Our starting and ending point for our trip to Australia was the metropolis of Melbourne, which sits on the country's southern coast where the Yarra River lets out into Port Phillip Bay. The city itself has a population of just 90,000; including its 11 suburbs, that figure jumps to 3.9 million. Settled by Europeans in 1835, it is the capitol of Victoria state and Australia's second-largest city.
Why Melbourne? We bought our plane tickets during a fare sale on flights to Sydney and Melbourne. While Sydney has its famous opera house and bridge, we're not really city folk, as you can probably tell from this blog. On the recommendation of an extended family member from the area, we chose Melbourne for its access to national parks and bushwalking in the region.
After 31 hours of travel from Missoula - including a nine-hour layover in Denver - we arrived in Australia just after 10 a.m. Crossing the International Date Line jumped us ahead a day, but it went pretty smoothly, as I slept through most of the nearly 15-hour leg from Los Angeles to Sydney. (Australian airports are a little odd, though. It's almost as if you're funneled through a department store of duty-free items between your gate and customs.)
After touching down, we located our rental car - apparently Alamo isn't Alamo at the Melbourne airport; it's Europcar - and made our way to our hotel downtown. Once we were checked in and cleaned up, our adventure began.
We spent our first afternoon getting oriented. Leaving the car behind, we bought tram tickets and a map. Downtown is a decent size but still very walkable, and the tram system makes it even more so. We made our way into the center of town, checking out City Square, Federation Square and the Yarra riverbank; looking in a few stores; and reading a few menus along the way. After some dinner at a local watering hole, we called it a night.
Melbourne has a heavy British influence - especially in some of the older buildings - as well as an Asian and Middle Eastern presence due to Australia's location on the globe. But I was surprised at how American it was downtown, mostly when it came to the retailers. McDonald's, Hungry Jacks (Burger King), Subway, Target. Granted, you probably won't find a foot-long chicken tikka sandwich in the United States.
Architecturally, the city has an old-meets-new feel: the spires of St. Paul's Cathedral across the street from the jaunty, metallic buildings on the edge of Federation Square; the Flinders Street Station dome vs. the modern, wavy roof of Southern Cross Station.
And Melbourne is a busy place, the trams and sidewalks packed with people during the workday. It doesn't let up after quitting time; people crowd the city's many cafes, restaurants and pubs, spilling out into sidewalk seating.
The next day, we set out early, starting with breakfast at a cafe around the corner from the hotel. Next, we hopped the tram up to the top of downtown and the Parliament House of Victoria. From there, we walked back down to the center of the city through Chinatown. We passed ornate archways at the start of each block, as well as a lot of food pictures and even some Peking ducks hanging in restaurant windows.
As we walked back toward Federation Square, we noticed people putting up barriers along one of the main streets. A worker told us a parade would be held in a couple of hours for the Melbourne Cup horse race, so we decided to return later. In the meantime, we took a relatively quiet stroll through the Royal Botanic Gardens on the other side of the Yarra, checking out the flowers.
Back downtown, the crowd near Flinders Street Station had swelled with people from nearby office buildings as well as anti-horse-jumping protesters. The parade took place uninterrupted and featured past champion horses, current jockeys and other celebrities - think Olivia Newton John. As soon as the festivities were over, people clogged the streets on their way back to work.
After lunch, we wandered a bit more, then took the free tram that loops downtown, traveling out to the to the high-rises of the formerly industrial Docklands and back up to Parliament. Next, we found our way to St. Paul's Cathedral for a look inside at its stained-glass windows and alternating rows of light and dark stonework.
After a quick trip back to the hotel to clean up, we grabbed some dinner at the James Squire brewery in the Portland Hotel, then picked up some groceries and turned in early for the night. The next day, we would set out on the Great Ocean Road west of Melbourne.
Find more pictures from Melbourne here and here.
