The Place To Be

Visions of Washington, DC traffic were stop-and-going through my head, and all I wanted to do was turn back for Adelaide. As we drove into Melbourne on Thursday afternoon, the similarity to the US—particularly the traffic and sprawling suburbs that characterize so many of our cities—quickly stifled any feelings of homesick I may have had. My first impression was grim, but fortunately, it was also wrong.

Dave told you already about our drive down to Melbourne. The Fulbright dinner was nice. It was perhaps especially notable because it was part of the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Australian-American Fulbright Commission. We ate in the Great Hall of Victoria’s National Gallery, which was absolutely beautiful. The ceiling of the Great Hall is all stained-glass, and really stunning. The food was good, but the best part was having the opportunity to meet some of the other Fulbrighters from the US and those from Australia who will head to the US later this year. There aren’t any other Fulbrighters from the US here with me in Adelaide, but I did get to meet 3 South Australians who are going to the US on Fulbright Scholarships later this year. One is even doing water law, so it was great to be able to meet some new faces.

The real highlight of the trip, however, was our time spent with Geoff and Rosemarie Dale. I went to school with their daughter, Catherine. On our way over here, we stopped in Hawaii for our friend Heather’s wedding, which Catherine was attending as well. As soon as she learned that we were heading to Australia, she told us we should definitely stay with her parents in Melbourne. And, indeed, when Dave first met Geoff in Adelaide for the Tour Down Under, he immediately invited us to stay with them if we happened to be in Melbourne.

Geoff and Rosemarie gave us an excellent tour of the city and surroundings, and helped to completely reverse my first impression of the city. At the Dales’, things began with an amazing seafood spread. We had fried calamari, prawns, oysters, crayfish (lobster—what we would call crayfish are called yabbies here), and bugs (these were sort of like mini-lobsters or large crayfish, and were excellent). The fish was wonderfully fresh and delicious, and the salads were topped with an incredible Japanese dressing. We finished with a beautiful mango cake.

The wonderful dinner was just the thing as the following morning we went for probably the best bike ride since we’ve been in Australia. We got up early and drove out to the Dandenongs, which are quite different from the Adelaide Hills. The road up the hill went through the middle of this lush, green temperate rainforest of towering trunks and high canopy. I couldn’t believe that there was actually a road through this enchanting forest. I don’t think a single car went by us on the way up, which made it even more amazing. And equally amazing was the bike I was riding. Geoff had arranged for me to test ride a Parlee. Never before have I felt so good on a bike—it was like it had been built just for me. We usually have to make all sorts of adjustments when I get on a bike, but not this time. And, the bike itself was incredible. Extremely light, seamless shifting, and a pure joy to ride. In fact, the real reason it took me so long to get up the hill is because I didn’t want my time on the bike ever to end : )

After the ride, we cleaned up and then headed into town to walk through the Botanic Gardens for lunch. We brought the dogs, Jack and Sophie, who were quivering with excitement for the entire ride into town. We enjoyed a lovely lunch and stroll through the Gardens, and then headed out to see St. Kilda. One of the incredible things about all of the capital cities in Australia is that they’re along the coast. I’m not really used to having the beach so accessible, but here, a huge percentage of the population lives close to the ocean. I know that’s probably a function of the fact that the interior of this continent is not a particularly easy place to live, but it’s still a novel concept for me.

After cruising the coast, we headed to the top of the Eureka Tower for an aerial view of the city. I’m sometimes skeptical of these sorts of tourist attractions, but I have to say, it was well worth the elevator ride to the top (it went so fast I was having a hard time equalizing my ears). The view from the top was truly amazing, and it was such a privilege to be up there with Rosemarie, who knows so much about the city.

Melbourne is beautiful, but mostly, you could really see that the city is cleverly designed and planned (though suburban sprawl is definitely an issue). One of the coolest things about Melbourne is that there are pedestrian bridges to all of the sporting venues, which means there are fewer people trying to drive their cars right up to the entrance. I don’t know if Aussies are more willing to leave their car behind because they don’t have a strong tail-gating tradition, but I have to say it seems immanently sensible to increase pedestrian access and decrease automobile access to sporting venues.

The other extremely sensible thing that Melbourne has done is to turn the city towards the river, rather than putting its back to it. The Yarra, which people often refer to as the river that flows upside down since the surface looks so brown and muddy, isn’t the most beautiful of rivers. However, it’s still a lovely place, and really makes for beautiful views of the city. In fact, I was often reminded of London during our trip to Melbourne, with modern buildings, interesting bridges, and even their own version of the London Eye called the Southern Star Observation Wheel. Unfortunately, some structural difficulties have closed the wheel until further notice. I also thought the building in Federation Square looked surprisingly similar to Scotland’s new Parliament building, which strongly reminded me of Gaudi’s Barcelona.

Rosemarie explained that Melbourne had recently decided to pay more attention to the river, and the results clearly demonstrate the wisdom of this plan. I was probably more excited about this fact than most people because I love rivers, and getting cities to view their rivers as important assets rather than as sewers was a major part of the work I did at American Rivers. Seeing how well it has worked for Melbourne was a sort of vindication for me. Furthermore, I realized that despite the issues of sprawl and traffic, Melbourne really isn’t that much like most American cities I’ve visited.

We finished the already incredible day of with a wonderful Japanese dinner. Geoff and Rosemarie lived in Japan for several years, and developed a real appreciation and love for the culture and the food. It was such a treat to share a Japanese meal (with the best sushi I’ve ever tasted, hands down) and to hear about some of their experiences in Japan. It definitely got us thinking about how we might manage a year abroad in Japan at some point down the track…

The end of our time in Melbourne and with the Dales came all too quickly. We were sad to be leaving so soon, but hopeful that we might again find ourselves in Victoria (the place to be, according to the state’s slogan) during our time here Down Under. The rest of the pictures from our trip are online here.