Advertisement
Published: March 23rd 2010
Edit Blog Post
Photo 6
Street life in Melbourne city centre So here I am... arriving in Australia at the start of the final leg of my year-long trip. I'd been looking forward to this point for quite some time, as it signalled the end of the 'difficult' part of my trip (i.e. people speak English now, the food is my food and generally there are no hardships to suffer), but also because I would be meeting up with a number of friends here. The first, John (my old boss and mate from London), was there to meet me at the airport with his eldest son Hamish. John had kindly offered to let me stay with him and his wife Bron and their sons Hamish and Ben for a few days, while I saw the sights of Melbourne. So we caught up over a bacon and egg sarnie in John's garden, and we spent the day in and around their house, first taking the kids to the park and then spending most of the afternoon on the trampoline. I now want one, although I think it could swallow up a lot of time! The first day was topped off by a fantastic steak, accompanied by several beers and bottles of red wine...
Photo 12
The rather shiny Eureka Tower Australia was starting out exactly as I'd hoped!
The next day, as John and Bron spent their weekdays like normal folk do (how unusual it seems to go to work when you're travelling!), I explored Melbourne. Starting at Flinders Street Station, I headed up towards the old GPO to post a package, then down through Federation Square to the Southbank, Melbourne's newly developed riverside. I have to say I fell in love with Melbourne straight away. Great architecture, beautifully designed public spaces, no litter and a great vibe... lots of people yet still it feels friendly and laid back. So it was a pleasure wandering round, a long walk which ended at the 88th floor Skydeck of Melbourne's tallest building, the Eureka Tower. Highest viewing deck in the southern hemisphere it may be, but the reflectivity of the glass made it virtually impossible to take good photos or even get a good view of downtown Melbourne. A note to people designing observation decks... bright red stripes on the floor inside translates into bright red stripes on the windows! Don't do it. After a fully day exploring, I headed over to a micro-brewery on trendy Brunswick Street to meet John
Photo 14
The view from above and some friends for a drink after work. I was also meeting another mate from London, Nick, who was flying out to meet me as part of a month-long trip to the US, Australia and Japan. So the evening was spent sampling the various beers of Little Creatures, and enjoying an amazing roo steak (the guilt would hit me later on at the animal park on Tasmania) before grabbing the last train back to John's and sneaking in to avoid waking the boys.
As we'd been so taken with Brunswick Street the previous night, Nick and I went there for breakfast the following day. It's a long street with a great vibe... lots of hip cafes and bars, niche shops and some really beautiful old buildings... if only London had more places like this! We then caught the tram back to town for lunch on the Southbank, before travelling further south to the South Melbourne Market, a small but buzzing market selling some great fresh food as well as household stuff and some art. From there we went on to St Kilda, which sits on Port Philip just south of Melbourne and has a small beach with shops and
Photo 3
Brunswick Street beachside eateries. It's a lovely spot, with great views back to Melbourne and out into the bay, with St Kilda Road and the nearby Chapel Street sporting a great street-cafe feel, ala Brunswick Street. Of all the cities I'd been to so far on my trip, Melbourne was winning hands down... in fact it has a pretty unbeatable offer full stop. We'd just enough time to complete a circle through the Botanical Gardens and past the impressive Shrine of Remembrance before I went back to John's for dinner. The next morning, Nick and I would be flying over to the Apple Isle, Tasmania, for a whistlestop tour.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.089s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 7; qc: 37; dbt: 0.0658s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Su
non-member comment
Melbourne
Hi J, Never been to Australia, Nice pic of Hamish. You still look gaunt. My bro was at Monash Uni for 5 years and did not want us going down under. I wonder why? Always wondered about it. Unimaginable antics by the firstborn (?)-my parents would have died from shame! Take care. Su