In Australia, Melbourne is Where You Will Find Action and Adventure

On a midwinter evening in June, I find myself snapping photos of gloriously down-and-dirty murals in AC/DC Lane. Named after Australia’s best-known rock band, it’s a must-see mainstay of Melbourne’s thriving street art scene, featuring tributes to AC/DC guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young, Cyndi Lauper, and Judas Priest, among others. For anyone who loves to rock, the adrenaline surge is real.

Afterwards, a brisk half-hour walk across the city of 5.3 million’s buzzing downtown core brings me to the 2025-opened 1 Hotel Melbourne in the Docklands. Facing the Skyline Melbourne ferris wheel across the broad Yarra River, the five-star, greenery-laden hotel is a revitalizing refuge. I hit the rowing machine in front of the gym’s plant wall, enjoy a refreshing rain shower in my spacious, earth-toned suite, and refuel with wood-roasted aurum cockerel, marlin crudo, and fried Timbarra Brussels sprouts at From Here by Mike, the chic on-site restaurant.

These are seemingly disparate experiences, but whatever you do in Australia’s second-largest city, an air of excitement prevails, befitting its heritage as a 19th-century Gold Rush boomtown. Canadian visitors may detect echoes of familiar domestic destinations, from Vancouver’s gleaming glass towers to Toronto’s lively theatre district. But just when you’re getting a little too comfortable in the capital of the state of Victoria, colourful pure-Aussie encounters remind you that you’re definitely Down Under.

Case in point: my visit to the Ian Potter Centre: NGV (National Gallery of Victoria) Australia in Federation Square. This landmark art gallery houses more than 25,000 pieces of Australian artwork. Contemporary works illustrating the historical privations and perseverance of Australia’s Aboriginal population are thought-provoking and haunting. Julie Dowling’s The Invincibles (2004) portrays a team of Aboriginal cricket players from a 19th-century Benedictine mission school, ready to compete with strength despite longstanding efforts to assimilate and erase their millennia-spanning culture.

Just across Princes Bridge on St. Kilda Road, I discover more artistic marvels at the NGV International. In addition to great paintings by Picasso, Renoir, and El Greco, Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s Dancing Pumpkin (2020), which dominates the central atrium, bizarrely evokes a gigantic leopard-spotted spider. In a true big-city flex, both NGV locations offer free entry. And Melbourne’s free downtown trams and grid system make it ultra-easy to reach attractions like these on foot.

I investigate Victoria’s darker history at the State Library – specifically, the legend of outlaw Ned Kelly, who has been portrayed by both Mick Jagger and Heath Ledger in films. In 1880, the Kelly gang ambushed a train in Glenrowan – about 240 kilometres from Melbourne – while wearing homemade iron armor. The 25-year-old Kelly was captured and executed. The library displays his armor to this day, and schoolchildren murmur in awe as they cluster around the glass cabinet.

The monstrous Old Melbourne Gaol lures fans of prison movies with its grim, chilly ambience. It operated from 1842 to 1929. Exhibits in narrow cells include an 1875 “silence mask” (a sinister white hood worn by prisoners in solitary confinement to isolate them further), biographies of criminals like the notorious poisoner Martha Needle, and documentation on the ghastly popularity of public hangings in 19th-century Australia. In 1842, a crowd of 7,000 showed up to watch the execution of three bush rangers.

Today’s Melbourne offers less lethal and more welcoming ways to let off steam. A classic example is the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), the 100,000-capacity primary home of four Aussie rules football clubs.

Melbourne, which hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics, is certifiably sports-mad. Via Melbourne Sports Tours, I score a pitch-level seat at a game between the AFL’s Carlton Blues and North Melbourne Kangaroos. I tuck into a meat pie and quaff lager in the sunshine while admiring ferocious tackles and nifty kicks on the 160-metre by 141-metre pitch.

Guide Tamara Roder opines knowledgeably on subjects like Roos coach Alastair Clarkson’s brilliance and the AFL’s catchiest fight songs (Harry James Angus’s “The Big Big Sound,” written for the Greater Western Sydney Giants. is a top contender). Around me, bellows of “Finish it off, son!” and “Grass him!” juxtapose with lively discussions about whether Carlton star Tom de Koning is hotter than his younger brother Sam.

The surrounding sports precinct also boasts the Rod Laver Arena, a mecca for tennis lovers as the Australian Open’s main venue. Meanwhile, over at Docklands, curious Canadian hockey fans can check out the O’Brien Icehouse. The Melbourne Mustangs and Melbourne Ice play semi-pro hockey here, including a handful of ex-NHLers like David Booth.

