Melbourne is a great city, regularly rating as one of the world’s best places to live. A melting pot, where people from all around the world come to settle or just visit. It’s home to Australia’s most varied dining scene and claims to be the country’s arts and sports capital. Throw in stately gold-rush era architecture, large areas of parkland, lanes of street art and a thriving live-music tradition and there’s not much that Melbourne doesn’t do well. It is a fairly large city, home to four million people.
We had the Christmas holidays to spend in Melbourne, nine days in total. We were staying with friends who we hadn’t seen for several years, having once lived and worked in places around the world together. Here is what we loved the most…
Catching up with Great Friends
For us a big part of being in Melbourne was catching up with great friends. We were staying with the Zoccali family who we hadn’t seen for eight years! Having first met in Oman sixteen years ago we went on to live and work in Brunei and Aberdeen together. We experienced a “hot and sunny” family Christmas and New Year with the whole family. We loved it and so appreciated their kindness and hospitality. It was wonderful to have some “home” time after four months on the road.
We also caught up with some other good friends, the Marshall family, who we’d met in Holland where we lived for three years from 2006. Jen and I met at a local toddler group when the children were small. Haven’t they grown..?
Cricket at the MCG
We were lucky enough to visit the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the Boxing Day test between Australia and Pakistan. We arrived early and settled down to watch the cricket. Pakistan were batting and Australia fielding. We had great seats on the second level so had a really good view of the action. With the boys all wearing their Christmas presents, Australian cricket gear, we were definitely supporting the Aussies. Four wickets went before rain stopped play. It was a fun day, complete with a lunchtime picnic. Australia went on to win the test, which meant great celebrations in our house.
Riding a Tram
Melbourne’s tram network is the largest in the world. We loved riding the trams in the centre of the city, particularly as they are free. They are a great way to travel around.
Cafés and Shopping
There is something here for everyone: upscale shopping, souvenirs, mid range clothing stores and cheaper outlet shops. In Melbourne, there are several great arcades, old buildings which have been converted into small, boutique shopping malls. This is the perfect place to do a little window shopping. Once you have worked up an appetite browsing, hit an outdoor café. The cafe’s are a place to meet, chat, drink a coffee or some wine.
The Coffee is Amazing
Dave is the only coffee drinker in our family, so he is the only one who can vouch for how good the coffee is in Melbourne. They love their coffee here. There is literally a coffee shop on every corner! Parts of Melbourne have a European feel to them, with their outdoor cafes, historic colonial architecture, people drinking coffee or sipping on wine, and a smattering of languages from all around the world.
The Melbourne Star
The Melbourne Star is a giant observation wheel, similar to the London Eye. It is one of only four observation wheels in the world. The Star was built in 2008, but after a series of unfortunate events, the wheel developed huge cracks in its supports, the entire Star was dismantled and rebuilt. It permanently opened in December 2013. The Melbourne Star is located in the Docklands area of the city. It is away from the city centre but there are definite advantages to its location. There were no queues here. During our thirty-minute revolution we had a pod all to ourselves. Also, with its remote location, we had great views of the Melbourne skyline. We took a ride on the Star in the early evening, on a beautifully sunny day, and the views were fantastic.
Ever Changing Graffiti
In many cities, graffiti covers the poorer sections of cities, often found on bridges, in subways and along railway lines. In Melbourne, graffiti decorates the city centre. Most of the graffiti is found on Hosier Lane, a pedestrian area that is made up of several small streets. An area where graffiti is not only present but encouraged. It is an area where freedom of expression is allowed on the walls. Some of the art is whimsical, with no real meaning, but some of it does send a message.
The colours are so bright!
The artwork is constantly changing. New art pops up daily, covering up someone else’s work. There must be layers and layers of art on these walls!
Touring the Wineries of the Yarra Valley
There are many great wineries around Melbourne. Both the Mornington Peninsula and the Yarra Valley are well known for their wine. We chose to visit the Yarra Valley just one hour from central Melbourne. On our day trip to the Yarra Valley we visited four wineries and a chocolaterie. Our favourite was Chandon, the champagne house associated with Moet and Chandon. Chandon flies the flag as the only Australian sparkling specialists with genuine French heritage. It all begins decades ago, when Moët & Chandon dared to dream differently, believing that the unknown could deliver brilliant opportunity. Produce superlative sparkling wines outside its hallowed French terroir? Mais oui…..
Here we viewed the wine making process and sampled six of the wines in the tasting room.
We also visited Rochdale, Oakridge and Yerring Station wineries, all offer tastings and sales.
The chocolaterie and ice creamery was a firm favourite with the children. Here we sampled free chocolate, ate enormous ice creams and bought several chocolate delights. Chocolate covered strawberries, my favourite…
Watch some Australian Rules Football
Australian Rules Football, Aussie Rules or the footy, as it is known, is a major passion for Melbournians. Unfortunately for us we were here in the off season so we were unable to watch any Aussie Rules. Everyone we met in Melbourne supported one of the many teams and talked a lot about the footy. The Melbourne Cricket Ground is the number one place to watch a footy match and regularly holds 80,000 people. This is a hallowed ground for Australians. Aussie rules is a mix between rugby and Gaelic with an odd shaped oval ball.
A Visit to Arty St Kilda
St Kilda is all about fun. It has a seedy history and was once a playground full of dance halls, a fun park, an ice skating rink, theatres and sea baths. Now its art deco apartments are much in demand. On weekends the volume is turned up and the street party atmosphere sets in. We wandered through St Kilda stopping at a wonderful cake shop and admiring the beach huts on Brighton Beach.
