustable headrests, a delicious selection of Asian and international dishes, and a cutting-edge on-demand entertainment system with all the latest movie releases.
Fly with Singapore Airlines from London Heathrow or Manchester to Melbourne and it’s a fast transit through Singapore’s Changi International airport, widely regarded as the world’s best airport. Spend your connection time by enjoying a blockbuster movie at the 24-hour cinemas at Terminals 2 and 3, free gaming at the Entertainment Deck at Terminal 2, or free surfing at any of the 550 internet kiosks across the three terminals.
If you fancy something a little more tranquil, relax in one of the airport’s five famed gardens – the cactus garden at Terminal 1; the enchanted, orchid and sunflower gardens at Terminal 2; and the world’s first airport butterfly garden at Terminal 3.
If your transit is over five hours, why not take the free Singapore tour? The two-hour coach ride packs in the most exciting sights in this city-state including Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade, Chinatown and Little India and, of course, the half-lion, half-fish Merlion statue on Marina Bay which has become Singapore’s national emblem. Alternatively, you could really get under the skin of this tropical, multicultural city, and stay for a day or two before enjoying a leisurely seven-hour flight to Melbourne.
Australia’s cultural capital
With its stately 19th-century architecture, 100-plus art galleries and bulging events calendar, Melbourne can lay claim to the title of Australia’s cultural capital. But it is also a city that looks outwards, to a dramatic coastline, epic beaches and ancient forests.
And it has a trump card up its sleeve to boot: this is Australia’s coffee capital. Bye bye jetlag. Everyone you ask to point you in the direction of the best flat white will show you somewhere different – with fervour. Perhaps you’ll stumble across Brother Baba Budan, a café favoured by locals and named after the world’s first coffee smuggler where the chairs hang from the roof. Take a caffeine hit here before diving into the Melbourne’s charming Victorian-era Royal Arcade to check out individual fashions in chic boutiques.
As night falls, coffees are exchanged for cocktails, so seek out Melbourne’s secret bars, tucked down its numerous bustling, creative laneways. Sip signature cocktails mixed from tea-infused vodka and homemade raspberry syrup at Horse Bazaar or call in to Terra Rossa where the wine list is well-chosen and features some cracking local Victorian wines.
From Australia’s best beaches to granite mountain ranges and rainforests, Melbourne is truly a city surrounded by nature and natural attractions. A road trip to discover some of them is a must-do for any visit to this city. Melbournians love the great outdoors, and one of their favourites is Wilsons Promontory national park, at the southernmost tip of the Aussie mainland and a 200km drive from the city. Share a campsite at Tidal River with local families enjoying a weekend at “the Prom”, as it’s fondly known, and the abundant crimson rosellas, bright and very cheeky parrots who will try to steal your dinner. Spend your days here hiking to secluded white-sand beaches that look like they’ve never seen a soul and through warm temperate rainforests alive with birds, wallabies, kangaroos and wombats.
West of Melbourne is one of Australia’s – if not the world’s – greatest drives. The Great Ocean Road runs along a coastline that looks like a layer cake someone has taken a series of bites out of. It begins just an hour outside of Melbourne, at the surf city of Torquay, which heralds the start of 243km of meandering tarmac snaking along Victoria’s south coast. Pull over here to get your toes in the sand and your hands on a surfboard. Leave Bells Beach for the pros (it’s home to the oldest professional surfing contest in the world, the Rip Curl Pro, held here since 1961) and head instead to Front Beach, where the waves are kind enough for beginners.
Back in the car, roll down those windows and make your way slowly along the coast. Stop off at Anglesea, where the golf course is the favoured sunbathing spot for a group of kangaroos (easy pickings for the ultimate Aussie holiday snap), before pitching up at Lorne, one of Australia’s few truly sheltered coastal towns and home to a plethora of chic restaurants and bohemian boutiques that have long pulled in Melbournians in search of a weekend retreat.
Lorne’s real attraction, though, is what it sits at the foot of it – the Otway Ranges. Here you can measure yourself against massive tree ferns in the dense rainforest of Melba Gully and leap across rivers on stepping stones to reach thundering waterfalls at Triplet Falls.
The highlight of the Great Ocean Road though is the world-famous 12 Apostles, where the sea flings itself across the beaches and has carved the cliffs into a series of limestone pillars, some almost teetering in the surf. One fell as recently as 2005 and you’ll feel that, if you stood here long enough, another would surely follow.
Getting there
Singapore Airlines has five daily UK departures to Melbourne via Changi airport in Singapore. You can travel straight through so you get to Melbourne in less than 24 hours, or stop off in Singapore for a day or two. Fares from Heathrow and Manchester to Melbourne with Singapore Airlines start from £710. Book online at singaporeair.com and discover what you can look forward to at visitmelbourne.com.
