Melbourne Weekend

1. I don’t know the when or why of this “animosity” between Sydney-siders and Melbournians, but I suspect it will go on for some time. They’re jealous we have two of the Great Australian Icons, we just don’t like them because, well, they’re from Melbourne. But Melbourne seems nice, in that quaint kinda way, and Tourism Victoria runs some pretty cool ads, and it was my last weekend on holidays, so we went to Melbourne.

2. So… touchdown, Melbourne airport. Much like any other really. Found a cabbie, on our way to the hotel. First thing I noticed was the cab — very new, very nice. And the cabbie wore a complete, well maintained uniform. It was almost as if he was proud of his appearance. A rarity amongst Sydney cabbies. The second thing I noticed was how quiet everything was. There didn’t seem to be very many people about, no traffic jams, barely anyone else on the road. We pulled up at a set of lights where we turned onto a major road into the Melbourne CBD, and the road was deserted. Literally no other car there. It was like a ghost town.

3. The Melbourne CBD is really pretty, on a beautifully laid out grid system with wide tree-lined boulevards running parallel to more narrow streets. And a reasonable naming convention as well: Collins St. (wide) runs parallel to Little Collins St. (narrow), and they both run straight from one end of the CBD to the other. Even with the worst tourist map (and they all are) you won’t get lost. When we arrived it was about 8pm and the sun was about to set, and the wide streets let more of the light onto street level until the sun went down, creating these beautiful stabs of light throughout the CBD. I mentally take note of the route of our cab ride, scouting locations for a future photographic trip.

4. We stayed at the Victoria Hotel, which was nice but I wouldn’t stay again. The rooms are nice enough, but there’s no ventilation except for an old rattling air-con unit that doesn’t do an awful lot. It was a good location though, two blocks or so from Federation Square, the same for Chinatown.

5. First on the list of touristy things to do was Federation Square. I don’t understand the controversy; unlike the toaster in Sydney (a great big black abomination of apartments, hotel, restaurants and bars that just happens to block the view of the Opera House from Circular Quay train station) Federation Square is very nice. It’s interesting to look at, and the buildings house interesting things, not just overpriced bars and restaurants (and I usually like expensive bars and restaurants). We spent a day wandering through some of the exhibitions there, my favorite being the Stanley Kubrick Exhibition at the ACMI.

6. We also spent time walking through the city, down by the Yarra river, visited Melbourne Museum and the Melbourne Observation Deck. I love the spaciousness of the city, a feeling of peace that shouldn’t be possible in a city of this size. Even on a Saturday night you don’t get the hotted up cars with the loud exhausts like you do here, or the roving groups of drunk people clogging up the foot paths. I like that about Melbourne, there’s just a bit more space.

7. Another thing I liked was the restaurants. We went to a beautiful Italian place called Becco’s, had a great meal, and didn’t spend anything near what we were expecting. We went for Yum Cha, that was cheap too. And best of all, the service! The service was fantastic everywhere, and they seemed to genuinely want to serve you. There are certainly restaurants like that here in Sydney, at all price ranges, but there’s a pretentiousness with wait staff in a lot of Sydney restaurants I’ve been to that we didn’t see in Melbourne. I go to a great restaurant in Sydney, the wait staff know they’re good. I go to one in Melbourne, they bend over backwards to make it great. Best of all, there are good restaurants everywhere. And you know I really like that about a city.

8. But… Sydney has its advantages. Get out of the CBD and you’ll find areas with fantastic restaurants. We have amazing beaches, and amazing surf, and (normally) beautiful weather. We have excellent museums and art galleries, and pubs that SERVE BEER IN SCHOONERS! But best of all, Sydney is home to both the Bridge and the Opera House, and every year they hang bargeloads of fireworks on it and light the wick — how can anyone beat that?

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