This being my fourth trip to Australia, I had always said to myself I will go to Melbourne and see what it’s all about, particularly as there is some rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne between who is best. As we headed in the campervan continuing our road trip from Canberra, we came over a hill and could see the skyline of Melbourne in the far distance, which was a pretty cool feeling considering we had been driving for hours. However, the feeling of excitement was quickly replaced with sadness as on the radio we heard of the wrecklesness of a madman mounting the pavement and killing a number of pedestrians. Shortly this was all over the news and it became clear that the city centre was on lockdown. We made our way to the campsite in the northern suburb of Coburg before planning the next day.
Waking up the weather was nice and sunny so we decided to get the tram to the St Kilda area which is by the beach and a rather cool part of the city. You need a ‘Myki’ card to get around the transport system. Whilst the trams are frequent, clean etc, we found it complicated to understand the map! This must mean a lot coming from London where they have the Tube! Once we realised we couldn’t pay cash, we topped our cards up at a local newsagent and headed into the city and then out to St Kilda. This area has had loads of regeneration over the last 10/20 years and is now a hub of cool bars, restaurants, boutiques and shops that line the main street and esplanade. We got off and walked down the sea front, past the Sea Baths and towards Luna Park. Whilst I was there, there was a street food fair going on all around Indonesian food which was quite cool. We walked up to Luna Park, part of the same chain I think that is in Sydney, minus the great harbour view that Sydney has. We walked through the giant mouth of the entrance and mooched around. Very geared to families but cool to wander around a traditional fairground complete which dodgems, ghost train, merry-go-round etc. It also has a classic wooden roller coaster that runs around the outskirts of the park with an employee that stands in the middle of the coaster and controls it with a large brake, quite bizarre to watch! In the evening, we headed into the Fitzroy area of the city which is a very eclectic, trendy area, lots of street art, quirky buildings, bespoke boutiques, bars and sculptures on many of the buildings. It’s a pretty hipster part of the city and reminded me of the Shoreditch area in London. We also hopped off the tram during the daytime on our second day and walked down the main strip called Brunswick Street which is a cool thing to do. We came back here on our last night with some friends who took us to a bar called ‘Naked for Satan’ where they have a roof top bar called ‘Naked in the sky’ which has amazing views of the city skyline. Even the name is synonomous to the quirky area and the food here was amazing! Sunday’s do a $9 dish on everything!
The next day I was excited to meet a couple from Melbourne who I had met a few months earlier on my trip to China and who I’d stayed in touch with. We met at the main Flinders Street station and headed straight to grab some Pimms for a catch up, perfect as it was hot! We then grabbed a boat cruise down the Yarra River which was great to see the city from a different angle. It went all past the CBD area, with views of the main stadiums and where the Melbourne Open is currently, right out to the large port area which is an important part to the city. What surprised me is how low the bridges are, and I mean LOW! So low that everyone was told to duck three times as the boat barely went under them…fun though! I think the boat skipper looked nervous each time as us tourists just wanted to take pics! We got off the boat and walked along the riverbank area past lots of street stalls selling an array of quirky things from food to candles to soaps. I loved the one lady who was cooking hot dogs on a modified car bonnet engine! The next few hours was spent walking around the centre of Melbourne, through some of the parks and seeing all the key sites. The Captain James Cook cottage in one of the parks was quite a cool thing to see. He had his quintessential English cottage shipped over to Australia and rebuilt here. It really was a little bit of England! Melbourne also has lots of cool street art also in the centre down the side streets. We walked down one near Collins Avenue that had a small crowd of people gathered watching two violinists. It was very cool seeing the contrast of classical music and street art combined. Melbourne is a great city to just walk around, very easy going and a grid-like system. The parliament building, treasury, city hall and stations are all cool buildings to see.
Last on my list was the official Neighbours tour. i couldn’t come to Melbourne being a Brit and not go to Ramsay Street! The actual street is located in East Melbourne in a suburb called Vermont South in a street called Pin Oak Court. The street was actually a lot smaller in real life than you would expect. they have a security guard on the street 24 hours a day and filming usually takes place on the street once a week, the rest is done in the actual studios and sets which are 5 minutes away at the Freemantle Studios. It as really cool to wander around the street, see all the houses (Madge & Harolds, Mrs Mangles etc) and take the classic pics with the Ramsay Street sign. The houses are actually all real, with real residents who get paid a premium but have certain rules around they must move their cars on days where filming happens, they must notify the studios if making any changes to the front of their houses and so on. We then had a look around the actual sets and the studios which was very cool, particually seeing the school, Erinsborough sign and so on. I grew up watching this soap in the 80’s and 90’s so it was like a childhood dream come true!
Melbourne you really did deliver! A great vibrant city that I would sum up in 3 words as QUIRKY, FASHIONABLE and RELAXED.
