Australia!!

Hello everyone! I wonder is there anyone from Australia here, particularly Melbourne/ Victoria? Or if you know melbourne inside out, please feel free to give me your input too. I will be going to Melbourne in 2 weeks time. I have been to Victoria twice before but those were many years ago.

My questions are:

What are the tourist spots? Where else can I go apart from below mentions?
I have been to zoo, philip island, yarra river, puffing billy, victoria market... and i can't really remember.

I always like to visit local grocery stores and chemist stores to whichever country i visit. I am interested to check out their ingredients. haha! Any particular grocery stores or chemist stores that are good or preferably to shop around?

Is there any japanese or korean mart around melbourne? Cus would need to get some cooking ingredients to cook for my sis.

Shopping? Australia doesn't have forever 21 right? Any chain store similar to forever 21 in Melbourne apart from cotton on, uniqlo and H&M? I have been to Myer in Chadstone.

What is the best place to shop for cosmetics? I am interested to check out the local drug store brand?

Any Australia brand of cosmetics and skin care that are good that you would recommend apart from Sukin and Moogoo?

What are the things that I should do in Melbourne? Best place to shop for cheaper beauty stuffs?

I hope there will be some reply, that would be truly helpful. I will be there for almost 2 weeks.

Thanks in advance.

For tourist attractions, events thats happening, markets and shopping, etc, check out: http://www.thatsmelbourne.com.au - even the locals use this site.

If you are staying in the Melbourne CBD, you will find a few Korean grocery stores around, the above link should give you the locations, if you do a search. 
Beauty products in Australia are pretty expensive, even some of the drug store ones, compared to Asia and the U.S. But if you are lucky you might catch a bargain at some stores.
 

^ i will look into that link. thank you for replying. i will go around chemist to see what can i shop for. haha!

have a look at botani. its an australian label that offers organic beauty products (like a refined sukin). i use their face cleanser and i find it pretty good. they stock them at priceline.

.

Hi I'm from Melbourne, born and raised here! ^ ^ My answers are my opinion, not sure about others though!
Pretty much all the attractions you have been too are 'tourist hotspots'. Great Ocean Road, the 12 Apostles are places that tourist like to visit but they're a bit far. Luna Park? Crown Casino? Eureka Skydeck? Melbourne CBD is quite nice to stroll around for a day - Emporium is a great place to shop if you are interested. There's also a lot of places to eat and drink - be sure to download Urbanspoon to find places for a good coffee or some brunch. 
Grocery stores: Coles, Safeway, Aldi?Chemists: Chemist Warehouse (best deals), MyChemist, Priceline (everything beauty), Target, Big W, KmartJapanese/ Korean stores: Box Hill, Glen Waverley but generally most Asian grocery stores sell those cooking ingredients There's mostly Cotton On, but there's also H&M, Uniqlo, Topshop and American Apparel 
Priceline is probably the best place for cosmetics. Chemist Warehouse and MyChemist have good deals on skincare products. Australian drugstore brands are Australis, Face of Australia, Saavy, Models Prefer. Personally I like Essence, Maybelline, Covergirl, Revlon etc. but I really like the Australis Fresh and Flawless Powder (dupe for MAC Studio Fix) and also Face of Australia primer (dupe for Napoleon Perdis Auto-Pilot). 
If you have any questions, message me! 

Wow! Thank you everyone for your useful input. I will definitely look into those!! Australia has target? Is that the same as the US' target?

im from australia sydney, for shopping since we dont have forever 21, go to westfield, basically a mall and popular place for shopping, they have tons of shopping outlets for fashion, so you will find similar stores like forever 21 that sell fashionable clothes, trendy clothes etc and some are cheap some are expensive stores. have fun 

^ so, melbourne has westfield too?

^westfield started in australia.

australia target and us target are owned by different parent companies. the only thing they share are the logo and motto. but youll find similar products albeit less in australia.

another organic label you can check out is miessence. they are a little harder to find in stores as they are mostly web based. i use their no scent roll on deodorant which i find works a treat.

