Many years ago, long before I could have even pointed out lutruwita/Tasmania on a world map, my friend A moved from the UK to Australia.

I thought she was extremely brave, making a life for herself on the other side of the world, and I was very proud – if a bit sad that our close friendship would be reduced to an occasional, often glitchy Skype call.

(This was long before the days when we all became Zoom experts!)

More than a decade on, A remains in Melbourne, and I’ve ended up in Hobart, so we are now just an hour’s easy flight from each other. The responsibilities of work and family mean that we don’t live in each other’s pockets… but every couple of years one or the other of us makes the trip.

This year, it was my turn!

Melbourne is a fabulous city. I prefer not to stay in the CBD because I find it a bit too loud and peopley, so on this visit I returned to the same hotel in South Yarra where I stayed on my last visit.

It’s right on Chapel Street, with a tram that goes past the door and the train a few minutes’ walk away. There’s a Woolies right across the road for picking up some bits and pieces (old habits die hard, so even without DorkySon I now keep fruit, yoghurt and muesli bars in the room and avoid paying extortionate minibar prices), and loads of great spots nearby for coffee and dinner.

On my first night in the big city, A drove up to South Yarra and we went for dinner at Lona Misa – an incredible plant-based restaurant by Chef Shannon Martinez that serves up Latin American inspired dishes. We tucked into flatbreads, dips and croquettes, which were all super tasty and a great way to kick off the visit.

The following day, we agreed to meet in the CBD at noon, which gave me the morning to kick around myself. I seem to have lost the ability to sleep in late, even when there’s nothing I’m required to do, so I was awake at 6.30 and sorted out a snack breakfast in the room before heading out walking.

And then walking a bit more…

And then walking just a little bit more.

By 11am my step count for the day was already at 15,000.

I’m glad not to live in a city as big as Melbourne – Slowbart is much more my vibe – but the novelty factor of travelling alone for a few days was high, and I really enjoyed the opportunity to take photos, poke around op shops, and explore new streets without any time pressure.

I started with a walk down Chapel Street as far as Windsor Station, stopping off for a mooch around Prahran Market and great flat white at Market Lane Coffee (sadly they didn’t have the delicious little caramel doodad they were serving up last time I was there!).

I was back in the hotel at 9ish to reapply sunscreen and refill my drink bottle, and then walked from South Yarra into the city along the Birrarung/Yarra River. It was really pretty and a nice way to see the city from a different perspective. The paths are very well used and I barely went 50 metres without passing a dog walker, runner, or cyclist.

I reached the city centre more quickly than I’d been expecting and still had an hour or so to kill, so I had a wander around the Southbank, where the Christmas decorations were being pulled down, then a stroll through Alexandra Gardens and gardens and past the NGV, where the trees were kitted out in polka dots to mark the Yayoi Kusama exhibition. The Portuguese food van outside the gallery was selling pasteis de nata – a great opportunity for the first snack of the day.

Finally, it was time to meet A, and we headed to the Outsiders exhibition – the largest private collection of street art in Australia, including a whole room full of Banksy. Remarkably it’s free, and ideally placed at the end of Hosier Lane to catch all the visitors who flock to Melbourne’s painted laneways.

I was super chuffed to recognise one of the artists – Herakut – as one whose work I’d seen before, all the way across the world in Portsmouth, New Hampshire!

After our dose of culture, A and I went for lunch at Trinket Bar, a very cute spot with a speakeasy hidden behind a Narnia style wardrobe. Then it was over to the NBA store to track down a Charlotte Hornets t-shirt for DorkySon. He has a real talent for picking sports teams that are almost entirely unsupported in Australia – which makes it very hard to find merch – but fortunately they came up with the goods.

By this stage my step count was up to 25,000 and I was definitely flagging, so we finished our afternoon with a drink down by the river – somehow snagging an unoccupied table in the shade – and then made our way home. A to feed two kids, and me to the luxury of a cool, quiet hotel room.

After a couple of hours reading and uploading a frankly obscene number of Instagram photos, I popped over the road to Sam’s Cali Cantina – where a delicious lime cheesecake just about compensated for some very bland fish tacos and guac.

By 7.30pm I was in bed with a book and a cup of tea made with teabags brought from home, because 41 is apparently the age I turn full on nana, and then it was off to sleep… slightly nervous about the 38-degree forecast for the following day.

Guess who was awake at 6.30am again… and decided that one massive day of walking wasn’t enough. I decided to get out and about before it was too hot, and strolled along the river again with a coffee, making it into the CBD well before 8am. The walk was just as pretty second time round, although my pace was noticeably slower.

I took advantage of the lack of tourist crowds to have a closer look at some of the laneway artwork – trying to ignore the scurrying rodents and scavenging pigeons who were also enjoying the quiet time. When I hit Russell Street, I discovered that it wasn’t actually quiet because everyone was still in bed; it was quiet because they were all queuing around the block for a croissant from Lune.

Not being one to wait an hour in line for food, I headed instead to Bowery to Williamsburg and grabbed a bagel. By that stage my hips were telling me that we had pounded quite enough pavements for one trip, so I hopped on the train back to South Yarra, had a quick refresh in the hotel room, and then back on the train again to A’s part of the city.

There’s something really lovely about seeing friends pass through different life stages. When I had DorkySon I was one of the very first in my friendship group to marry and have a child. It’s a testament to the patience and generosity of my friends that they cheerfully endured the stage when all I could think about was nappies and breastfeeding – while they were all still focused on careers and clubbing.

Now many of those same friends, including A, are doing the hard yards of early motherhood – exhausted and thinly spread but still smiling – while I am almost out the other side with an increasingly independent teenager. Heading off for a weekend and leaving DorkySon and DorkyDad at home requires none of the planning and preparation that it used to.

And so, my final day in Melbourne was spent mainly sitting on the floor of their lovely house in suburbia – drawing mermaids and supervising sticker book activities with a delightful four-year-old, practicing clapping with the world’s mellowest eight-month-old, and exchanging meal prep recipes and book recommendations with A.

Even if none of the rest of the trip had taken place – the ridiculously good dumplings and bao buns at Miss Chu, the Banksy installations, and the fancy hotel with a lolly station in the lobby – the sweetness of those hours with my friend and her young family would have been worth every penny of the airfare.

We continue to build and strengthen our 30-year friendship with every trip. Even as interests, activities, relationships and even continents change, there is no substitute for time with someone who has known you so long that you can laugh about comparing notes on your first plastic NHS glasses frames in Primary 5.

We have exchanged concerts for car seats, and clubbing for home-cooked cannelloni – but how lucky and how grateful we are to be just an hour apart, 15,000 kilometres from where that friendship started.

See you in Hobart soon, A. Thanks for a lovely time xx