Melbourne: Part One

Let me just clarify the tone you will be hearing throughout these next few posts: Melbourne is amazing. The next few paragraphs (well, many, actually) could possibly be considered a “gush” of just how awesome my previous week has been.

It was the first trip I’ve taken outside Adelaide since I’ve come to Australia, and it was incredibly overdue. A few friends had gone in August, and I definitely regretted not joining them, but it worked out excellently regardless. Melbourne is the closest city to Adelaide in Australia, and that’s saying something: it’s a 10+ hour drive. Luckily, the flights there are cheap, which the exchange rate makes even cheaper, and flying domestically is a breeze in comparison to the US; there are no liquid restrictions, you don’t have to strip down to your knickers going through security, and I wasn’t asked for ID once.

The city itself is much, much larger than Adelaide and in vibe and style very European. It was influenced by a heavy immigration from Italy, Greece, the UK (of course), and more recently South Asia. I stayed in the small suburb of St. Kilda, about a 20-minute tram ride from the heart of Melbourne and right on the beach. It’s considered a young, hip place catering significantly to backpackers. Lots of bars and great restaurants, the beach a 5-minute walk away, which during the night provides a starry view of Melbourne’s lights down the bay, and Luna Park, an historical theme park with a wooden rollercoaster, games, and the gaping face of a clown through which you enter.

Acland Street, St. Kilda

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

St. Kilda also boasts some of the best bakeries in Melbourne, including the Monarch Cake Shop, the oldest patisserie in Melbourne (more on that later). The hostel I stayed at was excellent; full of young international people traveling around Australia, clean and well-kept, and it also helped that in staying in an all-girl’s room we received free towels, shampoo, and champagne every evening.

I have to mention the public transportation system because it factored so much into the ease of seeing Melbourne. A mixture of electric trams, buses, and trains criss-cross the city, and in the center they have digital signs which indicate the time remaining until your tram reaches the stop. If only our cities could provide such an efficient service. I have a feeling that this will not be the first indication that our infrastructure is woefully in need of updating.

I got into Melbourne Saturday evening, just in time to have dinner and a quick walk down the beach. The next day we decided to get up early to explore. Unfortunately, the weather had taken a nasty turn (which remained for the rest of the trip) and we were cold the entire day. We walked through the Sunday morning arts market, where local artisans sell their wares every Sunday, on the way to the tram stop. Heading into the city, we decided to explore Queen Victoria Market, the largest open-air market in the southern hemisphere.

Queen Victoria Market

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

There were hundreds of small vendors selling anything and everything, from produce to clocks to clothing. I’ve never been good at haggling, so it was probably best I didn’t buy much. I did, however, eat poffertjes, which are these unbelievably delicious Dutch pancakes, covered in either sugar and lemon juice or cream, jam and fruit that I’ve found in Adelaide as well.

Poffertjes

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

After perusing the market, we walked into the city to wander. The shopping in Melbourne is so good; they have many beautiful arcades (basically throughways through buildings lined with boutique shops) that are as historical as they are lovely. Most of the shopping in the city center was far to high-end for me to afford, but it was good to see what was on offer. Collins Street is the premiere shopping street for those who can afford the clothing. We decided to take a ride on the free tram which circles the city from the south end to the north end, both to learn a bit of the history of the most well-known landmarks and to get to our next stop: Lygon Street.

Lygon Street marks Melbourne’s Italian precinct. As I mentioned previously, there is a large Italian population in Melbourne, and this is marked by great eating. There we found a small restaurant to eat lunch, and I discovered that great pizza can really be found in Australia (I had, by this time, an incredible craving since Adelaide’s leaves much to be desired). Since Lygon is located very close to the Melbourne Museum, we decided to check it out.

Melbourne Museum

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

Royal Exhibition Building

From Melbourne & the Great Ocean Road

The Melbourne Museum is a large, spacious, and thoroughly modern building, designed by Baulderstone Hornibrook (I kid you not), and is the largest museum in the southern hemisphere and located right next to the Royal Exhibition Building, an immense pavilion and a World Heritage site. It contains exhibitions of ancient, modern, and natural history and boasts an IMAX theatre complex. We had just enough time for a quick walk around some of the exhibits before the start of The Dark Knight. It might sound like a silly thing to do, see a movie both of us had already seen in theatres in a city as great as Melbourne, but the movie was phenomenal, IMAX is great, and by this time we were so footsore and chilled that any place to sit and be warm for a few hours sounded very welcome. And it was totally worth it to see in the IMAX.

After the movie finished, it was time to get back to the hostel in St. Kilda, grab some dinner (an excellent veggie burger with lots of toppings, but thankfully no beetroot this time) and made it an early night, well, after briefly wandering into a packed pub.

NEXT UP: Day 2