If Paradise is half as nice … Life in Melbourne Part One

Much is made – by both wanky residents and even wankier travel writers – about Melbourne's 'liveability'. Indeed, only a few weeks ago, it was named the most liveable city in the world by the annual Global Livability Survey, and as it was on the BBC, it must be true. And though we've stayed in bigger, more visceral, sweeter, more exciting and some downright more intoxicating cities during our travels, Melbourne was – with the brief exception of beautiful Buenos Aires – the only place we really called home. In short, we fell utterly, giddily and a little embarrassingly in love with Melbourne. And to honour that fact, here is our Top Ten utterly subjective, highly selective and quite possibly factually inaccurate reasons why we almost moved to the land Down Under. (Luke)


1. Winners and Losers

Straight in at Number One is this Melbourne-based drama of sweeping, Pinter-esque proportions, a beautifully scripted and hard hitting slice of... okay, okay. I lie. It's a painfully contrived, terribly acted slice of utter arse, broadcast weekly on Channel Seven. We loved it – and are still in pieces about missing the season finale. Reason enough to apply for residency – Google it now, and never look back. (Luke)



2. Food

Breaking with the habit of a lifetime, I didn't put food at the top of the list. But truth be told I should  have, as Melbourne is without a doubt the most fabulously foodie city we've visited. It is a challenge in itself to find a bad meal in the city, but as my amusing new body shape is testament to, it's a challenge I took up with gusto. And them some.

Ably aided and abetted by Bernie and Dee – possibly the only two people in the world who enjoy eating out as well and regularly as us – we took in a dizzying array of pubs, cafés and restaurants, serving everything from Thai to steaks, with at least half a dozen Chicken Parmigianas in between. (For the record, the finest specimen of this wonderful Aussie staple can be found at our local boozer – The Great Northern on Rathdowne Street, Carlton North.) But where else to recommend? For starters, head to the suburbs for the best grub. The CBD has a few gems – Post Deng Cafe  in China Town for a bargain lunch, and Cookie for some Thai with a twist in a fantastic setting – but the real actions lies elsewhere.

For some classic, and classy, French fayre with amusingly surly service, Madam Sousou on Brunswick Street, Fitzroy is hard to beat, with a nifty Euro wine list to boot. Markov Place, again in our Carlton North stomping ground, is well worth a visit for some top notch modern dishes with a Spanish / South American flavour. Book ahead a push through the over-filled bar area at the front and bag a table in the huge, welcoming space out back. The wine list has a few top-notch Argentinians, the bubbles are not too pricey and the lamb sublime – as is the chocolate fondants that the kitchen knocks out at an alarming speed and quality.

Honourable mention also to Residential Kitchen on the Carlton North stretch of Lygon Street. Good breakfasts for a lazy Saturday morning, but their Sunday roasts are the real winner, complete with home-made horseradish sauce and a desert tasting platter that you can't help but finish. Lastly – and this list really is appallingly brief – are the cafes that line suburban streets across the city, though – surprise, surprise – we were most au fait with our locals in Carlton North. At a pinch, I'd say that Black Ruby on Rathdowne Street kicked out the finest breakfast brunch I've ever seen – and let's not shit ourselves, that's quite a few. (Luke)

Festivals and Events

What ever the day, week or month there is always something going on in Melbourne. The first day we arrived we couldn't catch the tram we needed as a Greek festival dominated the Greek quarter of the city centre with dancing, kebabs and baklava. You can make the mistake on arrival in Melbourne of thinking you've been pretty lucky to get there the same weekend a festival or event is taking place - what you soon realise is its difficult to find a weekend when there isn't. During our time there, there was the Australian Grand Prix, a food and drink festival, a magic festival, a jazz festival, an architecture festival and a beer festival to name just a few. The main difficulty living in Melbourne is trying to fit in everything you want to!

We particularly enjoyed several evenings at the comedy festival, which runs through out March and is the Southern Hemisphere's biggest.

Another memorable day out was the charity Aussie rules football, a  massive fundraising effort for local charities organised by PBS and Triple J radio stations. Melbourne's leading alternative radio station, PBS is funded purely by donations and the breakfast show is also hosted by the lovely Crispi, a good mate of ours. A good day was had by all, Luke and I got to see an Aussie football match, and after the match we were able to run on to the pitch and play ball! (LM)

Hidden fun and the Suburbs

Melbourne CBD (or city centre) is relatively small as city centres go, but it certainly packs a lot in – a couple of universities, a state parliament, China town, the Greek quarter, an array of shopping centres, some gorgeous victorian architecture and the financial district to name a few. It is however, at first glance a little disappointing.

More disappointing still was our first Saturday night. Everyone had told us that Melbourne is great for going out in. We thought its Saturday night, we've arrived  in the most expensive place on our trip so far, and have no money. So hey - let's go drinking! Which we would have, if we'd been able to find a pub worth going to. We ended up with a take out beer on our hotel roof, pondering the question “just where is Melbourne's famed nightlife to be found?”

