Your visit to Melbourne is probably more likely to be dictated by an event – the Australian Open, the Comedy Festival or a new exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria – than the climate, which is notoriously changeable; locals say that Melbourne has “four seasons in the same day”. Just remember that winters here (June to August) can be bitterly cold, so wrap up.
The Melbourne Cup may indeed be the horse race that “stops a nation” but the same could also be said of the traditional Boxing Day Test at the “G” (the Melbourne Cricket Ground) – or indeed, the AFL Grand Final when 100,000 fans pack the stands. Despite this obsession with sport, Melbourne is not a one-dimensional society.
Even Sydneysiders – its sternest critics – now concede that Melbourne has a superior restaurant and bar scene. The southern capital also sets the pace when it comes to fashion, theatre, design and architecture. It’s also quite funny. Remember a certain housewife superstar who hailed from Moonee Ponds?
Victoria is also Australia’s most compact state, which means the Great Ocean Road, the Yarra Valley and Phillip Island with its fairy penguins are right on the doorstep. So, after decades of playing second fiddle to Sydney, “Marvellous Melbourne” is recovering its lustre, with a thrusting city skyline, a new entertainment precinct and a pulsating Docklands area.
Stuffy? Old-fashioned? Nonsense. Caffeine-fuelled, sports-mad and outward looking, Melbourne is unquestionably Australia’s most exciting and diverse metropolis. Go now.
When to go?
Unlike Perth, Sydney and the Gold Coast, Melbourne has not given its soul to the beach. Theatre, fine food and competitive sport are really the dominant forces here – not the changing seasons.
