Never enough to read

13 February 2008

Melbourne, Australia

I’ve only been to Melbourne once before and that was many years ago for a dirty weekend so I didn’t really have much in the way of expectations or, indeed, any clear idea of what I was going to do when I got there. I remembered that it was a city replete with sidewalk dining, every café, restaurant, coffee shop and fast food place having its little sets of table and chairs outside, and there were usually people sitting there eating and drinking and watching the world go by in what I imagine is a very European way. In fact it may have been the large European influence, the influx of Greeks and Italians after WW2, which gave the city its feel for eating outside. Whatever the reason it was something that I remembered and it was something I wanted to do. I also wanted to continue the search I began in Sydney for a particular book and I also had a professional curiosity about Crown Casino, easily the largest casino in the country. Other than that any opportunity to get off the ship must be taken with both hands and I was looking forward to a day where I could just do normal things in a place where I would feel a little less like a tourist.

The ship docked a way from the city CBD and we had been told that there would be a shuttle bus running from the ship to the nearest tram station and from there we could get a tram into town. I waited for the initial mass of passengers getting off and being herded to their tour buses and then made my way across the gangway and into the terminal building.

I’ve been impressed by the port buildings in Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne after having spent so long visiting ports in the Caribbean where it’s just a matter of walking down the gangway onto a concrete pier and you’re there. These other cities obviously have a professional way of dealing with cruise ships that I had never really considered before taking this job. It feels more like getting off a plane than anything else and gives you a sense of having arrived somewhere rather than just being dumped. I’m going to have to take a drive to Brisbane when I get home and see how cruise ships are greeted there. I’m also going to have to add my voice to the list of those calling for a cruise ship terminal to be built at home on the Gold Coast. Cruising may not be the most authentic or back to basics way to see a place but there is no denying the money that these ships can bring to an economy if the infrastructure is there to cater to them.

Outside the building was a sign saying ‘shuttle bus stop’ so I joined the growing queue and started looking through the maps and brochures I’d grabbed on my way out. There was plenty of activity as passengers boarded tour buses and the queue for the shuttle grew longer as I read. I managed to overhear one couple walking past saying “he said the tram stop was only a couple of minutes away” and they headed off in the same direction as the buses. With no sign of the shuttle I decided to follow them and true to his word it was only a two minute walk out of the port area itself to a tram stop and a waiting tram. There were already a few people who had bypassed the shuttle and were climbing into the tram but I’d been looking at my map and making a few calculations. It seemed to only be a distance of about 3 or 4 km’s to the heart of the city and where I wanted to go so I bought a coke from a small shop, shouldered my pack a little more comfortably and headed off.

It was a pleasant walk, the temperature being warm but with a cool breeze enough to stop me from working up a sweat. The path followed the tram line and I could see the high-rise office buildings in the distance.

At first I walked through a suburban setting, neatly kept homes and gardens obviously struggling with a lack of water. As I got closer to the city I found it getting a little more industrial and the traffic was picking up, but even at ten o’clock in the morning it still lacked the frenetic pace and congestion that lingers in most cities after rush hour is finished. I don’t know how much of that has to do with Melbourne’s trams, a light rail system that would be envied secretly or openly by many town planners and city fathers. I had been passed by a few trams as I walked and they were fast, quiet and an easy way for commuters to get to work. The unobtrusive stations along the way and the large open space either side of the track in the suburbs made it very different from the loud and earthquake making trains I remember from visiting my grandparents. Even entering the city the trams are very evident with the streets being wide enough to accommodate them running down the centre. Plus, they added a new variation to the excitement of crossing a road.

The first place I came to, and it’s hard to miss, was the Crown Casino. To say that it’s a casino is probably doing it a bit of an injustice since it is a complex with shopping, accommodation and entertainment. Call it a Las Vegas style resort casino in the heart of Melbourne and you might have some idea. The only problem is that it didn’t really impress me much. Admittedly a Tuesday morning may not be the best time to see it, Friday or Saturday night may be better as the glitterati come out, but I found the area outside the casino to be cold, dark and a little intimidating in its attempt to dazzle and impress. The casino itself was large but felt as if it lacked character although it may have helped to be there at a time when it had more people in it and they generated the excitement and atmosphere themselves. I did have something to eat there, fast food in a setting that wouldn’t have felt out of place in a McDonalds and did nothing to add to the casino ambience.

From there I just walked the city. I picked up a few things that I needed, more magazines (you can never have enough things to read), some blank cds and a book. I wandered aimlessly around just looking in shops. I priced a camera lens I want (too much), gazed covetously at new motorbikes lined up outside 4 motorbike shops in a row. I ate a mushroom and chicken dish cooked in a small earthenware pot at a restaurant in the Chinatown part of the city. I took photos of the Yarra River and the small boats heading up and down.

I wandered aimlessly about and that may have been the problem. I came away with no particularly strong feelings about Melbourne at all. Had I taken some time to go through the tourist brochure in my back pocket I may have found things to do that would have shown me more of the character and history. Had I done a tour from the ship first I may have had a greater appreciation. If I had a local with me to show me the real Melbourne or more time to search out its soul I may have more to write than the feeling that it was just another place. It’s undoubtedly my fault that I didn’t dig deeper and find some of what Melbourne offers, and I’m sure it offers a lot, but in the end it was just a nice day.

Maybe I’ll do better in Perth.