Sydney-siders often joke about Melbournians and their “hipster” culture. It’s true that the vibe of the two cities could barely be any more different: Sydney can come across as a flamboyant seaside diva, with beautiful beaches and lots of dramatic sites like the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge and the such – although it also has a different side to it, as you can see in this post about my former residence of Chippendale. Melbourne seems more like a grungy underground princess infused with London vibes, riverside romantic and seaside charm, depending on whereabouts in the city you are.
I had been to Melbourne a couple of times whilst being on my working holiday visa ten years ago, and both times it was raining. In that way as in many others, Melbourne is often referred to as the “most European city” in Australia: It does have a bit of a London vibe to it and the weather is equally unpredictable (albeit on a warmer scale). This time, Liam and I were super lucky both with the weather as well as with the buzz.
We had accidentally chosen a long weekend, so the city was buzzing and the Moomba festival was on – a community festival along the Yarra River, which runs through Melbourne. So on our first day in the city, equipped with a massive hangover from our trip to the Bellarine, we merely meandered along the river, enjoying the buzz, munching dangerously delicious treats and listening to an Irish folk band as well as a local rapper performing on stage.
The reason why I like travelling on my own is that I don’t like planning too much and I can just go with the flow and do whatever I fancy. Lucky for me, Liam is very much the same so we both just walked around, past the Floral Clock in Queen Victoria Gardens and ended up in a nice riverside restaurant, Miyako. They had a special on between 5 and 7 pm, so we popped in to enjoy some bento and gyozas on their balcony with views towards the Yarra River.
I had to work for most of the next day, but we still managed to get some sights in. Melbourne is famous for its little alleyways and cafés. Degraves Street is one such lane and it features a lot of very nice little lunch spots with healthy foods, as well as the only place I actually remembered from my last visit to Melbourne – Little Cupcakes. Just around the corner it The Journal Café, located within the city library and a great place to get some work done (the only downside is, I couldn’t find any plug sockets to plug my laptop in). Many people sat there on their own, laptops open and immersed in their own world – and I was one of them.
Another place that stuck in my head from my last visit is the beautiful Fitzroy Gardens. This massive park is walking distance (like pretty much anything in the city of Melbourne) and contains beautiful water features, plants, a conservatory as well as Captain Cook’s Cottage. This little English cottage was constructed in 1755 in the English village of Great Ayton, North Yorkshire by the parents of Captain James Cook. It was brought to Melbourne in 1934 to commemorate James Cook, the famous navigator, and is now a museum.
On the way to this park, we stumbled over Hosier Lane – an alleyway painted all over with graffiti and street art. We could have spent half a day there studying all the various pieces of art if only we’d had the time – but it was absolutely worth a little stroll anyway. Many artworks have political or social meaning, e.g. pieces about climate change or the bush fires.
With all that walking around, we had a very late dinner that night in Chinatown. By the time we got there it was nearing 10 pm and most restaurants were already closed or closing the doors in our faces. Thankfully, we found a little place that turned out to have delicious food, called Orchid Gardens. We enjoyed some Singapore Noodles, Satay Beef and delicious Jasmine and Flower teas before heading for our last stop of the night – the Casino.
Now if you think we wanted to go and win a lot of cashola at the casino, you’re right – but we didn’t go in just that night. Along the Southbank of the Yarra River, in front of the Casino, eight massive torches blow the world’s largest fire plumes into the air every hour on the hour, starting:
- From December 1st – First show at 21:00
- From March 1st – First show at 20:00
- From April 1st – First show at 18:00
- From October 1st – First show at 20:00
St. Kilda
On our last day, as I was working, Liam decided to make his way to St. Kilda and volunteered to grab some pics for my blog at the same time. St. Kilda is Melbourne’s laid-back beach suburb – basically the equivalent of Fremantle in Perth. I’ll be leaving you with some impressions from this relaxed little place which don’t need further explanation anyway 🙂
