Loving life across the Ditch
After a week of living like a Melburnian, Anna Sarjeant says there are five things New Zealand could learn from Australia’s coolest city
Free public transport
Aside from politics (and politicians) and the current cost of living, nothing generates a bigger collective sigh than the topic of public transport. Especially in New Zealand, notably in Auckland where it’s up for daily discussion, none of it favourable.
Unless, that is, you live in Melbourne. The city where trams are spoken about as if they are an electric deity.
When I arrive in the city, it takes all of three minutes for my Uber driver to mention the free tram service. A proud fact that’s shared countless times over the coming week. And for good reason. It’s hard not to like the world’s largest tram network, with 1700 stops catering to more than five million Melburnians and 10m annual visitors, all the while running a clean, efficient service. That cleanliness relates to both the trams’ inner and outer workings; the seats are plush, graffiti is rare, and the energy used is 100 per cent renewable thanks to Victoria’s solar farms.
There is a catch but it’s a small one. The Free Tram Zone covers only the city centre, but it’s a large area that includes several major attractions, including Queen Victoria Market and Federation Square. Visitors should jump on the iconic burgundy and gold City Circle Trams that trundle to many of the city’s popular tourist sites, complete with audio commentary.
Coffee after 3pm
Melburnians love their coffee. If you’re not being told about free trams, you will hear about their award-winning coffee and baristas. A notion you’ll fully appreciate while imbibing the city’s rich elixir, which will be as velvety as it is robust. It’s certainly on par with New Zealand. What impressed me more was coffee availability after 3pm. Here in NZ, I resort to Starbucks, which is as close to a hanging offence as you’ll get in Aotearoa.
Throwing caution to the wind starts, as all the best bad habits do, with Italians. Pellegrini’s Espresso Bar, which is open until 9pm weekdays and 10pm on a Friday and Saturday, has been a Melbourne mainstay for 70 years, garnering a cult-like following in the process. The original owners were brothers, Leo and Vildo Pellegrini and although it has had various proprietors since, one thing remains the same: the coffee is short, black and rocket-fuelled.
Chanelling American diner-meets-Italian bar vibes, Marios is open from 8am until 10pm and serves artisan coffee throughout. Add an all-day breakfast to your order. This is what first put Marios on the map in the ‘80s when eggs bene after 11am was considered a novelty.
Various outposts for Axil Coffee Roasters pepper the city and although most of them close at a tame 4pm, the coffee chain boasts Anthony Douglas, a coffee maestro crowned the World Barista Champion in 2022. His top pick for a coffee spot is reportedly Axil Melbourne Central on Elizabeth St.
After a week of drinking coffee around the clock and feeling all the better for it, I believe the anti-caffeine brigade to be a fear tactic conjured by camomile tea.
Championing good food
Two words that send a shudder down every New Zealander’s back: supermarket duopoly. And two we rarely hear in the food department: vast choice.
When I visit Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market on a cold Tuesday morning, it’s throbbing with people and produce. There are olives that have been marinated by every means possible; figs stuffed with mascarpone and then drenched in honey; salmon from the wild rivers of Norway; reels of sausage and platters of black gypsy bacon, which I’ve never heard of because my supermarket sells only the variety that refuses to crisp.
There are toddlers in buggies pointing in earnest at gourmet hot chocolate and solo shoppers slurping half a dozen fresh oysters in between picking up their weekly fruit and vege. This market may be dubbed a tourist attraction but it’s evidently a ritual for locals, too.
The cheese and chorizo are showstoppers but the thing that stands out the most is probably me — at a standstill amid the hubbub and staring at the magnitude of food, much like a stunned animal released from captivity. There are more than 600 retailers at Queen Victoria Market, spanning food, clothing, handicrafts, knickknacks and more, most of which are stationed indoors and should take a full morning of meandering to explore.
This isn’t the kind of grocery shopping that incites a groan, it’s relaxed and uplifting. Both your taste buds and your mental health will thank you for the opportunity.
Great shopping
Shop ’til you drop. A concept that doesn’t really apply in New Zealand. The high street has certainly improved in recent years, but you’re not going to wear yourself out on it.
In Melbourne, I am met with shock — verging on alarm — when I tell a fellow tourist from Japan that we only have one Zara in New Zealand. Worse, we don’t have a single Uniqlo.
At that revelation, the Aussies lean in. I’m asked to repeat myself. No Uniqlo? Absurd. But true, I tell them.
It’s also true that I beelined to that very shop on my first afternoon in Melbourne. And another one when we visited Chadstone Mall the following day. As the self-titled Fashion Capital, Chadstone welcomes 26 million visitors through its doors every year. On the Saturday we visit, my Kiwi-sensitised self (the one that lives in a city of 1.5 million) isn’t ready for the estimated 170,000 shoppers that set foot in here on a Saturday alone. It’s mayhem, but in the madness I also discover magnificence: 550 stores, scores of which we don’t have in NZ.
If you have the stamina for Chadstone, a free return bus shuttles shoppers from Federation Square every day. Alternatively, there are 11,000 free parking spaces. Either way, you’ll save some dollars to splurge on yourself.
The joy of dining out
You only have to look at a half-deserted office on a Friday afternoon to know NZ’s work/life balance is pretty good, but now I’ve observed how Melburnians work their entire schedule around their stomach, I feel inspired.
It’s said that you could eat out every day of the year in Melbourne and still not cover half of the city’s dining options, but boy do they try.
Melburnians — suited and booted and sometimes in full legal attire — conduct business from anywhere with a menu. From tapas bars, in between patatas bravas and jamon; at coffee kiosks while shotting espresso, and even at the pub, with laptops on tables made from beer barrels. I don’t know if they do actual work but they certainly work on satisfying their appetites.
This is a city where eating is one of life’s great joys, and it’s never compromised. I imagine the idea of eating a limp sandwich at your desk would make most Melburnians revolt.
On my first day, we pass a queue at least 20 people deep, patiently waiting for something to open. Prada? I wondered — but it was barely 8am. I’m soon informed they’re queuing for Lune, Melbourne’s regaled croissanterie. A dedicated croissant bakery. A place, I later find out, where the butter is ordered from France, the pastry is layered 15 times to exact measurements and every croissant weighs between 79.5g-100g. Anything more or anything less and they start again.
It’s serious stuff, the business of eating.