1. WilliamsTown
On the first day after our flight, most of us were really tired so we decided to have a chill aftertoon out of Melbourne CBD. Williamstown was one of our options since we could get to take the ferry ride from the city at Southbank Promenade down to the Yarra river. The Melbourne River Cruises ferry ride was a tad expensive though (AUD$29 for adults) but they have a family package as well!
Confession: We went to Williamstown mainly for the Fish N Chips!! We had really good recommendations for this stall – Off The Pier, Fish and Chippery – but the weather wasn’t exactly in the best of mood and they didn’t have any indoor seats for their customers.
It started to rain and got really cold so we settled for another indoor Fish N Chips restaurant, Williamstown Mussels, to hide from the strong winds.
Guess what? After eating our fills with a huge family combo, we went back to try Off The Pier because we couldn’t leave without getting a bite of “the best Fish and Chips” 😛
And boy did it not let us down!! We got it without the chips because we had so much chips in the previous restaurant. The fish batter was crisp on the outside and the fish was so fresh and tender on the inside. It was so much better than the one in Williamstown Mussels. Prawns were 10/10 amazing too but if I’m not wrong they cost AUD$2.50 per piece. One thing about Australia though – they do not have chilli sauce. So fellow asians, please take note haha.
Williamstown was a really tranquil and peaceful town, but it was a little quiet and isolated – like a seaside village. There wasn’t really much to see except a few quaint shops and cafes.
The scenery was good though, thank God the weather cleared up so we could see the clear, blue skies 😀
2. Direct Factory Outlets (DFO) @ South Wharf
The ferry then came to pick us up and we requested for them to drop us near the Direct Factory Outlets (DFO) at South Wharf!
The rest of our day was pretty much spent shopping. DFO South Warf (20 Convention Centre Place, South Wharf VIC 3006, Australia) is one of the best shopping outlets in Melbourne. There is also free wifi in the basement food court for those taking a break from shopping!
I was right there last year as well! They have a huge collection of discounted clothes and shoes from a wide variety of both Australian and International sports and fashion brands! (Adidas, Nike, Converse, New Balance, Nine West, Dr.Martens, UGG, Michael Kors, The London Rebel, Calvin Klein, etc.) I got a pair of Nikes there, shoes are pretty cheap in Australia for some reason. Unfortunately, the shops in Australia close quite early (DFO closes at 6pm) so we didn’t really had much time to shop. I also met up with my brother for a short while before he had to run off to study for his exams.
And that was it! Most updates will be here soon 🙂
For more things to do in Melbourne, read here, here, or watch my travel video here!