The City of Melbourne Through The Eyes Of An Emmet....

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My first trip into the city was a daunting experience. I got up at 6 in the morning to catch a lift to the train station with Mark on his way to work. The sun was shining which helped the whole process but it was still pretty cold as we jumped into the Landy shivering, Melbourne in October is still pretty cold first thing. I had packed a backpack not quite knowing what I would need for the day, taking a jumper, jacket, my bible (Lonely Planet's guide to Australia) and some other bits that I thought may be helpful. Once at the station I got a return ticket to Flinders street station, near Federation Square and therefore the tourist information centre. $11 (about £7) to ride the trains, trams and buses within Zones 1+2 (city and inner suburbs) for a whole day, bargain!
I jumped on the train and chose my seat, happy that the train was fairly empty, I pulled out the Lonely Planet book and began to read up on internet cafes, food places, and attractions in and around Melbourne. With every stop more and more people clambered on the train, some pushing straight through everyone, some being a bit more courtious but still with the effect that reminded me of placing sardines as a child. The one thing I did realise was the fact the people getting on didn't see the logic in letting passengers off first, creating an awkward human rotating door effect, I just stuck by my window seat and observed silently.
About an hour had passed by the time we reached Flinders Street Station, I left the train and joined the torrent of people flowing towards the exit. We approached the turnstile gates and I slid my card in, it spat it back out, i pushed it in again, it spat it back out. The attendant next to the gates barked "You're supposed to validate it the other end", I think she read my blank expression, realised I was a Pom and used her card to swipe me out and wished me a good day.
As we spilled out on to the street I looked around in awe of the citys beauty, the modern mirrored buildings of banks and shops gave way to the old fashioned prowess of the churches and buildings like Flinders Street Station. A huge, half covered archway, the massive yellow giants mouth that vomits out thousands of tourists, commuters and school goers every day. All this framed with the tropical blue sky made a truly picturesque scene. The busy hubbub was almost hypnotic and the moment I snapped out of the daze I was able to really observe rush hour in the heart of this great city. Despite the population and sheer mass of bodies rushing to get to work, no one bumps, shoves or forces their way through. Any unintentional physical contact is swiftly met with an apology and a smile in return.
I again consulted my LP guide to find an internet cafe. There was one at the north of the city centre that didn't seem too expensive and I had to start my blog so off I went, on foot as the concept of trams was still an intimidating one. It took me about an hour to walk the 8 or 10 blocks to the cafe's location, swinging in to look around the china town area of the city. Even at this early time of the morning the aromatic chinese scents filled the air, I made a hasty escape as my mouth started to water. I then discovered that the internet cafe was no longer there and began my return to Federation Square and the tourist information centre. Good job i had 90 minutes to waste before it opened.
The staff in there were brilliant, informing me that Fed. Square had its own free WiFi i could log into with my iPhone and also the fact that I could ride the free City Tour Tram around the city for free all day to get around. Failing that, the ticket that I bought at Lilydale train station allowed me to ride the trams for the entire day of purchase too. After logging on to facebook and Whatsapp to catch up with the unfortunates still trapped in the mundane repetition that is Launceston Town, I jumped on the City Tour tram to hear the commentary of the sites as we travelled. Fully intrigued by the descriptions of the places we were passing I was woken from my semi concsious state by the terms "shopping or a quick bite to eat". I dismounted the tram and made my way in to Harbour Town, a newly developed, trendy, open aired shopping centre crammed with clothes shops, cafes, tech shops etc.
I walked down through one of the spacious walk ways looking in windows and up at glass and metal that twisted and wound its way up to the higher levels giving the area an almost oriental feel, done in an angular modern style. I stopped off and had some food in a stylish cafe. Now I'm not the most social person in the world outside of my family and friends, starting new conversations just for the sake of it with people I don't know has always been a challenging practice for me that I am hoping to change with this trip. This in mind i decided to ask the girl serving how long her sleeve took and where she had it done. She told me and then waited 10 seconds (it felt like an eternity) for another question or to hear the point of my asking, after realising that that was as much as I had planned she then awkwardly asked about my own before disapearing with my order. I sat quietly with my head bowed and ate my food once it arrived, sweating, I noticed that I had sat in effectively a glass conservatory in direct sunlight, the table everyone else had avoided like the plague.
I consulted my map the Tourist Info. Centre had given me and decided to make my way to the aquarium. With my new attained status of metropolitan explorer I jumped on the next tram going in the right direction and waited until I saw water then jumped off. I strolled along the water front gazing at the expensive boats and dockland apartments backed up by the city skyline edged against that bluest of blue skys, but couldn't find the aquarium. When I reached the bridge I was sure I had gone too far, turned around and went back to the start. After yet another pass I realised that I was actually about a kilometer away from where I thought I was. After strolling past the impressive Etihad Stadium and finding my way to the aquarium I decided that it would be better to visit the next day and proceeded to the Riverside Quay and the Eureka Sky Deck that towered over Melbourne at 300m above sea level.
After travelling up in the fastest lift in the southern hemisphere at 9m per second you're greeted by an impressive, unique view of the city. Towering meters above even the highrise bank towers you can look down on nearly everyone and everything. Around the 360 degree paremeter there are view finders pointing specific points of interest and a bit of relevant information along with it (unlike this blog). For the more adventurous of tower climbers there is The Edge experience, a 3x2x2.5 metre all glass (yes, even the floor) cube that projects from the inside of the tower all the way out. The glass panels are 'switchable glass', the worlds first, that allows it to be switched from opaque to transparent for dramatic effect.
With my feet back on solid ground I decided to follow the water's edge, not knowing where exactly I was headed (one of the perks of being a traveller). The art society had obviously been allowed to put its creative hand into the development of melbourne, as you walk along you'll be confronted by many weird and wonderful sculptures that are there just because they can be and succeed in adding to the variety of scenery this city has to offer. Along the Yarra River, on the opposite bank to the Crown Entertainment Complex and underneath the elevated rail tracks, seems to be the hub of exercise for the city. With as many gyms as there are buildings, offering "train like a cage fighter" or "jujitsu athletics" type schemes to draw in the crowds, everybody seems to have their own take on the quest for a cover model body. One thing I really couldn't understand though was why people would want to spill out midday in 30 degree heat to work out outside of their airconditioned units. There they were though, in force on the grass area outside these dojos and spin classes using elasticated ropes and doing tonne ups. I smiled, took a few photos and carried on.
My walk took me a fair way out of town, accompanied by joggers also participating in the high noon quest for physical supremity (maybe they were heat training to run the Dakka Rally next year) until I finally reached a path leading to the Royal Botanic Gardens. Described as "among the world's finest and one of the most glorious places to spend a leisurely afternoon" and it being after 12 I considered it destiny and strolled in. I'm not a great lover of plants and would fail to differentiate between a geranium and a chrysanthemum but these 38 hectares of greenery were impressive to say the least. There are numerous walking paths around the garden expanding from a central lake so getting lost is very easy and also rather welcoming. I made my way through at an slow relaxed pace, rather than the stride that had got me here and found I was at the Shine of Remembrance. It was created to meet the needs of a grieving community after the extensive loss of lives in the First World War. 19,000 Victorians alone were killed overseas to protect their country and our own, their bodies never to return to the families they had left behind. "The Shrine provided a place where Victorians could grieve as individuals, as families or as a community and where they could honour and preserve the memories of those they had lost". My route back along the gardens to the train station took me past some more smaller memorials. One such statue was of a Sir Edward 'Weary' Dunlop, a doctor and soldier well worth the time to research him.

