Monday, May 15, 2006 - 07:09 pm, by: Luke Nieuwhof(Luke_nieuwhof)
Hello all you Mexicans,
What are some things you would recommend doing in Melbourne? I will be there from Saturday June 3 to Wednesday June 7 and yeah basically looking for a few touristy things.
Also, where is a good area to stay in the CBD? Close to nightlife, easy access to transport or taxis and so on.
Monday, May 15, 2006 - 09:26 pm, by: Luke Nieuwhof(Luke_nieuwhof)
Money isn't a concern so much, so long as its within reason. I guess the CBD is where I want to stay because I won't have a car or anything so its just a nice central point. As I said only a few days so what I can fit in I will!
Tuesday, May 16, 2006 - 01:16 am, by: Shane Ilich(Ferret)
Luke - I'm not a Melbourne local, but I'll give you my perspective as a Perth "tourist" who spent 10 days and the best part of 3 grand running amok in Melbourne with a couple of mates (also from Perth) - I only had 2 contacts over there.I went in April 2004 to see Radiohead.
I stayed at these little apartment places up near the Queen Victoria markets (on maybe Elizabeth street?). They were good, cos they had a little kitchenette with a fridge and a sink, microwave, and toaster - so you could do toast and stuff for breakfast, save having to eat out for every meal, left more to spend on dinner. Were easily tram/walking distance from Spencer St station and the main CBD area, but without the pricetag of staying there. We were looking for fairly cheap accommodation, as we knew we would basically only be sleeping there and having breakfast; wanted to take as little as possible out of our "play" money.
On that note, there's a bus that runs from the airport to the CBD - grab that, dont grab a taxi, cos the airport is like 40mins away from town, whereas the bus was like 12 bucks or something.
I also stayed with a friend in Port Melbourne, just for a couple of nights, its kinda down near St Kilda - were some funky little cafes and a pub on the main strip there (in Port Melbourne I'm saying).
Definitely do St Kilda - its kinda like a cooler Freo, with a big cafe strip and some funky shops. There was this awesome little Mexican restaurant in St Kilda, kinda on a corner, served the BEST margaritas I have ever had.
Crown was worth it, just go in with like 100 bucks and have a ball.
Also on the "must do" list is dinner in Lygon street in Carlton, with the guys out the front of the restaurants spruiking and doing deals (eg free dessert, 2 free crownies, etc).
Richmond is where the factory outlets and clothes stores are, and Prahran (Chapel street) is the expensive labels (think Subi/Claremont) clothing. Definitely worth at least window shopping down Chapel St, or go in and try on suits and leather jackets etc. I went over specifically looking for a good leather jacket, prepared to spend a few hundred bucks, and so all my mates pretended they were after one as well...two actually ended up buying jackets as a result.
Clubbing - spend either a Friday or Saturday night running around the CBD, there's all these dinky little streets, and you find these random doorways with a bouncer standing out of the front, and it'll be some cool little club. We did a Friday nite, with no local "guides", which I reckon made it more fun - we just ran around popping in and out of all of these little clubs - and when we went back on other nights to find them, couldnt get back to half of them cos we had no idea where they were. And yes, places in the CBD are open til like 10 or 11 pretty much most nights of the week - so it is possible to go out for dinner and/or a drink after a movie on a Tuesday night (unheard of in Perth). I dare say Avin will be able to help you here?
Just be prepared, cos most places we found charged a cover fee ($5-$10) to get in the door - drinks were very reasonably priced once you were in though, compared to here.
We did Chapel St on a Saturday night, but without a local to lead us around that night, dont think we got the full value of it - spent the majority of the night at some club thats big gimmick is selling alcoholic slushies (Frostbites??), and was full of 18-20 year old uni students - was basically the Melbourne equivalent of Harbourside.
Still in the CBD, if you're into movies/animation any of that sort of stuff, check out the ACMI centre (Australian Centre for the Moving Image - I think), its in Federation Square - there was this awesome exhibition concerning animation, science and video editing going on when we were there. There was also this club called Transport in Federation Square that did a decent Friday night after-work drinks.
A mate and I also got a proper old-school cut-throat shave on a Saturday arvo, we found this old-school barber in the CBD and figured we had to do it.
My biggest tip is, dont be afraid of using the trams/public transport system - coming from Perth, you have no idea how easy and efficient a public transport system CAN be. When I first got there and was staying with Luci in Port Melbourne, she had uni during the days, so the first day I was there she showed me where to get the tram into Spencer St station, and just told me I'd figure it out from there, and to call her if I got lost. I didnt, and was totally confident taking myself off to Richmond shopping on day 2, and then Prahran on day 3.
We also did the arts museum, Southbank, went to the footy at the MCG, and played lawn bowls at some lawn bowls club in Hawthorn (I think) on a Sunday afternoon that is apparently a good Sunday Session.
In all, I reckon I got a fairly good taste of what Melbourne (at least, the CBD) has to offer. Sydney is next on my list, as I've got a friend working for channel 9 living over there, and she wants me to come over for a week and let her and her bf show me around.
Hope some of this has helped. I just made up a list of stuff I wanted to say I had done in Melbourne, and went through that each day.
And yes, I did get to see Radiohead - they were scheduled to play 2 nights in Melbourne to finsh off their Australian tour, we had tickets for the first night - saw them, was an awesome show, though Thoms voice was a bit fragile. The next day, about 11am, one of my mates picks out Phil (the drummer) walking past us in a mall, goes across, and asks to shake his hand as thankyou for an awesome concert we had come all the way across from Perth to see. He was a really nice guy, really stoked to hear we came across just to see them, and then told us he felt really bad - cos Thom had been given orders by his doctor to cancel the second gig that night to avoid risking damage to his voice.
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