By the seaside...


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Oceania » Australia » Victoria » Melbourne
January 12th 2004
Published: January 12th 2004
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The first thing that struck me about Melbourne was it's tram network. Never having visited a city with working trams before, this gave the whole city a different atmosphere - with wide roads and relatively little traffic on them, making it easy to get about by foot - not to mention the curious way the cars have to turn. In order to turn right, they have to remain in the left hand lane, then swing out when the coast is clear(ish). Much like Sydney, Melbourne had it's fair share of backpackers and hostels, and plenty of languages other than English were being spoken on the street. There was a problem though, you could hardly last a day without recognising someone, in my case from my hostel in Sydney. The phrase ' you'll never escape Glebe' became popular with me and the friends I met in Melbourne.
St. Kilda, an area of the city by the beach felt less like Australia, it seemed to want to be an old British seaside town, and at times succeeded, with ice cream stalls and a funfair which created a strange sense of de ja vu in me. My german friend Lucas, went so far as to announce " This is not Australia - this is Britain!", just a little too close to an Australian who shot him a glance as we passed. The beach in St Kilda looked fine, but stories had been told of an array of deadly needles lurking under the surface from the local junkies, spoiling what could have been a lovely walk alongĀ  the beach.

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