Waltzing Melbourne

Comparing two different cities is never fair, but one still feels compelled to do so. Especially, when visiting them in succession. Melbourne seems to be a real city. Where there are real crowds, real work and a real purpose. Sydney, with no offence to the lovely place, seems almost like a designated tourist park, in comparison. It is no surprise then, that there isn’t much of ‘sightseeing’ one can do within the city area in Melbourne. Much of the sights in the state of Victoria lie outside Melbourne. Within the city, what one can do best is observe and absorb the buzz and culture of the city’s life.

Since the best sights of Victoria lie outside Melbourne, and traveling alone, the costs of renting a car were prohibitive, out of sheer rationale and against my sheer will, I decided to join a tour bus for the Great Ocean Road. But before I elaborate on that, let me pen down two of my favourites within Melbourne.

The Yarra River. If Sydney has the harbour, Melbourne has the river. The river itself is not very wide, and both banks are seamlessly connected by a number of bridges, and traffic moves so very easily between the CBD and south bank, that you might very well forget that a river separates the two sides. Yet, it is the hub for a whole lot of the city’s activities. There are trees and walkways and cycle tracks and restaurants on either side. There are boat rides along the river, and wakeboarding and fireworks (which were resplendent, I assure you) during Moomba – the water festival. (By some strange stroke of luck, I managed to catch the Mardi Gras in Sydney and the Moomba in Melbourne… neither of which was intentional. I only wish I had caught the Formula 1 in Melbourne next week!) I spent an entire afternoon lazily walking by the river, taking in the water sports, resting on the benches, eating at the cafes. It strangely reminded me of the Singapore river, and I even felt a tinge of homesickness.

Next only to the Yarra River, is my love for the Yarra Trams. Somehow I have always had a love for trams. In Hong Kong, I used to take a ride every now and then, and to this day, my friends tease me about ‘the old world charm’ of the trams that I couldn’t stop talking about. There is something strange about the discipline of sticking to pre-determined track, and their resistance to change, that charms me no end. So it is no surprise that I did not once take a bus or a train or a cab in Melbourne. It was one tram ride all the way!

Food is a passion in Melbourne. Pizza is the staple. Indian means Vindaloo. Chinese takeaway is a culture. Kebabs and falafel are a fashion statement. People are diverse. Where Sydney has its fair share of Chinese people, Melbourne has a lot of Indians. Students, shopkeepers, restaurant owners, executives. You hear a lot more Punjabi on the trams here than you do in Delhi. But then, I never took public transport in Delhi, did I?

Though not as glamorous as Sydney’s, Melbourne has its beaches too. I did take the tram to St.Kilda and beach-whaled there for a good part of Saturday. The one thing I loved about the beaches in Australia, is that despite being totally crowded, it still offers a great sense of privacy, when compared to beaches in Asia. Nobody around gives a damn about what you are up to – the most appropriate attitude one wishes for when crisping oneself on the beach.

Given that I didn’t have any friends in Melbourne, I didn’t do much of a pub crawl. The backpacker (which was awesome, in every way it could be!) I was staying in, had an excellent bar though, with a live band and whatnot. I did land up there on Friday night with some newly made acquaintances (I was in a dorm room with 2 Irish girls, and a Taiwanese, and as you might have guessed the latter did come out for dinner with me but not for drinks). Anyway, at the bar I realized that half the backpackers in Melbourne are drunk Irish men. The other half, surprisingly, are drunk Irish women.

Speaking of drinking, I was a little disappointed to find out that Australia doesn’t drink good old Absolut. They drink Smirnoff instead. Sad indeed. Also, the Yarra valley wines, and the wines from Victoria in general, are the best compared to other parts of Australia. I have drunk copious amounts of wine over the last one week. In ‘From Heaven Lake’, Seth talks about the Chinese imbibing extraordinary amounts of warm water. I couldn’t help but smile – I have picked up that habit in Singapore, especially in my air-conditioned office. This week however, you could very well replace the hot water with wine in that description.

One more activity, rather visit, in Melbourne that deserves mention is the Rialto Tower. Apparently the tallest building in Melbourne, with a paid ticket to the observation deck, it offers a 360 degree view of the city and a bit beyond. I, however, was not excited. One goes to the top of Petronas and sees Kuala Lumpur. One goes to the top of Empire State and sees New York. Somewhere along this line, one gets a little jaded of viewing decks and city skylines. But I did go up there, nonetheless. And though only from a distance, I did see the Formula 1 track. A ‘yay’ for that.

My laptop battery is running low, and since I cant charge it on the flight, I will have to continue my Great Ocean Road story at a later date. Also, the story of a girl, deprived of fresh food markets in Singapore, going slightly berserk on a bright Sunday morning in Melbourne. All this and much more, very soon!


(written on Sunday, 11 March 07, on my flight from Melbourne to Singapore)