Australia – OZ as they say, is a perfect destination for travelers who seek to have an experience of varied nature, wildlife, culture and climate. The western coast of Australia offers a variety of beautiful beaches, rainforests, unique wildlife and entertainment parks in its coastal cities – Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Cairns (famous for its Great Barrier Reef) and Sydney
Melbourne has been rated ‘The Most Livable City in the World’ (as per The Economist group) for 7 consecutive years taking into account its tremendous performances in safety, healthcare, education, infrastructure and environment.It is also one of the lowest-density cities in the world with higher per capita open space.
In 1835, British Monarchy sent Captain William Lonsdale to oversee the land sales near Port Phillip Bay, present day Melbourne, and a township was established. It was named after the British Prime Minister at the time, Lord Melbourne. Having been originally considered part of New South Wales, Victoria was established as separate colony in 1851. The discovery of gold in the 1850s is the most significant event in the evolution of the state of Victoria and by 1880s Melbourne was considered one of the world’s biggest, booming and cosmopolitan cities of the era. This multicultural city was transformed in large part by the astonishing influx of immigrants after the second world war – many from the United Kingdom, but tens of thousands from Italy and Greece, as well as displaced European Jews. Then in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, Vietnamese immigrants came. These mass immigrations shook Melbourne and clever planning brought the Central Business District (CBD) to life. It is headed towards a population of five million and is predicted to overtake Sydney as Australia’s most populous metropolis by the 2030s. Each year the city is host to more than a million international visitors.
Focused around a Central Business District (CBD), metropolitan Melbourne’s suburbs spread more than 30kilometers in radius. The CBD is on the north bank of Yarra River and is approximately 5 kilometers inland from Port Phillip Bay, where most of the pretty suburbs are situated. The city enjoys a temperate climate throughout with unexpected showers round the year. Tourist hotspots with historical importance such as Flinders Street Railway Station, Federation Square, National Gallery, Parliament House and St Paul’s Cathedral are a must visit. Melbourne has plenty of large boulevards and parks, however, the landscape of Fitzroy Gardens and Royal Botanic Gardens cannot be missed, as they have tall colorful trees surrounded by fountains, sculptures and other artifacts. Since streets of Melbourne are pedestrian-friendly, one must walk down the CBD area and its neighborhood to explore the shiny glass tall buildings and street-side cafes buzzing with tourists. Australia is not well-known for its cuisine, however, there are plenty of Indian, Chinese, Asian, and Greek restaurants in all parts of the city. Chinatown, situated inside CBD area of Melbourne is a famous hub for premium and fine dining offering a variety of seafood
and continental cuisines.
Public transport
The Melbourne Tram and its network spread across the city, is a city-wide infrastructure that provides good last mile connectivity to its residents. Running calmly across the entire length and breadth of the city, it asserts the local citizens to abandon their cars to commute from home to work and vice versa. To hop on one has to buy a Myki card and top-up with minimum 6 AUD. Additionally, the CBD area is declared a Free Tram Zone – a good incentive for working population in CBD to commute internally via this mode of public transport. Special attention is given to non-motorized transport while designing streets by designating lanes for bicycles, wide pedestrian walkways, boulevards of dense trees, a blend of privately owned public spaces that lead to an array of parks and plazas. (Pretty much the ‘idealistic’ street sections we dream of!) The city offers free ‘Victoria Wi-Fi’ with a strong network in the CBD area. Significant capital investments in the infrastructure sector within the region have been done over the last couple of decades that have yielded positive results for the city such as sense of stability amongst its citizens, state-of-the art healthcare facilities, higher per capita green spaces and surge in real estate prices by approximately 15-20 per cent annually in Melbourne. Air quality index (AQI) of Melbourne (Average PM 2.5 level: 12) is much less as compared to New Delhi’s AQI (Average PM 2.5 level: 250). These reasons boost the livability index for Melbourne and make it an alluring deal for many foreign nationals to
settle down here.
An enchanting tour of the biggest cricket stadium
The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is recommended. The magnanimity of the ground that can host more than 1,00,000 spectators will leave you spellbound. The guide takes you around the cricket field, dressing rooms, player’s gallery and shares interesting historical facts about the groundduring the 1-hour tour. Did you know – MCG hosts more Australian football matches during the entire year as compared to Cricket matches (Australian football is different from conventional football). The Cricket Museum at MCG is host to the ONLY original picture of the meeting of the two greatest cricket legends – Sir Donald Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar.
Tourists are supposed to visit the mighty Queen Victoria Market – it is a shopper’s paradise, to say the least!When in Melbourne, make sure you spend at least a couple of hours at this market – you get cheap souvenirs, tribal artefacts, variety of clothes, Australian local products,fresh fruits & vegetables, meat and grocery. Streets of Melbourne are buzzing with souvenir shops that sell Australia’s aboriginal artworks like the handmade paintings, boomerangs and didgeridoo (aboriginal musical instrument). To explore nature and wildlife, there are plenty of options in and around Melbourne such as The Great Ocean Road tour to world famous ‘12 Apostles’ (self-drive car recommended), Phillip Island (to watch penguins marching back to land at sunset) and small wildlife parks to feed the hopping kangaroos and click a photograph with koalas (Fact: Koalas only eat Eucalyptus leaves and sleep up to 18-20 hours a day!).
Australians are very enthusiasts when it comes to sports and athletics. Children playing and practicing athletics in parks and playgrounds is a common sighting across all cities and peri-urban areas. There is no dearth for adventure sports like bungy jumping, rock climbing and sky-diving. as well as, water sports like surfing and rafting. More than 85 per cent of Australian population lives in its coastal cities, the central part of the country is quite dry and arid, thereby boosting economic and touristic activities on its coast. The modest culture of Australians gets reflected in the random interactionswithtourists and exchange of pleasantries with strangers. Melbourne in itself is truly a mesmerizing place with good quality of life index, making it the most livable and one of the most loveable city
in the world.