MELBOURNE in English!

NOW FOR MY CONTRIBUTION CONCERNING MELBOURNE !

The photos are to be found in Christine's article!

Somehow during my childhood/youth I had picked up the idea that Sydney was the busy, dynamic, “growing” city where everything was “happening” (Opera House and co) whereas Melbourne a more staid, established city, quieter, “laid back”, “calmer” and maybe more “formal” - maybe a “left-over” from the time when Melbourne was the federal capital before the building of Canberra.

Certainly it was going to be difficult to follow on from 3 days in Sydney.

Firstly as the ship drew into the port, you could see a huge difference between Sydney and Melbourne: Melbourne has a flat, almost monotonous coastline compared to Sydney harbour which must be the finest harbour that we have visited to-date. Certainly we had the chance of being tied up to the “no freight” quay (called Station Harbour) – the same quay as used by the ferries to Tasmania. The only other ship tied up in the vicinity was a ferry to Tasmania. The immediate vicinity of the quay was very uninspiring – dismal, boring buildings. The city itself is 15 minutes inland by bus or taxi from the port. So the port of Melbourne has nothing comparable to that of Sydney with the Rocks, Circular Quay or Darling Harbour by the water’s edge.

As part of “our ticket” we had a Costa bus tour of the town that morning – followed by a small boat trip for several miles on the Yarra River through the city centre. I remember a colleague from my days in British Steel (1972-4) working on a welding problem for the Yarra Bridge – he must have solved it as the bridge is still there! He also worked on a welding problem for the Rio Niterio bridge in Rio – and that is also still standing so he could not have been as useless as we thought at the time!

So we got our first glimpse of Melbourne from the bus – and truthfully, it was not bad at all! Lots of Victorian buildings (government buildings, cathedrals, churches…) in very good condition with more modern buildings (including high rises) built around them but without “overshadowing them” or causing “visual conflict”. This was further confirmed during our “walk about” in the city centre by ourselves in the afternoon. Yes Melbourne appears to be a very pleasant city – the traffic is very moderate (not fast and respectful of traffic lights), bicycles everywhere and many more brightly painted trams than buses, some of the trams looking like they have been in service for at least 50 years! Lots and lots of parks, green spaces, and very wide spacious tree-lined roads – apparently Melbourne had some very strict town planners in the 1850-90s and due to the gold rush in the hinterland (Victoria) there was no lack of money for city development with parks being included in the first designs. Added to that, the role as Federal capital until Canberra was built appears to have ensured a certain quality of “formal architecture” for public buildings etc.

Then the people were very pleasant and helpful. We had some “stress” in getting back to the port in time for the ship leaving. A taxi driver (a Sikh) whom we had tried to flag down in the street but who had already finished work and was going home (not in the same direction as the port) stopped and volunteered to take us to a taxi rank where we should be able to get a taxi to the port. Unfortunately no taxis turned up at the taxi rang so we rapidly walked back to the main station where I had seen other taxi ranks and had assumed that we would find a taxi – which we did eventually after a fairly long and “stressful” wait. But everybody in the queue at the taxi rank was friendly and full of helpful suggestions etc.  And then finally the taxi that did take us to the port (another Indian driver) insisted on taking us inside the port, right up to the ship, even though I had already paid him for dropping us off at the port gates! And in the museums, galleries, shops, and on the streets people are naturally friendly, helpful, relaxed and open – the difference with Europe is striking.

A further example – on the streets in the city centre, there are ladies (and men) in red uniforms (council employees) who are there to help people (tourists etc) who are lost or need guidance to find places, buses, trams etc and they mark out their instructions on maps which they give you!

We did not visit the outskirts or suburbs (other than between the city centre and the port) but we could understand why Melbourne could have been nominated as the best city to live in worldwide (although we both prefer Sydney from what we saw).

So what did we do?

The bus took us to the main museum which has 3 main themes – the nature in Victoria State (jungles, forests – and forest fires); the original people (Aborigines) and the development of the State of Victoria, of which Melbourne is capital (gold rush etc). But how do you visit such a museum in 45 minutes including toilets and shop? Thereafter some more driving through the city to Federation Square and onto the boat for the cruise on the Yarra. Nothing special.

And then we asked the driver and guide to leave us at Federation Square – a 1980s “art deco” type public square, very surprising but visibly a success judging from the number of people having their lunches in the cafés (including us) or just sitting on the steps. Then a walk to the nearby Cultural Centre (very agreeable plus free toilets!) and the nearby Victoria State Art Gallery which was holding an expo on the last Chinese Emperor (very appropriate given the design of the Gallery which could easily be part of the Forbidden City).

This was followed by a walk along the river on Southgate, across a pedestrian bridge a little like that over the Thames in London (but it does not “shake”). Then a walk through the Flinder Street Station (Victorian façade with a multitude of clocks) – probably the most emblematic building in Melbourne. Unfortunately the Queen Victoria Market was closed on Wednesday – and fortunately for the credit card! Thereafter via a number of souvenir shops, a walk up to the Victoria State Library – I do not think that I have ever seen so many people working (studying) in a public library – 2 very large floors full of hundreds of computer work stations and every one occupied either by  high school students or university age students. And what struck me most – more than 75% of the students were of Chinese origin (a flagrant confirmation of the “study ethic” of the Chinese families) although the Chinese are only 10-12% of the population of Melbourne.

The ship was supposed to leave the port at 6pm – the last clients to be aboard at 5h30. We had been told by the guide to get a taxi by 4.30pm – 15 minute ride but need to take into account possible traffic jams! So I had wanted to start looking for a taxi at 4pm – we started looking at 4.10pm – and you know the rest! We did get back into our cabin at 5.10pm – more than relieved!! Apparently others were even slower than us in getting back to the port as the ship only left at 7pm that evening.

Conclusion: Melbourne is really a very nice city and very well worth the visit (but Sydney is really something else!!)

My turn to correct Christine! Apparently, according to the Economist, it isn’t Canberra in the top ten most agreeable cities to live in, it is Perth!! The others being Melbourne in the first position then Sydney and Adelaide. Auckland comes fourth and 2 European cities Vienna and Helsinki are also in the top ten!