The beach in Melbourne is a bit different from what I'm used to at the Jersey Shore. A 30 minute tram ride from campus and I'm walking with my toes in the sand.
There is no typical boardwalk, but there is a long street with tons of shops, restaurants, bars, and hotels. The scene here is rather punk/techno, and although I cannot categorize myself as either of those things, I fit in just fine. I've already visited the beach twice...once on a rainy day and once when the sun was shining brightly! The first visit, a bunch of us ate at this super cute cafe for brunch. After we were stuffed from eating real food (I had truffle mushroom/avocado/goat cheese bruschetta) we walked down a bit only to find three bakeries with the best looking desserts I have ever seen! Each display case was different, and choosing which shop to buy from was one of the biggest challenges I've faced since being in Melbourne. Knowing in the back on my mind that I would most definitely be back in the near future, we picked the bakery with the "best vanilla slice in Melbourne." Who could turn that down? Vanilla slice is a lot like a canoli cake...if you've ever had that. Or just thick, sweet vanilla custard sandwiched between flakey pastry layers. YUM! This street, has now been nicknamed "Cake Street."
We then walked down towards the sand, past Luna Park, an old amusement park which was under construction, a really cool vegetarian garden, and some cool vintage theaters. It was now drizzling, cloudy, and windy but still the beach was absolutely beautiful!
A few weeks later, when the weather was in the upper 60s, we decided to go back again to St. Kildas. We were all craving frozen yogurt and gelato...so the first stop of course was to curb our sweet tooth. On the sand, on of my crazy friends decided to go in the water...yes it was warm out, but the water was still freezing. I didn't even take my boots off. I searched for beach glass and sea shells while taking photos of my crazy friends and dogs as they ran by.
Melbourne right now is at the tail end of winter, but the weather is warming up beautifully! I can only imagine how crowded the beach will be in October/November!