I reckon nice things to buy in Melbourne (Australia) are leather goods like bags and shoes.  Great quality.  Of course, ugg boots too (if you're into that).
Forget about buying cosmetics here. I buy from ebay, at least 30% off.

Hi, as I am not particularly from Australia but I go there every year for vacation. There are lots of places to see in Australia like Sydney opera house, Sydney harbour bridge, Port Jackson, Blue mountains, Great barrier reef, Melbourne city centre, Darling harbour, Bondi beach, Royal botanic gardens and many more the list goes on. And if you want to shop then you must shop for dollboxx beachwear collection.

thank you for everyone's input. I will be reaching australia on the 19th's night. If I have any questions again, I will be sure to ask here again. Thank you for your help!!

Hello guys!! I went to airport west and found all the label stores that are mentioned here. I have mainly done shopping only for groceries.

Went to the Korean grocery stores opposite Victoria market and got everything that I need. Kmart is good enough but there is also another Korean mart nearby the area (also opposite Victoria market). Bought macaroons at Victoria market but sadly I left them elsewhere and so I didn't get to eat them. Haha!

Fruits are incredibly cheap too!! Ecstatic to find bubble tea esp gongcha at Swanson street as well and I must say the taste is very very close to those in Taiwan.

Went to priceline and checked the products that are recommended by you guys at here but didn't get anything yet. Haha! I bought a daily $2 prepaid plan from Optus so that I can have data to get me around.

Had great time chocolate shopping at woolworths and Coles. I bought 6 bars of kitkat so far. They are the flavors that we don't have them in my country incl 2 new flavors (mint twirl and chocolate twirl). We don't have kitkat cookie and cream either. Hehe!

Things that I want to get from priceline is VS curling iron. Will model prefer better or Remington?

I have a feeling that I will buy more foods than beauty products. Haha!

^what about ghd instead?

Zantac - where can I get ghd because I went to a few Priceline but didn't see any.

try price attack. they sell salon hair products.

Hi everyone! I am done with my vacation in melbourne. I have really enjoyed it. Sadly, on my last day, thought of quickly go to kt mart to get the things I want but they had an unfortunate incident of fire happened the night before.

Discovered DFO wharf as it's recommended by a new friend I made and she recommended me to go DFO and i did. clothes are really cheap! bought 2 dresses from dotti and 1 skirt from cotton on for only $50. Wanted to buy more but since it's my last day, running low on cash. LOL!

I have been eating magnum like crazy because there are many flavors that we don't have in our country. I really love peppermint magnum. haha! bought a lot of soft gummies and chocolates along the way that worth 6kgs altogether. LOL! Nuts are consider cheaper compare to my country and so I bought 2 kgs worth of different nuts from the Royal nuts company.

korean foods.. I really like the one in the city call oriental spoon. Tobagi in monee pond tastes more like household food than a restaurant. I have enjoyed both. People are friendly too!

I am surprised to see that Melbourne is so diversify in races and nationalities. I don't feel like a stranger there as a result. haha! Oh! One more place that I want to mention is BigW!! I love there as well. I can get panties and socks for 10 at $10!! hahhahah!

All in all, at the end of the trip, my luggage has gained another 15kgs. I really enjoyed my trip to Melbourne! Thanks everyone!

I reside in Sydney so feel free to follow my blog as I tend to blog about my hauls, makeup, food, travel, etc. I've been to Melbourne a few times so I have a few blog entries and vlogs about that are available on my youtube channel too!

Read about where to eat and visit in Melbourne!!

Read about this cafe that has this beautiful chia pudding, PERF for summer!!

Read about my experience at the first ever Hello Kitty Diner's in Sydney

Read where to eat Matcha Tiramisu in Sydney

13 hours ago, sennnaa said:

Read about my experience at the first ever Hello Kitty Diner's in Sydney

did this just opened? my sister in law loves hello kitty. i have to show her this. but i have a feeling shes already been.