Melbourne

Seems so long ago, but it’s only a week. The plane journey was OK, the film was OK (Death Defying Acts). Glad I hadn’t been to see it at the pictures after all. We arrived slightly early – so half eleven. Too late to think about doing anything other than jumping in a cab. So $50 later! Don’t do that again.

The hotel was fairly ropey. Turned out to be a Comfort Inn, which I’d usually steer clear of, but of course it didn’t say that on the website. At least not prominently enough for me to notice. The room was clean enough and to be honest, I didn’t care for long by the time I got in.

Sunday I woke early as I'd had the extra hour in bed afforded by the clocks changing, and as I was close to the market, made that my first stop. The market is huge and at the weekend is mostly tat / souvenirs. Round the back were some food stalls and a small area with old fashioned stall-type shops selling mostly Deli. There were even a couple of stalls from local wineries, but I didn’t fancy tasting at 9 in the morning. And I’m sure coffee and chewing gum don’t do much for the palette.

After the market, I made it towards town. I was staying right on the north-west corner of the CBD, so it was a (relatively) long walk to anywhere useful. Plus I found it took quite a bit longer to get the hang of Melbourne than it had for Sydney. Maybe it was the fact I had taken a taxi, not the train in to the hotel and I was a bit short of a decent map for a while until I could find a tourist info. I found the main shopping centre which is built around an old shot tower. Oakleys are much cheaper over here – finally replaced my shades as they are getting slightly scratched. Not much else of interest here that I can’t find in Adelaide (one of the objectives in Melbourne was to actually do some shopping - I’m told that’s what Melbourne is there for).

So to find something touristy. I settled for the Old Gaol, or what’s left of it. One wing, the men’s, is a museum, and it’s been in the news recently as Ned Kelly’s bones were found there (where they were left) in March. There’s an exercise yard left and the gallows are still inside, right at the end of one of the floors of cells where everyone can see. There are also quite a few histories of the inmates so it takes a little while to go round.

Time for food after that, so I found Chinatown which is just down the hill. Eventually stopped at a Korean Restaurant where I had chilli noodles (which were slightly reminiscent of Heinz spaghetti hoops with chilli in) and cabbage. It was OK.



Aiming to spend the day looking at the north of the CBD, I went over to one of the parks where a small cottage stands that was transported across from East Yorkshire in the hope that Captain Cook’s parents once lived there. Surrounded by a not very authentic herb garden and with the usual hopelessly inaccurate commentary (talking about the Black Death when the cottage was built in the late 17th century, for example). A fair bit of the park was roped off for a couple of weddings, which were being held on the grass in full earshot of everyone sitting around. That seems odd to me. More was roped off where trees were down after the winds that Melbourne had had the week before. (Adelaide actually had higher winds but came off much more lightly).

Walking back along the road towards the hotel, I went past the Great Exhibition Centre (built in the 19th C) where the last day of the International Flower and Garden Show was being held. I mainly went in looking for seeds, of which there was a distinct lack (wrong time of year – it was all bulbs). But there were the show gardens (more ideas), a sculpture comp and the flower show was actually in the Exhibition Centre so I got to have a neb. There wasn’t time to go into the museum after that, it’s a v modern glass building that doesn’t sit well with what’s next to it, but that seems common round here.

From there it wasn’t too far back to the hotel (although slower, given that my shoes have stretched and were really hurting my feet – so I took them off) where I had a shower before going out again. Back into town, this time I stopped at the Rialto Building which when built was the highest building in Melbourne and has a 360º observation floor. Even better, firstly I managed this time to miss the corporate video, and secondly, the ticket is good for re-entry once within the same day.

I went down to look at Flinders St Station (which is the one you always see in the photos) and Federation Square which is opposite. Down by the Riverside were a couple of venues for the Comedy Festival (not a patch on the Garden of Unearthly Delights), but I did manage to pick up a programme for the festival. Nearby was a pub which had a random selection of 4 British Comics on. So time for a pint (only one at over $8) and then to the show which went on for about an hour and a half. Surprisingly I was the only Brit in the audience (of 14). So by the 4th time of owning up to it, it was getting to be old news. Apologies to the last 2 acts. Worth going, though.

There was just time afterwards, on the way back, to go up the Rialto Tower again and have a look at Melbourne in the dark before grabbing some food on the way home.

Next morning I got out early again. (Doing well, here). Firsty stop I thought I’d better check the car hire, which I did on the internet, was OK. Finding the Hertz Office. Found the road OK, but the numbers are completely random. As they seem to be on several roads round here (including the hotel – the taxi driver didn’t believe me when I pointed out the hotel as it was nowhere near where it should have been by address). After sorting out the car, I went for breakfast and then to look for a tram to somewhere near Chapel St. Got the right stop first time with a lucky guess.

The best shopping, so I’d been told, was on Chapel St. Nothing like Peterborough. It runs for about 3-4km, with a few boutiquey shops at one point, and is very likely Shirley High St (where we shopped as students) at the top end. There was a great Bric a Brac shop which absorbed a few minutes with a fantastic range of clutter. And a specialist herb and spice shop. The buildings were quite incongruously grand for a suburban street, many in various states f disrepair. So a building with very Rococo curls and peeling green paint houses JB Hi-fi, for example.

I stopped for lunch, eventually, at a café and had a very good lamb salad before wondering down to Como to get the tram back. (Not a lake or a mountain in site). There was a leaf green Holden cruising up and down with a loudhailer pulling cars over. I’m still not sure if he was genuinely an unmrked police car, or just a clown having a laugh.

I got the tram back to the Domain to walk back through the Botanic Gardens. Again a lucky / semi-educated guess as to where they were as they were marked just off the edge of all the maps of the cente of town. They were quite small, and actually not very impressive. Although it’s difficult given that it’s Autumn and the lack of water there’s been. The herbs were particularly dowdy and there was even a dead possum in the middle of one of the beds. The glass houses were, well, warm and humid with lots of plants in pots in. The only problem was only abot 3 were labelled so you walked through thinking that’s a green plant and, er, that’s it. Anyway, back round the lake and through the park (past a permanent open air music bowl that’s quite impressive) up to the river Yarra where I stopped for a drink. There’s another arcade with interesting shops on the south bank, then I distracted myself (from the very strong desire to get a tram straight back to the hotel) by walking back through the arcades and lanes. Darkness falls early in a city with buildings of that height.

By the time I got back to the hotel, it was sevenish. There was hardly anything on that I wanted to see (actually hardly anything on) at the festival, and they started at 7, anyway. So I just wondered into town to find food. Unfortunately I also needed to find the internet and the first place I found was back by the river. So there probably wasn’t actually a lot of point in eating if I had to walk an hour there and back to find it.

On the way back, past Flagstaff Park, there were possums in all of the tree. An incredible number. Just like rats (except you rarely see rats). It’s amazing, really, how many wild animals you do see here.