If anyone could use a Gift Box, it’s Melbourne
Melbourne we feel you!
If we could package up the perfect assortment of items to deliver to our (just out of lock down) friends in Melbourne what would it be?
What treats and treasures would go into the perfect Gift Box for a Melbourne local to make them smile and help celebrate their great resilience? Over the course of Covid-19, we’ve had loads of requests for Gift Boxes delivered to Melbourne residents. Does anyone else feel like that little southeast section of our country has been in the naughty corner?
Curfews, restrictions on how far you can travel, no visitors, limits on how long you can be out of your house for... Melbs, we’re so impressed with you, talk about being champions of the country to endure lockdown like those of us in other states can’t even imagine.
While we have been packing all those gift boxes for your friends in Melbourne, we’ve been reminiscing about some of our favourite things to do when we visit Victoria’s beating heart – Melbourne.
These are our top ten favourite things to do in Melbourne (and boy, do we hope we can do them all, and more, again one day soon).
1) See a live show
In Melbourne CBD we love the Princess Theatre for her stunning architecture and intimate live show-watching experience. We’ve heard that Harry Potter and The Cursed Child performance is absolutely ahhhh-mazing! Nothing beats immersing yourself in a live show in a phenomenal building.
2) The Australian Open
We are big tennis fans and come January we’re usually putting beautiful gift boxes together with Raffa, Fed, Williams or Osaka hitting it out on the TV in the background. Some of those five-setters have entertained us, long after we’ve closed the lid on the last gift box. Once, we were able to make it over to Victoria to see the tennis live at Melbourne Park and it was an incredible experience. Damn they do the Australian Open well (actually, Victorians do sport pretty well in general). Melbs, we hope you can put on another mind-blowing Aussie Open again soon.
3) Bourke Street Mall
We love a good shop and Bourke Street is our go to for big-brand shopping, busker watching and some exploring down the gorgeous little laneways.
4) Footy at the MCG
Okay, so us West Aussies aren’t quite as fanatical as the Victorians about the AFL, but it’s hard not to be impressed by the sheer size of the MCG (it can fit about 40,000 more people than our Perth Stadium) and when y’all start cheering for your team, it’s hard not to feel intimidated (but whilst we’re safe here in blog land… Freo, way to go!). Kudos to Brisbane for a fantastic effort in hosting the AFL Grand final this year. Impressive caretaker of the GF effort.
5) Drink coffee
Okay, so we definitely don’t want to upset our local coffee haunt [oh hello: {insert name}] but we can’t deny it: Melbourne does indeed serve up some of the best coffee in the world. Is it because the weather is a wee bit cooler? Or does excitement of the city just somehow swirl its way in our lattes? Whatever it is, the bearded-hipster baristas of Melbourne know how to make damn good coffee. No wonder its talked about the world over.
6) Street art
Last time we visited Melbourne we loved exploring the grungy laneways and wowing over the spectacular street art. Melbourne City Council deserves a good old pat on the back for embracing street art and allowing budding artists to practice their talent (and I mean, give tourists and local alike the chance to see art for free!).
7) St Kila Beach
Okay, this is a toughie, because whilst you Victorians are getting top marks for your sport, your coffee and your street art, us WA-ers pretty proud of our beaches (I mean have you been to Cottlesloe or Cable beach?)
But, St Kilda beach definitely has a vibe that is note-worthy, and given that we are big fans of The Block, – Go Luke and Jas - we’re pretty jelly that you have are home to quite a few Block builds… the Oslo, The Gatwick and the 2020 houses not too far away in Brighton. The Block is also a show that often keeps us company whilst we are packing gift boxes… We love Scotty!
8) Eat
Not only are we fanatical about building beautiful gift boxes for you to send to your family and friends, we’re also pretty fanatical about food. We drool over hot delicious Gozelme and can't resist a good pastry #zerowillpower.
When we last visited multicultural Melbourne, it definitely did not disappoint. From brunch to after dinner bevvies, we would quite happily eat our way around Melbourne. Sending by love to all of the Melbourne cafes that had to close their doors. We hope you are back on your feet soon with full tables indoors and out! And hell if Chin Chin would deliver to WA (which they don’t BTW) we’d be on that like tinsel on a Christmas tree.
9) Queen Victoria Market
One of the reasons we started Little Shop of Happiness was because we loved putting together hampers filled with unique gifts and giving them to people to make them smile. When we visited the Queen Victoria Market it felt as though we are making our way through a human sized gift box!
Queen Victoria Market has such an exciting collection of stalls from artists and designers, florists, homewares and fresh produce and gourmet food.
10) State Library
This was a bit of a (beautiful) shock. A friend we were travelling with suggested we visit the State Library, and TBH we were a little unsure. I mean, a library is a library, right? Rows of books, lots of intellectual-looking people, a bunch of computers we don’t know how to work? Wowsers - We. Were. Wrong.
The Dome Reading Room at the State Library is absolutely mind-blowingly-beautiful and nothing like the libraries we had in mind (although, there were plenty of books and intellectual looking people and computers we wouldn’t know how to use…but the jaw dropping backdrop made that all seem insignificant).
Melbs, we haven’t forgotten you. From the West side of the country we are sending you big hugs and good vibes. Clearly our customers are too as we’ve sent lots of filled-to-the-brim Little Boxes of Happiness to Melbournians over the last few months.
We hope they made you smile. See you soon Melbourne (fingers crossed).
If you have a friend in Melbourne that you'd like to send some happiness in a box, check out our brightly coloured and jam packed gift boxes.
Bonus! A not-so-little landmark we didn't mention but loved exploring on our last visit was Federation Square. Some say its the hub of Melbourne and any visit to the fine city you'll be sure to spend some time here.
