the last article, I got a pretty bad night’s sleep on the ferry from Tasmania
to Melbourne, and when I got to Melbourne, I had to switch hostels because
the first was disgusting. My ATM card also was not working when I got there,
and I was just plain frustrated. I told my mom on the first day that I
didn't know if I could ever like Melbourne. Boy, was I wrong.
Melbourne is located on the Yarra River, a couple kilometers from Port
Phillip Bay. The Yarra has been called 'the river that flows upside down'
because of the mud flowing on top. I found out later from my friend, Sue,
that it is because the river has been redirected to serve aesthetic
purposes. Founded in 1836, by John Batman, a group of settlers from Tasmania
actually tried to pay the aborigines in goods for the land. The Aborigines
thought that was funny, because they were nomads who placed little value on
personal items. Melbourne has developed a rivalry with Sydney, and
everywhere I went I heard about this. Melbourne was for many years the
larger city, and hosted an Olympic games almost 40 years before Sydney. This
makes sense because this is absolutely a sports mad town, the center for
Australia's sports.
Sydney has a great physical location, and while Melbourne is not an ugly
city, it can not rival Sydney's looks. What Melbourne does have is tons and
tons of culture, and a much slower pace of life. I thought the Aussies lived
well in Sydney, the happiness with life is immediately apparent in
Melbourne. I could write a whole article on the differences between the two,
but I'll stick with lauding Melbourne.
The city is laid out on a grid, which makes finding your way around real
easy. It's public transport, which consists of trams, buses and trains, is
called 'The Met', and is by far the best public transport in Australia. I
can't really hold this against Melbourne, but for three of the days I was
there, they had the most amazing changeable weather. It went 15 minutes of
sun, 15 minutes of overcast, 15 minutes of showers and 15 minutes of
drizzle, then the cycle would repeat itself.
Most of the guidebooks I read about Melbourne said there were not a lot of
sights to see, but tons of culture. The comment about culture was completely
true. I had dinner with some Aussie friends, Mark and Sue (two of the
coolest people I have ever known) who I met three years ago while traveling
in Europe and they took me to an excellent Chinese restaurant in Melbourne's
thriving Chinatown. This city has been home to a bulk of Australians
migration, from the Chinese, to Greeks and Italians, and now the Japanese.
After being in Sydney and seeing it's apparent lack of diversity,
Melbourne's is instantly apparent.
The comment about Melbourne's lack of sights seemed misguided, though. As
Mark put it, 'Sure they have an Opera House, but what does that do for
anyone'. The Queen Victoria Market a little north of the city grid is the
best market I have ever been to. I must have seen a thousand of these, but
never one with so much stuff. Anything one could desire was at this market
from produce and meats to souvenirs and clothing, and everything in between.
Most of you know how much I hate shopping, but I spent at least three hours
in there before I forced myself to leave. The Rialto Towers are Melbourne's
tallest buildings. There was a fine observation deck on the 55th floor,
which allowed for great views of Melbourne and the area around Port Phillip
Bay. I walked from there past Flinders Street Station, the pattern gold and
orange building which is probably Melbourne's most recognized landmark, an
exceptionally attractive building especially when flood-lit at night.
On the south side of the Yarra is the aptly named Southbank District and
shopping mall, along with the massive Crown Casino Complex. The Crown opened
in the early 90s, and is an amazing sight. It has a huge casino, with 1
kilometer of slot machines, along with cinemas, upscale shops, restaurants
and a glamorous hotel. I was blown away by it's size and frenetic activity.
Melbourne is also full of gardens, my favorite being Fitzroy Gardens to
the city's east, which is home to the cottage of Captain James Cook's
cottage from Yorkshire in England. It was actually his parents cottage,
since Cook himself spent most of his life on the high seas. A short walk for
Fitzroy Gardens is St. Patrick's cathedral, an impressive Gothic revival
church, and Melbourne's most attractive.
My favorite two sights in Melbourne were just outside the city grid. The
first is the Old Melbourne Gaol, or in our English, Jail. This old prison is
a well-laid out museum telling all of the stories of the infamous lot who
were housed, and some executed, here. The most famous of these is the
Australian legend, Ned Kelly. Ned Kelly was what Australians call a
bushranger, what the Americans would call an outlaw. He lived a life of
crime, spending time in and out of prisons. He is most famous for leading
the authorities on a massive manhunt across Southeastern Australia. As the
stories go, after killing some policemen and generally making the police
following him look like fools over and over again, they finally caught up
with Ned and his gang at a small town hotel. He was trapped and he knew it,
so his solution to this was to take all the metal he could find in the hotel
and fashion himself a suit of Armour. The only problem was that he did not
have enough metal for his legs, so obviously the police shot him in the leg.
In the end, he was brought to Melbourne for trail and eventually hanged in
this old jail. His infamous suit of Armour is by far the most popular
drawing card in this building. Many Australians still think of him as a
hero, fighting the British oppression of the Irish at that time, which was
rife. I'm not sure I take this view, but legends will be legends, I guess.
Melbourne's other great sight is the Royal Melbourne Zoo. It is the oldest
in Australia, and the third oldest in the world, and has to be one of the
best anywhere. The layout and collection of animals are really nice. It has
a famous aviary where three different climatic zones of Australian are
represented. I really like the endangered Nepalese Red Panda which is at the
zoo for only a short while. They are so cute!
I also took a tram out to St. Kilda, Melbourne's beach resort and
supposedly the red-light district. St. Kilda has a decent beach, a nice pier
and lots of great seafood restaurants, where I had about my 15th really
satisfying salmon steak. As far as the red-light stuff, I did see anything
that would indicate such a place being here. If only all red-light districts
were so nice.
