Travel Guides: Melbourne & Phillip Island (Channel 9 Wednesday 14 June 2023)

Travel Guides: Melbourne & Phillip Island airs Wednesday 14 June 2023 on Channel 9.

Our Guide Leaders will be spending a week in Victoria’s hip capital, Melbourne, with a brief stopover on Phillip Island.

Our Guides begin their day by hopping a free ride on the famous green City Circle tram before settling into their high-rise lodgings at the Avani Melbourne Central Residences.

The Guides, now fully rested, drop by the National Tennis Centre, site of the southern hemisphere’s most prestigious sporting event—the Australian Open—for a quick celebration. Wheelchair tennis against some real champions is in order after a trip to the Tennis Lab reveals just how bad some of our players really are. Despite the unpredictability of Melbourne’s weather, the Guides participate in a wet training session of the Australian Open Ball Kid Programme.

The Guides have worked up an appetite and are ready to put Melbourne’s claim to being Australia’s foodie capital to the test, so they head straight to Lune Croissanterie in hip Fitzroy first thing in the morning to try the best croissant in the world, according to the reviews.

Market Lane Coffee in South Yarra, Melbourne, hosts a coffee appreciation class that is the perfect complement to a pastry. On the other hand, not everybody loves the coffee cupping.

To round out their culinary trifecta, our Guides get dolled up and head to the 55th floor of the posh Rialto Building to dine at Vue De Monde, widely considered to be among the finest restaurants in the country. The Guides are shocked by the price of the most incredible meal of their lives, a 14-course degustation that starts at $350 per person.

In preparation for Melbourne’s annual International Comedy Festival, our Guides are going to The Rubber Chicken in South Melbourne to learn the art of stand-up comedy. The group is in good spirits until they learn they will be presenting their act to a paying customer.

Even though some people might not see crafternoons as a fun way to unwind, making things is a popular pastime among Melbourne’s hipsters. Some of our Guides impress with their ingenuity when it comes to macramé or jewellery making, while others just can’t seem to untangle themselves.

A sausage making class with Melbourne’s renowned Sausage Queen will have thrill seekers pumping out metres of their own customised meaty bangers.

Our Guides put their vacation into high gear by jetting two hours south to Phillip Island, home to one of the world’s best motorsports tracks, where they can let the tyres rip.

Some people get fast and others get furious during their high-speed performance driving course at The BMW Experience. And for those who can’t get enough of going fast, being given the keys to a car and told to “fang it around the track at up to 220 km/hr” is a dream come true.

At the end of each week, our Guides make their way to Phillip Island’s most endearing tourist destination: the nightly Little Penguin parade. Some of the Guides have come to appreciate the benefits of staying close to home after witnessing the incredible natural spectacle of the Little Penguins’ nightly return to their burrows.

Travel Guides: Melbourne & Phillip Island airs Wednesday 14 June 2023 at 7.30pm on Channel 9

Featured Image Credit: Channel 9