The only time I had previously spent in Melbourne was back in the year 2000, on a brief and drunken weekend bonus from my company at the time. I only remember snippets of that trip: a mile of Italian restaurants, basement bars with good cocktails, a secret club that played crappy music but at the time was the largest and coolest club I’d been too, a massive mall with vacuum tubes between the various shoe departments, and a very vague recollection of the Victoria markets. Oh, and my workmate getting so drunk he puked up his stomach lining. That was pretty impressive.
This visit, I remember much more. I was also there for the best part of a week, so I had time to explore a few areas and have a look around. It was pretty much how I had imagined it, and how it had been explained to me from people who have better memories than me: like a bigger, better, more architectural Wellington. I’d say that’s not far from the truth. It has a great public transport system, lots of bars and restaurants, different areas each with its own little vibe, and lots of New Zealanders. The weather is also rather shite. The buildings in the city centre really are quite beautiful, and obviously the local government and architects have done a good job of keeping the old buildings intact, unlike Wellington where for some unknown reason thought it would be really good to knock down all the nice looking buildings in the 1980s and erect a bunch of horrendous looking semi-high rises. Also unlike Wellington, Melbourne has kept the trams going which I think is great because not only do they have that awesome screeching metal-on-metal sound but they are better than buses because they don’t get stuck in traffic with everyone else. Other things that impressed me in Melbourne was the amazing shopping (I could literally spend every penny there), and the cute little cottages in areas like Kensington.
Now as I write this I feel I perhaps really quite like Melbourne. It has a nice vibe about it. But, it’s not New Zealand (I think that means something) and it’s even further away from my family than Auckland (despite this I still haven’t seen them since about April). The thing that I do find weird about Melbourne is that is almost feels like New Zealand but everyone has a funny accent.
I should also mention that during my stay I went down the southwestern coast for a night and stayed at a place called Apollo Bay. I saw a koala 
in its natural habitat (A TREE!), saw amazing surf beaches with barrels for infinity, and paid to stay in a “motel” room the equivalent of a trailer like the trailer trash I am. I’m not sure why I have left the koala episode as a footnote as it was totally fucking awesome. He just sat there, half-looking at me, scratched himself to show me his massive nutsack, and then almost fell off the branch and jumped to another, although the last bit I know happened but didn’t see because I turned around to get back in the car because it was cold and raining. But it happened.
So in summary. Melbourne is good. I’ll definitely be back to spend all my pennies, of which I will have approximately three of after I finish my trip and get back home to New Zealand.
Cool! Next time you’re in Melbourne, let me know and I will come down and meet you. Or better yet, come up to Sydney too. A x