Melbourne

Beach at St. Kilda
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I arrived a bit late, the bus was supposed to take 12 hours, way longer than I would have liked but regardless it took that long plus more time due to the training of a new driver who had a few problems shifting, I was seriously concerned that the transmission was going to be fried by the time we made it halfway but somehow the bus held together. 13 hours after leaving Sydney I made it to Melbourne!

My first impression of Melbourne came on the highway, surprisingly, where we passed an incredible sculpture of a giant yellow metal arc spanning over halfway across the 6 lane highway along with a series of orange spikes. I wish I had my camera ready but I didn't so I will just have to try and explain. This certainly set the tone for my time spent here as they have the most impressive modern and historic architecture I've seen to date on my travels.

Luna Park
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I can't thank Linda and her housemates Mark, Bob, and Amy enough for letting me crash on their couch for a week. Middlepark felt like home by the time I left!

Since I was staying outside of the main city I was more inclined to explore the suburbs, so my first day, which had absolutely perfect weather, I set off for St. Kilda. I had fun walking around and exploring the neighborhood. The beach area was small but it was really beautiful. There was a small botanic garden and I was impressed with the variety of cafes that lined the two main streets. I saw the famous Luna Park as well as the Espy. After soaking up some sun I set off for the city to orient myself. Melbourne is easy to get around via their extensive tram system and the city is on a grid in plan so I never got lost.

Fitzroy Gardens Conservatory
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I was in Melbourne for some time and I don't want to do a day by day play so I'll just try and hit some of the highlights for me.

The ACMI, (the academy of cinema of Melbourne) was definitely a highlight, I spent almost a day here exploring the wide range of exhibits, all video related. I also went to see an art movie (first time I've been in a theater since 2006!) at the center, unfortunately they didn't have any popcorn, darn! The NGV not only had some great exhibits (loved the tennis shoe displays and the interactive lego display) but it also had some beautiful architecture, as did the Exposition Center and the Melbourne Museum. I never made it inside the last two but the exteriors were certainly worth a look.

Queen Victoria Market
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The information center had a series of brochures on walks you could do throughout the city. I took advantage of the ones with the gardens, having heard that the Botanic gardens were the best in the country. I wasn't disappointed. The walk from federation square to the botanic garden is certainly worth the time as is the walk through Fitzroy Gardens and the conservatory there. The anzac memorial is a very austere memorial and worth a stop even though it wasn't included on the botanic garden walk.

View of city from the Docklands
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My favorite spot was the Queen Victoria Market, where you could get any fruit or vegetable ever grown along with a pair or jeans or a souvenir t-shirt. The number of aisles in the fruit and vegetable area alone is daunting and takes you a good 30 minutes just to walk quickly past everything, trying to note the stalls with the cheapest prices for mushrooms or whatever it is you're looking for. I made multiple visits to the market and I felt that I was eating rather healthy, but for a lot less than I was normally paying.

Anzac Memorial
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Another one of my favorite walks was the arcade walk. Because of Melbourne's street layout it lends itself to breaking up the blocks with a series of arcades, basically covered shopping areas connecting the blocks. Some of them are really beautiful spots with extensive stained glass windows and ceramic tiles, others are narrow little lanes lined with funky cafes that are so small that you find it difficult to make it past the people sitting at the tiny tables in the lane.

NGV
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Walking along the riverfront near the casino was also worth the time, there are a series of interesting pedestrian bridges along the way that are worth a walk across to see.

I was a bit put off by the restaurants tactics in Chinatown, where you are looking at the menus posted in the windows and they have annoying women standing there trying to get you to come in and eat . It had the opposite effect on me and I searched out the places that didn't have someone standing outside. Rather annoying. I ended up at a place called spicy fish, and they weren't kidding about the spicy part. I was a bit embarrassed when one of the waitresses came over with extra napkins and offered me some ice because I was nearly in tears from how hot the fish was that I was eating, my nose was just constantly running. It was an amazing color of red that I will never forget. I'll have to prepare myself for my travels in southeast asia, let's hope my stomach lining survives!

Cool interactive lego exhibit at NGV
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Another one of my favorite hang outs was the State Library, a beautiful building that offers you free internet access, bonus! The City Library was also a great building, tucked away on a smaller side street but it was really well designed.

The neighborhood of Middlepark, where I was staying was also a beautiful place, full of historic homes that I enjoyed exploring, I tried to walk back to the apartment a different way each day just to see the different buildings. The area certainly seemed rather expensive as it was only a couple of blocks to the beach. I was amazed at how close St. Kilda was when I ran down the beach one day. It's a good thing because the group of us went out to a pre-Anzac day concert at the Espy in St. Kilda and we were unable to get a taxi home so we walked. The concert was a blast, I love hearing local music.

Stained glass ceiling detail at NGV
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Linda and I had two dinners out, the first one not being that great for me. We hit the Greek district downtown and I ordered the calamari. Not only was my calamari chewy, it came with some undercooked rice so I had chewy calamari with crunchy rice. Not a good thing. Our last meal was really good, we hit a local Middlepark Indian restaurant where I had the best pakora I've ever had to date, the mains being really good and the host was super friendly, it was the best!

Overall view of stained glass ceiling at NGV
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Even though I spent over a week here I feel that I still didn't see everything I wanted to, I missed out on many of the various suburbs that are supposed to be lots of fun. Hopefully I'll be able to come back to this great city at some other point in my life because it has a lot more to offer!