Trip review of Melbourne: New Year on a sightseeing flight to Antarctica

This trip was completed in January 2026.

Melbourne in the summer is vibrant, and we found the streets to be more energetic towards the night when the golden hours stretched late into the evening. Our trip to this hip city has been planned well in advanced, considering that the last time we were back in Australia were some years ago. A highlight to this trip was unmistakably the New Year Eve flight to Antarctica, chasing the midnight sun and welcoming 2026 onboard a chartered Qantas plane circling Mount Erebus. As preparation for this side trip, we arrived in Melbourne early and explored the city.

Below are notable parts of the trip.

Accommodation: Pullman Melbourne On The Park

Rating 7.8/10

This hotel is located slightly away from the central business district and the main city area, which may be suitable for travelers who prefer a quieter neighborhood while still being close to the touristy areas.

As there is a tram station directly outside the hotel, it is merely a few stops and a few minutes to get back to the bustle of Flinders Street. Moreover, this hotel will be pretty strategic for guests attending sporting events at Melbourne Cricket Ground since it is just opposite the entrance to the park.

Even though the exterior of the hotel building is rather dated, we found the rooms to be well-maintained and the decor were modern due to the renovation a few years ago. As for the facilities, the pool and fitness center are usable but not luxurious. Lastly, the breakfast at the lobby serves the standard selection of food, but on a more positive note, the dining crowd was manageable during our entire stay.

Dining: Code Black Coffee

Rating 8.4/10

Located directly across the street from Supernormal is Code Black Coffee, which caught our attention due to how busy it was. Code Black Coffee has a rather small storefront which opens to an unexpectedly large number of seats in comparison.

We were seated at the counter, providing unobstructed views to the coffee brewing process by the skilled baristas. They have an extensive coffee menu including seasonal beans for pourovers and espressos. They also offer non-coffee beverages like matcha latte, and a handful of brunch food items.

For our visit, we had a pourover using "El Placer Gesha" and a classic latte. The pourover was brewed especially well by a friendly barista with balanced and pronounced flavours mirroring those in its description. Code Black Coffee has a few well-located outlets in Melbourne, giving you the opportunity to try their good quality coffees conveniently.

Dining: Lune Croissanterie

Rating 8.0/10

A longstanding crowd favourite in Melbourne's food scene, Lune is a bakery cafe that specialises in croissants. There are several outlets in central Melbourne and we visited the one located within the central business district.

We arrived in the morning at 8 am and were surprised at the snaking queue that has formed just an hour into opening. Due to its popularity, you'd find that most people in line are tourists. Fortunately, the queue moved relatively quickly as many orders were takeouts.

The bakery cafe is furnished in an industrial theme with a small standing area for dining in. The flavours of pastries at Lune varies from time to time, always including classics like plain croissant and pain au chocolat, as well as fancier sweet and savoury options. Some specials available during our visit were cheese vegemite and lemon curd.

We got an almond croissant and ham and gruyere croissant this time, plus an iced white along with the order. Though on the pricier side, the buttery croissants were huge with generous fillings. The coffee was nothing to shout about, we'd recommend going to Lune for its amazing bakes and head somewhere else in the vicinity for coffee after.

Dining: Supernormal

Rating 7.9/10

Supernormal is an Asian fusion restaurant we came across on Google due to its high number of good reviews. We recommend making a reservation prior as the restaurant promptly filled up by 12 pm on a weekday.

Apart from a kitchen, Supernormal has a bar area that serves up a comprehensive alcohol menu. Unique non-alcoholic options are also available. "Tea Totaler", a tea concoction we tried, comprising jasmine, chamomile and ginger tea, was very refreshing.

As for food options, they have a wide variety of Asian classics done with their spin on it, ranging from kimchi, dumplings to noodles and rice. We particularly enjoyed the cucumber and radish salad infused with Japanese flavours, which was light on the palate.

Overall, we enjoyed all the dishes and found the dishes to be not too heavily seasoned, bringing out the natural taste of the ingredients used.

Dining: BangPop

Rating 7.8/10

Along Yarra River sits BangPop, a modern thai restaurant. One of Melbourne's duty-free outlet malls, South Wharf is located on the other side of BangPop, with many of its diners visiting post-shopping.

We visited on New Year's Day and were greeted by a busy restaurant. A short wait was needed before we were attended by their staff. Fortunately, order and payment can be done via a QR code on every table, which minimized waiting time. Since it was a public holiday, a 15% surcharge was applied, something that we noticed a few restaurants charged.

The menu was quite comprehensive with many items you’ll typically find in a thai restaurant. It did seem that a couple of the staff are Thai, giving it an added touch of authenticity. The tom yum seafood soup was impressive due to the depth in its flavour. We found that the rest of the stir-fried items, though comforting, steered towards the salty side.

We recommend taking a stroll along the river after your meal at BangPop. The good weather and flurry of activities along the river, made the stroll a particularly pleasant one.

Activity: Antarctica scenic flight

Rating 8.4/10

The main activity for our trip to Melbourne is a chartered day flight to Antarctica. As mentioned at the start of this review, this was a New Year Eve flight welcoming the start of 2026. Logistically, this is considered a domestic flight, hence airport clearance will be relatively fuss-free like flying any other domestic flight within Australia.

The entire trip duration was around 12 hours, departing Melbourne Tullamarine Airport in the evening and arriving back at the same airport in the early morning the next day. Regardless of the flight routes due to Antarctica's weather, there will be about 4 hours of sightseeing from the plane flying over the Antarctica continent. One important thing which was highlighted to us was the mandatory seat switching at the halfway mark of the flight, so as to ensure a fair distribution of 'window time' and 'aisle time' for all passengers.

The scenery of Antarctica out of the plane windows were extraordinary, especially for the window seat where the passenger can have an immersive view of the landscape below. Being summer at that part of the world in December/January also meant that the sun never truly set and we ended up counting down to the New Year in broad daylight. Overall, it was a surreal experience and the good weather during our flight meant that the pilot was able to chart out a route that involved circling around Mount Erebus, an active volcano in Antarctica.

For travelers who find the longer version of arriving in Antarctica (by cruise or plane) exhausting or stressful, this sightseeing one-day flight may be a good alternative. However, this activity will not be suitable for the adventurous who prefer to touch down on Antarctica land and be physically on the continent. For us, enjoying the view of glaciers and mountains from 10,000 feet above was momentous enough to cap off this Melbourne trip.