We discovered the anwer on meeting my old work colleague and now Melbourne residents, Chris and Pauline for a drink in the CBD a few weeks later. And the answer is “hidden”. The directions to any good bar in the CBD always involve at least one of the following sentences:
“Once you get the corner of that street turn down the second alleyway on the right”.
“You jut need to walk up three flights of stairs and the entrance is up there.”
“ If you get to … you've probably missed it.”
“Its got a green door, but there's no sign and it'll probably look closed even if it isn't.”
“If you didn't know it was there you wouldn't see it.”
It made me think of prohibition. It's a bit baffling at first but endearing in the end and contrasts to the brashness of places like Sydney. It's like being let in to a secret.

The real action however happens not in the CBD but in the suburbs...

Toorak was where we spent the majority of our first few weeks in Melbourne. South of the river, this quiet plush neighbourhood holds some great examples of Melbourne's typical victorian houses, covered in Art Nouveau style wrought iron. You can loose yourself for a few hours in the park and botanical gardens which stretch from here to the CBD. You an also while away a few hours wondering from here to Prahan where you find a fantastic array of op shops (charity shops) and Prahan's great, though absurdly overpriced, foody market.

St Kilda is a famous backpacker haven only twenty minutes south of the river and on the beach, home to hostels, bars and an iconic fairground. To be honest we found it rather quiet when we stayed their midweek, and if anything its a little seedy and grubby, but the little pier made it worth a walk about. St Kilda is however home to two Melbourne greats  - the fabulous South Melbourne Market …. and SBS's Rockwiz.

Brighton is further out and posher than St Kilda, but also on the coast. The beaches here are lovely on a sunny day and its home to an array of fancy cafes. It is famous for its picture perfect, brightly coloured beach houses.

Richmond hosts many of Melbourne's Vietnamese and Thai communities, and as such has a dearth of great restaurants with some of the best South East Asian food outside of South East Asia. I'm sure there is a lot more to this lovely Eastern suburb, but we went there for the food (I know unusual for us).

Fitzroy and Collingwood are clearly the coolest suburbs in Melbourne, and host the best nightlife. Smith Street and Brunswick streets have a grungy edge to them, and great pubs on every corner. This is also the place to get your ultimate op shop bargins – its all about the vintage in this part of Melbourne.

Carlton, home to Melbourne's Italian community, is rich with gelati, pizzerias and tales of the Mafia. Lygon Street I the many drag here and whilst many of the Italian restaurants on this stretch kick out below average Italian food (and I'm told some are still home to Mafioso), the atmosphere and the coffee are fab all the same. It is also home to Melbourne university and Melbourne museum.

Carlton North (Rathdowne Village) was by far our favourite suburb, but of course we our biased, was our home for our time in Melbourne. A stretch of quiet, leafy roads with typically Melbourne victorian houses decorated in intricated wood and wrought iron fronted shops. This area is swimming in great cafes, great pubs and great people. The “village” also has an excellent post office and library! (LM)

5. Being in touching distance of glorious scenery
Its almost impossible to fit five months of greatest hits into two blogs. Even more so if you spend much of that time boring people with all the food you liked to eat and places to hang out in. So I will try to keep this brief in an attempt to bring our blog up to date.

Melbourne is clearly a fantastic city to hang out in – but its also located in spitting distance of some real magic. Here is a list of our favourite trips out. We'll let the pictures do the talking...

Puffing Billy and the Dandenongs
We took a Easter trip out to the Dandenong mountain ranges, as well as enjoying the countryside you can get there by the Puffing Billy Steam train.

The Yarra Valley and the Wineries
The Yarra Valley is one of the most scenic localities near Melbourne made all the better as a day trip by its selection of world class wineries. We had a magic and fantastic trip round a good few of these wineries (and having a good few glasses of wine) with Chris and Pauline one lovely Sunday. We also fit in a trip to a gallery!

 


Healesville and Healesville Sanctuary
Healesville is the main town in the Yarra Valley and it is a lovely day trip in itself. We did two trips there. Once, by public transport, to eat and be merry with Bernie and Dee in the local pub and in Giant Steps winery, and a second time to visit the amazing Healesville animal sanctuary.

 


Philip Island
We stayed overnight on the lovely Philip Island for Luke's birthday, which is famous for its little penguins. The trip highlights for us however, was seeing koalas for the first time in the koala reservation and seeing an echidna in the wild!

 

The Great Ocean Road
Back on the road in a campervan, we drove down the great ocean road in Victoria's winter bank holiday weekend and enjoyed the breath taking and rugged coastline. Highlights of the weekend included seeing koalas and kangaroos in the wild and seeing a particularly famous light house.

Ramsey Street
No stay in Melbourne is complete without a visit to the one and only Ramsey Street. Not only can you get your picture taken in the street where Charlene, Scott, Lou and Harold (to name but a few) have all stood, but you can film your own scenes from the street! Watch this space for our Oscar winning attempts! (LM)

Until next time, stay warm,
Luke and Louise

Posted by Louise and Luke.