On a hippie trail, head full of zombie
So, I’m going to Melbourne (well, Richmond really, but I suspect that’s like distinguishing between Toronto and North York) at the end of the month.
I will have one day free to explore1, and that day also happens to be my birthday. While I suspect the guys from the Australian office will look after me, I am also looking for suggestions for Melbourne must-dos for that day. (Justine?)
Here’s some stuff I didn’t know before this week:
- From Halifax it’s easier to go around to the east to get to Melbourne. So that’s Halifax-London-Hong Kong-Melbourne. Coming back is Melbourne-Singapore-London-Halifax. At least I don’t have to go through the US and deal with the annoying “international vagrant passing though” screenings.
- It takes a really long time to get there. Outbound I have over 26 hours actually in the air, with a total travel time of over 31 hours. Coming back it’s over 28 in the air, with a total of 36 hour traveling. It seems kind of silly to spend 67 hours traveling to only be actually in Melbourne for seven days.
- The company pays for business class on flights over 10 hours without any fuss. This trip is around $13,000 in US dollars. I think it was around $2000 for coach, so the airlines are really screwing the companies that send people on expense accounts. I’m totally OK with that, since it also subsidises the people traveling in coach.
- My father-in-law can apparently come to Halifax on a whim… which is good since someone will need to be here with Trish and Sarah while I’m gone for ten days.
- Offering to pay for your wife and child to go along in coach, while you ride up in the swank seats is not a funny joke. Repeat: not a funny joke.
Things I need to find out about:
- Do I need a power adapter thing for my laptop, and the chargers for my various personal electronics?
- Air miles. I better figure out how to get the most airline points from this trip–the Air Canada legs between Halifax and Heathrow is easy, but what about those monster Qantas legs? I should put my wife on figuring this out–she’s good like that.
- What are the rules for knifey-spoony again?
- Do stopovers in Hong Kong and Singapore mean two more cool stamps in my passport, or are they just holding pens without any interactions with immigrations/customs?
- How much expensive Scotch can I buy in the Heathrow Scotch store without getting crucified on duty when I get home?
- Where do I go to easily do something to balance out the ecological footprint of this kind of travel? I’m going to have to buy a lot of wind power or something… (Will?)
- That’s one crash night, five nights after work–which I suspect will go quite late each night, and then one whole Saturday, and really most of the Sunday, to explore.(back)
Tags: melbourne
Julian
Trish
Sharon
Nick Anderson
Hotspur666
will shetterly
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February 7th, 2007 at 5:55 am
hi,
justine sent me here, because i am a melburnian.
answer to question 1: you only need a plug adapter for your laptop, not a power adapter. this should be the same with most things you own (like your phone charger). If you look on whichever device you have, if it says 100-240 volts, then you don’t need a power adapter.
melbourne stuff:
-there’s a pretty good historical ghost tour: http://www.haunted.com.au/ghosttour.html
-there’s two great outdoor cinemas at the moment which both give lovely views of the city: one at birrarung marr http://www.stgeorgeopenair.com.au/melbourne/program/
and one on swanston street http://www.rooftopcinema.com.au/
-richmond has lots of nice eateries, as does brunswick street in fitzroy (brunswick st has good bars, too). you can get just about anywhere on a tram.
-drink coffee. melbourne has some of the best coffee in the world. also breakfast. we do breakfast like nowhere else. brunswick street is good for breakfast. Try Babka, Idibidi or Mario’s.
-cool city bars: The Order of Melbourne up some stairs on Swanston St.
The Croft Institute on Croft Alley (this one’s hard to find, but worth it)
Madame Brussell’s up some stairs on Bourke St.
Hairy Canary on Little Collins Street.
-if you like italian, go to Lygon Street in Carlton.
-if you like greek, go to Lonsdale Street between Swanston and Exhibition.
-if you like Chinese, go to Little Bourke Street, between Swanston and Spring.
-if you like Vietnamese/Thai, go to Victoria Street in Richmond.
Melbourne is not a great touristy city. it’s much better for hanging out and eating and drinking.
Good luck!
February 7th, 2007 at 10:39 am
Thanks Lili (and Justine), thats a lot of good information.
And a day hanging out eating and drinking is my idea of a good day. All I need now is a pointer to a good book store.
February 7th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
(also here via Justine)
Book stores:
Readings in Lygon St or Acland St
The Brunswick St Bookstore in (duh) Brunswick St
The Little Bookroom at 771 Nicholson Street Carlton North for children’s and YA books
On Sundays there’s an art and craft market attached to the Arts Centre all day which is good for browsing. The National Gallery is free and the Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square is jam packed with Australian art.
There’s also a Sunday market in St Kilda, which is a great place to spend a few hours drinking coffee and eating cream cakes (in Acland St).
February 7th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Awesome. Thanks!
February 8th, 2007 at 11:32 am
And of course you’ll have to wash down your good eats with Foster’s lager (which is what all real men drink in Australia, from what I understand).
Can you even get vitamin G there?
February 8th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
The Australians I talked to in Boston last week were quite proud of their local beers, and claimed that I would be shocked and awed. The also said that they don’t export the really good beer, only “donkey piss like Foster’s”. I plan to devote no small effort to sampling the local fare.
I’m sure that the big G is commonly available there, but I’m hoping to find a bunch of local beer that has the much-desired-by-me property of opaqueness.
February 8th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Oh, if you want beer, you should go to Cookie. It’s up some stairs at 252 Swanston Street in the city, has awesome fusion Asian food, and just about the longest beer list I’ve ever seen. With a good focus on local beers. Plus atmosphere. Lots of atmosphere. And a terrarium.
February 8th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
You had me at “longest beer list”.
But damn, a terrarium?! That’s just over the top. This goes on the must-do list.