Tips to Travel Worry-Free in Melbourne

Hey, friend!

Busy planning for your trip to Melbourne and you have no idea where to start? Here is the place for you! Melbourne is an amazing place and I totally get your excitement buddy! It is very important to get yourself ready before the trip. I did struggle with some issues before departing for Melbourne.

Hereby, I have compiled a few useful points, including tips to save some pocket money based on my personal experience that you need to take note of in order to have a pleasant journey.

(If you would like to know more about what to do and eat in Melbourne, CLICK HERE for my another blog post!)

1. Electronic Travel Authority (ETA)

An Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) grants you the authorisation to travel and enter Australia. It allows you to stay up to 3 months every time you enter Australia and it can lasts for 12 months. It is very important that you apply it EARLIER as you won't know whether your application will be rejected or not. Trust me, these kind of things happen.

Unfortunately, it happened to my boyfriend where his application was rejected. (Mine was approved within one day.) Thank God we applied one month before because once the application is rejected, you need to prepare and submit all the required documents to the embassy. The processing time can take up to two weeks. The embassy replied my boyfriend on the 14th day after the submission of documents. The most torturing part was having to wait! We even witnessed people not being able to board the plane to Melbourne in the airport due to the rejected application.

Thanks to my friend, Farhan, who helped us throughout the process of application. He even recommended us a cheaper alternative to apply ETA. You might need to pay AUD$20.00 to apply it through the official website. As we applied it through eta.australia@yahoo.com, it took us only RM20.00 per passport for the application and an additional of RM10.00 per passport for the rejected application. It was so much CHEAPER!

Just send an email to this email address and mention that you want to apply ETA. Soon, you will receive a reply asking for relevant details. Submit your details and wait for the result. Good luck for your application!

2. Booking Day Tours

This was how we saved most of our money! As some tourist spots are quite far from Melbourne CBD, it is impossible to reach there by means of public transportation. You can either drive a car or follow the day tours. As we didn't rent a car back in Melbourne, we followed the day tours to the Great Ocean Road, Grampians National Park and Philip Island.

Day tours can be booked through Klook and KKday even before you go to Melbourne. You can download the mobile apps and book the day tours through them. Remember to key in the promo code before your payment if you have one to enjoy available discounts. Keep in mind that each promo code is only valid for a certain period of time. You can save a lot as the offered prices are often cheaper than the original prices. 

Note: You can look for the valid promo codes online from time to time. 

For KKday, the promo code that I used was KKONEFM (will probably be valid till 31st December 2018).

And as for Klook, it was MOBILE10 and KLKCNSGD.

We not only purchased the day tours, but also bought our entry tickets from these two apps. For example, the ticket price of the Puffing Billy Railway for the return journey is AUD$59.00 (approximately RM177.00) per person. The price in Klook back then was already RM153.00 even before discount. As we used the promo code during 11th November, we bought it at an even cheaper price which is only RM136.20 per ticket. In total, we'd managed to save a total of RM40.80 per person!

3. Incoming Passenger Card

While you are on the plane to Melbourne, you are required to fill in the incoming passenger card. The card will be distributed by the flight attendants. I've attached an example of the card below.

 

Hereby, you will need to declare the items that you have brought to Australia. As for me, I was having a bad cough during my trip to Melbourne. I did put a "cross" at Question 1 as I was taking a stripe of cough tablets with me. At the customs clearance point, I showed it to the customs officers and fortunate enough, he let me pass.

So, don't forget to declare everything you are carrying. Best of all, just avoid bringing the ones mentioned in the card.

4. Myki Card

You will need a Myki Card if you rely a lot on public transportation in Melbourne. Myki Card can be bought at convenient stores like 7-eleven. As for us, we bought the cards at the airport after landing in Melbourne. We paid AUD$15 to buy a Myki card with AUD$9 credit ready to be used in it. By having the card, you are ready to travel using trains, trams or buses in Melbourne.

You can top up your Myki card and check its balance at the Myki machine.

The first journey of the day will create a 2-hour fare (AUD$4.30). A daily cap applies when you travel after 2-hour fare expires. A daily cap is the maximum amount you will have to pay for unlimited journeys within a day. On weekdays, the daily cap is AUD$8.60. During weekend or public holiday, one will not have to pay more than AUD$6.30 per day. These amount are only applicable in Zone 1+2.

5. Public Tansport Victoria (PTV) Mobile App

Other than the Myki Card, the Public Transport Victoria (PTV) mobile app is also essential for people traveling with public transportation. It will provide you with information on the zone, platform number, departure and arrival time, travel duration as well as the subsequent service of the train/tram. You can plan your schedule ahead by checking the app. It will even inform you the alternative route to get to your destination if there is no train service at your current station. 

However, there are some differences about the train service in Melbourne as compared to the one in Malaysia. The destinations for each train line are not fixed. For instance, I needed to travel from Kensington Station to Southern Cross Station during my trip. I could travel all the way by using only a train line but there were also times where I needed to stop at certain station and change to another train line to get to Southern Cross Station. So, it is good to have the PTV app in your mobile in order to keep yourself updated with the train schedule.

6. Weather

I love everything about Melbourne except the weather!! It was spring when we were in Melbourne. I expected the weather to be slightly cooler than summer. Other than the first two and last days, we experienced rainy days. It was so freaking cold that I had to wear two layers of outerwear. Yet, they didn't help much. So, just in case, do bring extra outerwear and umbrella along if you plan to have a long day outside.

We also experienced the drastic change in temperature during our first two and last day. It was cold during the morning where we needed to wear our jackets to keep ourselves warm. Unexpectedly, the weather then started to turn hot in the afternoon and as the night approches, the temperature dropped again.

As Australia experiences a high level of UV radiation, it is important to apply sufficient sunscreen before heading out for the day.

7. Souvenirs/Shopping

We had been searching for relatively cheap souvenirs back in Melbourne as those being sold at some famous tourist spots were quite expensive. (Especially when the currency rate of Malaysia is low.) Queen Victoria Market is a great place for souvenir shopping. The prices of the key chains (AUD$5 for 12) and magnets (AUD$10 for 5) in QVM were the cheapest among those we surveyed. The cheapest stall we managed to come across was a stall located near The Nut Guys (not sure whether they move their stalls around). 

Before we found out the good deal in QVM, we had already bought some souvenirs at Swanston Street where the prices were slightly higher than those in QVM. 

If you're looking for supplements, you definitely don't wanna miss the Chemist Warehouse! The supplements there were really cheap. 100 capsules of 150mg CoQ10 for only AUD$14.99 (approximately RM45)?!

Not only supplements, we also found out that the skin care products and perfumes were very affordable as well. You can save a lot while making your loved ones happy by getting them one of as souvenirs. How awesome is that? :D

It is quite inevitable that you might need to do some grocery shopping when you are in Melbourne. I guess you won't want to spend so much at things like bread, sandwiches, drinks and so forth. Therefore, Coles and Woolworths are the places to go. 

I had the most expensive sandwich in my life from a random shop back in Melbourne at AUD$5.50 (approximately RM16.50). It was nothing special but just a very simple sandwich. I thought it was normal at first until we visited Coles. The sandwiches there were only AUD$2-3. 

You can also bring back certain items from Coles and Woolworths as souvenirs. We bought this hot chocolate flakes from Woolworths as it was recommended by other vloggers. You can also try their local snacks and chips out.

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So, that's the end of the blog. I hope that you will find this post helpful for your upcoming trip. Wishing you a wonderful journey and I believe you will fall in love with Melbourne too. See ya soon!