Melbourne - my premiere on Australian soil

So on March 29th, the time had come and I temporarily left New Zealand behind. In the late evening my plane took off on time in Christchurch and after a flight of almost four hours, which I spent among other things with the latest Ice Age film, I landed in Melbourne shortly before midnight. A few days earlier, the new Formula 1 season had begun there. Some may now wonder why I wasn't there, but first of all the ticket prices are astronomical and secondly the city was probably completely overrun with tourists on that weekend. So I preferred to explore the officially most livable city in the world in peace during the week. After a long night at the airport - I didn't feel like driving through the city in the middle of the night and spending so much money on a few hours in the hostel - I equipped myself with my luggage and a long list of recommendations that I had received from George, as I mentioned before, as well as from Denise, who had been traveling with me on the Stray bus during Christmas time and had lived in Melbourne as an au pair for some time. Early in the morning, I officially set foot on Australian soil for the first time and immediately checked in at the hostel. Since I couldn't check into my room so early, I stayed in the lounge for a while and then went on a first exploration tour through the CBD (city center) as well as to the Yarra River and the Center of Arts, which at first glance looks a bit like the Eiffel Tower 😉 After that, I had a vegetarian Indian "All you can eat" lunch on the advice of my former couchsurfer Philipp (thanks, it tasted delicious 😋) and then joined a officially free sightseeing tour - in the end you usually give the guide a self-chosen amount - which started in front of the State Library and took me, among other things, to the prison, to the House of Parliament, to Chinatown, to Hosier Lane, a narrow alley that is famous for being covered with street art (not to be confused with graffiti) from top to bottom on both sides. Many motifs were really impressive, being huge and incredibly detailed 😮 The tour ended at the Center of Arts, from where you also have a beautiful view of the skyline and the Yarra River. It was already early evening and I hadn't slept for over 32 hours. Nevertheless, I still felt very awake and fresh, so I eagerly took the path to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the tenth largest stadium in the world with just over 100,000 seats, which is also known as the Australian Colosseum because of its circular shape. A major city derby between the Richmond Tigers and the Collingwood Magpies took place there in the evening, which George had strongly recommended to me. And it was definitely worth it. The sport I'm talking about here is not rugby and not football either - it's a mix of both, the Australian national sport Australian football. The ball used is the same as in rugby, the passing can be done with kicks or throws. But you can also throw forward. The game is played with 15 field players who have to carry the ball between four posts located at two opposite ends of the round field. A kick between the two middle posts is rewarded with five points, if you touch a post or kick between an outer and an inner post, you get at least one point. There are several referees, who by the way also take the throws ins, as well as flying changes. There is a semi-circle drawn in front of the goals. If a player catches and controls a pass in this zone, he may shoot at the goal from an unchallenged position. When it comes to tackling, the rules are very similar to rugby. The game lasts for 4x20 minutes of pure playing time. The time is stopped immediately during breaks. The season was still very young and this match opened the 2nd matchday. However, there were almost 60,000 people at the game and the atmosphere in my block (4th floor directly behind a goal) was great. There was cheering, commiserating, booing and cheering, to the fullest - although, unlike the Bundesliga, there were no real chants to be heard. Most of the spectators in the block were Tigers fans, but there were also several Magpies supporters around me. The game wavered back and forth for a long time and at halftime the Tigers were behind. In the 3rd quarter, a home defeat seemed imminent, but then a lightning-fast comeback followed and in less than ten minutes the hosts were able to turn a 15-point deficit into a lead. That's the good thing about the sport - there is hardly any midfield play, but constant action in the goal zones and therefore many points to celebrate. The game speed is definitely higher than in football. Only in the final stages were the Tigers able to gradually pull away, so that the game was decided after about 75 minutes. Nevertheless, the guests showed morale and tried to score further until the end. After the game, there were some celebrations of the local fans in the zone between the entrance and the stands on the 1st floor, which now also started some chants and club songs. That was a little unexpected, but it was a great ending that I gladly listened to for a few minutes. On the way back, of course, there were fans in yellow-black jerseys everywhere around me, the train stations were almost overflowing. It was already almost 23:00 by now, so I went straight to the hostel and fell asleep immediately 😴

On the next day, I had planned a trip to the beaches in the districts of Brighton and St. Kilda. So in the morning I took the train to Brighton Beach, where after a short walk along the ocean I soon discovered the colorful beach houses that are the landmarks of this beach. They are all arranged in a row a few meters from the sea, in all kinds of colors and with various motifs. It was definitely too cold to swim that day, but there were still many tourists there who wanted to see the houses. From Brighton I took the bus to St. Kilda. At this very long beach there are not only many restaurants and snack bars, but also beautiful views of the ocean as well as palm trees and an amusement park, Luna Park. Unfortunately, it is only open on weekends, so I could only see it from the outside. Instead, I opted for a little walk through Albert Park, which, in addition to a large lake, an athletics stadium and several green areas, also houses the Formula 1 track, which, however, when there is no race taking place, is just an ordinary street with painted curbstones (also called kerbs) and grandstands 😆 Anyway, it was quite funny to just walk over the track and especially over the finish line at the pit lane, while cars were driving in both directions around you 😃 By the way, the park is very nice when it comes to nature. There are several football and soccer pitches on the ground, and you can go boating on the lake. From there I took the bus back towards the city, because I still had an important point to check off: going up to the Eureka Skydeck and seeing the city from the 88th floor. Time-wise it was perfect because I could still see the city in daylight for a few minutes, then watch the sunset from a box seat and finally admire Melbourne at night. Unfortunately, others also knew that this is the best time to go up the tower, because it was already very, very crowded up there 😉 Nevertheless, I had a great view and it was impressive to see this metropolis, which has almost as many inhabitants as New Zealand with 4.25 million, from a great height 👌🌆 After that, I took a walk through the neighboring district of Southbank. There is always something going on in the evening. There are fairground attractions and at this time there are also lots of food stands, because the Food and Wine Festival takes place in Melbourne in March and April. On the way back to the hostel, I made a detour to the Greek quarter - only in Athens and Thessaloniki there are more Greeks living - had dinner in Chinatown and went to sleep shortly afterwards.

The third day in Melbourne was also my last, but I still had time for further explorations until late in the evening. First, I made my way to the Shrine of Remembrance, a memorial for fallen soldiers that looks more like an ancient temple. On the way there, I passed several green areas, so the time flew by very quickly until noon. Then I went to Degraves Street, a well-hidden alley, but there are plenty of small restaurants and nice cafes. After a small snack in one of these cafes, I continued with a visit to the Royal Botanical Gardens. Melbourne has several parks and gardens, which earned the city a lot of sympathy from me. Anyway, it was nice to stroll through this huge garden and see all kinds of different plants from all corners of the world. After that, I actually wanted to go to the National Sports Museum, which is located in the MCG, but unfortunately it was closed because there was another football game at the MCG. So there was nothing from the stadium tour I had been considering. Instead, I used the remaining time to briefly visit the State Library, see a small part of the Carlton Gardens - most of it is currently reserved for a kind of national garden show - take a look at the Italian quarter and then end the evening along the Yarra River. There, among other things, there was a kind of French fair with some specialties that I hadn't known until then. Afterwards, I went to Southbank again, where I watched a fairground show and enjoyed the last hours in Melbourne with live music. Around 22:00 I slowly made my way towards the hostel, before picking up my luggage and taking the train and bus from Flinders Station to the airport.

In the next report, I will describe my experiences in Sydney. I hope you will also read this report with interest when the time comes 😊

Until then 👋

Your Max