An early start the next day, same train, same plan minus the backpack and armed with the more practical map I had been given, I returned to the aquarium and ventured inside. At around $30 I thought it was a bit steep but hell, you only live once (remember I am Cornish). I was informed by a rather camp bloke that the penguin feed time was soon and the time of the shark one later. There was already a group of young school children waiting in anticipation by the penguin enclosure and the penguins looked just as happy to see them. 3 were stood mimicking the spanish ones on Happy Feet and as I was just thinking it a little boy patted his mum and said "smile and wave boys, smile and wave", great, I'm on par with a 5 year old, well they do say males never actually grow up!
I worked my way through, stopping to observe what all the diffferent tanks had to offer until I got to the shark tank. They weren't alone and infact upstaged by the ginormous sting rays that cohabitated the tank. They were easily twice the size of the divers feeding them and insisted on sitting on their heads and backs until they gave up the fish or stopped to push them off. After the show I headed to Melbourne Museum with my ears still ringing from 3 school trips worth of excited childern.
At just $10 entry it was an absolute steal. There was a huge whale skeleton to greet you as you entered and a dinosaur exhibition just around the corner, lets face it THAT'S why we actually go to museums; there was a section on the human body including an X-ray of the nervous system taken from skinning a body and laying it out on a table, and a section about your brain and perception; a vast nature section, including a hall of death that comprised of taxidermed animals, everything from pandas to platipus, lions to leemers; towards the end there was a big room devoted to the history of Melbourne and Victoria including a replica model of a record breaking 63kg gold nugget found 55m down near Bakery Hill by a team of 24, ahem, CORNISH miners!
Duriing my time in Melbourne I thought it sensible to do some courses as you ned 'tickets' for everything over here. I started with my White card that enables me to set foot on building sites. One day and about $100 with an open book test at the end.
Next was my Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) course to enable me to work behind a bar. After learning that you're basically not allowed to serve alcohol to anyone showing signs of being tipsy and have to ask them to leave if they are drunk I was able to justify or at least understand the price of their drinks. A role play activity (don't get excited) in which we were split into groups and had to run through a refusal of service scenario left me blushing and a bit embarrased (never been a fan of drama) but I had completed the course.
The last of the three that I had booked whilst in Melbourne was the Traffic Management course to stand and operate a STOP/SLOW lollypop stick near road works. The course was $250 and hearsay promised high returns as $30-$40. During the course I discovered that it was more like $20-$30 but thats still around £16, 1 1/2 times what my wages were as a qualified electrician back in the UK!!

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