Wandering Melbourne

Saturday 2 December

After our late night yesterday, a lay in was just what we needed and it was around 09.00 before we arrived at breakfast. We had just sat down, when Colin got a call from Juz, eager to tell us all the details about the wedding – being a man, of course Colin didn’t ask the right questions, but we understood the celebrations had all gone well.

This morning would be a housekeeping morning – we had two large bags of washing that needed doing, and several blogs to write, postcards to send and some mending! – how come at home if socks get a hole in we get new ones, yet here in Australia I am mending a seam on Colin’s trousers which has frayed?! Colin also contacted Air New Zealand about our plane tickets – our itinerary shows that we leave Melbourne at noon, while our tickets read 09.30, but the man on the other end assured us we are on the noon flight, and that all would be well when we checked in – let’s hope so.

It was just after midday by the time all the chores were out of the way (I had only managed to scribe one day’s blog, so I must try and catch up soon), and we made our way across the Fitzroy Gardens to the circular tram route stop at the top of Bourke Street. After a few minutes one arrived that was standing room only, but we managed to squeeze in and set off, accompanied by a commentary about the various places we were passing and the nearest sights to see at each stop. People jumped on and off at every stop, and we soon had a seat. We traveled the whole circular route, which helped us to understand the layout of the city more clearly, and where places were in respect of each other. We wandered the streets, ate some lunch, made a few purchases, looked at “old” buildings before ending up at Federation Square, on the northern bank of the river – surrounded on three sides by modern cube buildings covered in multi-coloured, odd shaped blocks on a wire framework. A live rock concert was taking place to one side, which we skirted and walked on to the bridge across the Yarra, where people were putting their heart and soul into rowing down the river. The MCG stadium dominated the landscape on the opposite bank, amidst parks and trees, next to the Rod Laver Stadium. Beside the river was a large exhibition of aerial photographs taken to highlight many of the world’s problems and rare sights, from famine to flooding, global warming to natural erosion, from the twin towers to camels in the desert and swimming in the hot springs. There were about fifty of these enormous photos of locations all round the world. It was very interesting and causing a lot of interest. We wandered around here in the sun before returning to the hotel.

We tried to book dinner at a couple of restaurants, but we had forgotten its coming up to Christmas – just three weeks away now - and like at home, I am sure, there were many office celebrations and group parties tonight, so most restaurants were full. We changed and walked back into the centre and found the Chinese Quarter, where there were a few spaces to be found – the restaurant we chose only had a couple of tables free when we got there and these soon filled up. We could see many tourists walking up and down in the street outside also looking for dinner. There are lots of places to eat here in Melbourne, but not nearly enough for when the locals and visitors all want to eat out at the same time. Still, we enjoyed our Chinese food – they have enormous portions here, so it was lucky we only ordered soup and a couple of dishes – before walking back to the hotel.

Melbourne is probably the most English city we have visited in Australia, and there are lots of ex-Brits here – the coach driver this morning came originally from Sidcup in 1951 – who all seem to adore the climate and the ambience of this place. It is very laid back and easy going, although there are large numbers of Asians settling here (the present Mayor is of Chinese origin) and we do wonder how much influence they will have in years to come. The suburbs stretch nearly fifty kilometres from the centre to the south east of the city, and over thirty kilometres to the north, so there are lots of leafy areas to choose to live and shop and work, and everyone seems very happy with their “lot”.