Perhaps all this vigorous sports action jacks up my appetite, as I dig into Melbourne’s diverse and mouthwatering dining scene. At Maison Batard, I start with a refreshing, ice-laden Parisian Pearl cocktail (gin, cucumber, pear, lime, mint, jasmine) before downing a medium-rare bavette steak with puy lentils and sauce verte, accompanied by ratatouille with seasonal vegetables. This three-level French restaurant – the latest addition to food entrepreneur Chris Lucas’s portfolio – offers vintage formal dining set to pulsating lounge music for a hip younger crowd.

A visit to the teeming, 1867-founded South Melbourne Market with Flavourhood Tours highlights Australia’s limitless bounty. “I wanted people to come and try local food and experiences instead of just sticking to the touristy options,” explains Chief Eating Officer Raffaela Ceddia. At Aptus Seafood, I inhale Tasmanian salmon and kingfish sashimi, along with freshly harvested Coffin Bay oysters. K-sein Fromagerie specializes in small batches of farmhouse cheese, including the ultra-creamy Riverine Blue buffalo milk cheese (my favourite sample). Agathé Pâtisserie’s green pandan croissants must be seen and tasted to be believed.

For a world-class caffeine boost, the nearby St. Ali Coffee Roasters – which marked its 20th anniversary in 2025 – offers unique concoctions like the Magic (a double ristretto with steamed milk) and Blueberry Lemon Pie (a dessert-worthy iced coffee integrating blueberry puree and lemon syrup).

And for calorie-burning set to music, I have no shortage of options. Whether it’s rocking out to the Australian surf rock band Skegss at the 1929-built Forum Melbourne – whose interior decor simulates Greco-Roman columns under a night sky – or dancing at the four-level HER Melbourne nightclub to remixes of Corona’s “The Rhythm of the Night” and Miley Cyrus’s “Flowers,” the good vibes never stop.

To amp up the action, a driving excursion on the Great Ocean Road is the perfect sidebar. Curving west along the southern coast, this spectacular 241-kilometre route was built by Australian soldiers returning from World War I, and nowadays attracts some 7 million visitors a year. The Great Ocean Road can be a one-day trip, returning to Melbourne at night, or a separate adventure running up to four days. From beaches and horse rides to wineries and chocolate shops, there are many reasons to pull over.

The waterfront Apollo Bay Seafood Cafe is a beautiful spot to lunch on a platter with fresh-caught flathead and chips, seared scallops, calamari, and thick-cut fries, washed down with Australian-made Bundaberg Ginger Beer. Next, I’m psyched to explore the nearby Wildlife Wonders refuge with a veteran biologist specializing in marsupials. On this 32-acre coastal site, where animals roam freely, I spot shy pademelons nestling amid ferns and Eastern grey kangaroos hopping through the tall grass. A group of baby female emus chase after their father, while koalas chew lazily on eucalyptus leaves high above in the forest canopy.

The Great Ocean Road’s peak thrill is viewing the surreal 12 Apostles limestone stacks – standing up to 45 metres tall – by helicopter at sunset. Blazing orange-purple rays make the giant rock formations look even more majestic during my 16-minute flight. The pilot calmly points out landmarks like the half-collapsed “London Bridge” and the secluded site of a penguin colony. It is as epic as a scene from Star Wars or Indiana Jones, but it is uniquely Australian, and it has me fired up to come back for more.

MORE ABOUT MELBOURNE

Visit Melbourne: Click here

Getting There: Air New Zealand flies from Vancouver to Auckland (approximately 13 hours) and Auckland to Melbourne (four hours). Alternatively, Air Canada offers direct service from Vancouver to both Sydney and Brisbane, with a flying time of approximately 15 hours. The connection to Melbourne takes another two and a half hours. For travelling to or transiting through Australia or New Zealand, an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) is required. Each country offers an app to complete your ETA application.

Where to Stay: The four-star Rydges Melbourne provides easy access to the theatre district, as well as Carlton Gardens landmarks like the Royal Exhibition Building and Melbourne Museum. The hearty breakfast buffet and 24th-floor open-air heated swimming pool are standout creature comforts. On an extended Great Ocean Road trip, the Deep Blue Hotel & Hot Springs beckons in the coastal town of Warrnambool. Spa aficionados can luxuriate in hot tubs with natural geothermal waters and illuminated grottos, take invigorating cold plunges, and bunk down in sleek white rooms.

Where to Eat: For sumptuous seafood dishes like baked barramundi filet with organic vegetables, Claypots Evening Star at the South Melbourne Market is a go-to, featuring quirky menus at a bustling corner location. Trendy, edgy Flinders Lane is home to the 2020-founded Gimlet, where dishes like Gippsland beef tenderloin and sugarloaf cabbage with pine nut gremolata grace the menu.

Vacay.ca contributor Lucas Aykroyd travelled as a guest of Visit Victoria. No organization or business reviewed the article prior to its publication.