Lara Dunston

A travel and food writer who has experienced over 70 countries and written for The Guardian, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Feast, Delicious, National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia, DestinAsian, TIME, CNN, The Independent, The Telegraph, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, AFAR, Wanderlust, International Traveller, Get Lost, Four Seasons Magazine, Fah Thai, Sawasdee, and more, as well as authored more than 40 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, DK, Footprint, Rough Guides, Fodors, Thomas Cook, and AA Guides.

Melbourne Shopping: The Most Eclectic Boutiques Of All

Melbourne shopping is some of the best shopping there is in Australia, especially for idiosyncratic fashion, jewellery and accessories. Designers are hand-making beautiful pieces while boutique owners are carefully curating eclectic collections. While most visitors make a beeline for Bourke Street Mall and the posh GPO – the old General Post Office remodelled into an elegant … Read more

Matt Skinner on Melbourne, Wine, Bars and Food

Melbourne wine guy Matt Skinner may be a comparatively young bloke as far as Australian wine icons go, but with a handful of wine books, an annual wine guide and a television series under his belt, he’s fast become something of an Aussie wine legend and an inspiration to young Australians developing an interest in wine and … Read more

Victoria Street Richmond – Melbourne’s Little Saigon and Phở Capital

Victoria Street Richmond is Melbourne’s Little Saigon, a must-do for foodies visiting the Victorian capital in Australia – especially for lovers of Vietnamese food and other Asian cuisines, and particularly for fans of the legendary Vietnamese soup, phở. Victoria Street Richmond – Melbourne’s Little Saigon Victoria Street Richmond is just a few kilometres east of … Read more

Melbourne on a Budget – How to Experience Melbourne More Affordably

Australia is an expensive destination to visit, regardless of the drop in value of the Aussie dollar, and the capital of its southern state Victoria is no exception, but it is still possible to do Melbourne on a budget and here’s how. From taking advantage of free public transport to checking into longer-stay apartments, here are … Read more

Coffee Cupping at Market Lane Café in Melbourne

Coffee cupping at Market Lane café in Melbourne had been recommended to us by a guide on one of the market tours we did. Melburnians are obsessed with their coffee and cafés and see Melbourne as a global coffee-making capital. Does Melbourne make the world’s best coffee? We were about to find out. The best coffee we’d had was at Market Lane’s … Read more