A Scavenger Hunt Around Melbourne

One of the funny things about getting older is that I have finally learned how to enjoy my city. In my teens and early twenties, the only thing I thought Melbourne was good for was partying. While this is partially true, there is just SO much more on offer that I have only just started to experience over the past few years. A random laneway here, a coffee truck there, all surrounded by what sometimes feels like a type of electricity that only a bustling city can provide.

An so, in an attempt to devour more I signed myself and G up for a scavenger hunt around the city. I purchased this on Groupon and was directed to download an app called “Let’s Roam”. From there, I entered my coupon code and was given coins that I could then spend on my desired hunt. In my case, this was a hunt called “Marvellous Melbourne” but they had options for almost every capital city in Australia as well as some overseas. We then drove on in and parked in a carpark near the starting point and we were off!

With no idea how to use the app, Glen and I both signed up on each of our phones. This is a good idea to do if you are wanting to play in teams, however, we were wanting to do it together so it would have been better if we had just used one phone. We also learned rather quickly that this is more designed for people who are looking to battle each other and to see who could get the most points in the quickest amount of time. For the most part, we ignored the time messages and just did things at our own pace.

One of the best parts was that at each location we were asked to answer a question and in order to answer , we had to look for something on or around the building. This allowed us to notice things that we had never noticed before such as emblems featured on the roof, inscribed bricks, or something else altogether. What was slightly embarrassing, however, was that the app would also ask us to do something silly at each stop like reenact our favourite movie scene. Because we are both scaredy cats we went into the help setting and clicked pass when a task wasn’t up our alley.

One of the best parts about this was that while we were learning about the spots provided in the app, Melbourne was giving us our own show ranging from buskers, to food stalls, to everything in between. And so we went off course at times which I am so thankful about because we decided to go into the Treasury building and go downstairs to the vaults where they used to store gold.

We also were a little cheeky and caught a tram a couple of times but even though we did this, we did over 11,000 steps! Because of this, I would recommend downloading a public transport app, wearing supportive shoes, and bringing food and water. Without spoiling it too much, one of my favourite stops was Fitzroy gardens. We even topped it all off with a hearty meal from the imperial and boy were we hungry!

All in all, we spent $19.00 on parking, about $22.00 on the Groupon itself, and about $60.00 on dinner and food. All in all not too bad for a full day in the city for two people. The only downside was that I wish that there were more scavenger hunts on the app so we could do another one! It was truly such a fantastic way to learn more about my city and I have to say, I am even more in love.

How about you? Would you ever scavenger hunt around your city? I would love to hear.

Until next time,