I wrote this post in Australia, shortly before we left (June - July). Sorry it has taken so long to post: -
Alex loves airplanes. Every time we get
into the car he pretends it’s a plane. Our hire car is referred to as Qantas.
The driver is the pilot; Alex is cabin crew and Elliott the solitary passenger.
For every journey he demands a flight summary. This must include flight number,
flight time, destination, weather and chance of turbulence (traffic). Obviously
this must be given in a funny voice with radio static noises. Don’t get me
wrong, I love it, however it is rather repetitive. Over the last few months we
have visited Melbourne, Sydney and Cairns via domestic flights. This has only
fuelled his fascination with planes. Therefore I don’t think that this
particular game is going away any time soon.
Before coming to Australia, I was aware of
the competition between Melbourne and Sydney for best city. Melbournites
strongly believe that they live in the coolest city in Australia. Folk from
Sydney disagree and argue that Melbourne is too cold and lacks world famous
iconic sites, such as a certain bridge and opera house. Unfairly Brisbane is
never included in this debate, but more on Brisbane later.
Melbourne
We visited Melbourne back in March with
Irmeet’s parents, Dada-ji and Dadi-ji. We stayed in a boutique hotel themed
around Australian artist David Larwill. We booked it on the basis of Trip
Advisor reviews. However we didn’t know that it was in the main building of
Melbourne Children’s Hospital. The hotel was amazing despite the surreal “am I
at work?” feeling. Turns out that staying in a Children’s Hospital is great
when travelling with small children. They had an amazing park next door; plenty
of cafes and the hospital pharmacy stocked all imaginable baby
paraphernalia. Anyway, back to
Melbourne.
In Australia, the main shopping and
business district of a city is referred to as a CBD (central business
district). In my opinion, CBD’s are usually uninspiring with generic ugly
buildings. All the interesting stuff tends to be out of the city and in the
suburbs. Most of Melbourne is the same. However, there are patches of
individuality. It is easy to understand why Melbourne believes itself to be
cool. The old fashioned trams that rattle through the streets are very charming
despite being cramped and dirty. Graffiti is endemic across the city, some of
it brilliant, most of it terrible. Melbourne wants you to know that it is
urban, cool and trendy, but it feels so overtly fashionable that becomes a
cliché. Despite this, I loved Melbourne. Compared to the rest of Oz, its
architecture is varied and interesting. I also loved the small passageways
lined with cafes and restaurants.
We spent two and a half days in the City. Particular
highlights included watching World Cup Cricket (India) in Federation Square,
Alex telling space jokes to a captivated audience on the trams and Hozier Lane.
We also spent a day in the suburbs visiting Luna Park, St Kilda and the
Botanical Gardens. Luna Park is an old fashioned theme park in the city. It
opened in 1912 and is famous for its entrance. It has an old wooden
rollercoaster alongside more modern fairground rides. It was extremely
expensive, so Alex only had one ride. I really enjoyed our time in St Kilda. We
wandered the beachfront before finding a community playground. The playground
was amazing! When it was first built, local children designed and constructed
the playground from old wooden boxes and tyres. Over time, it has gained some
more formal playground equipment, but it retains the feel of being made from
junk. What it lacked in safety standards (rusty nails stuck out of the dodgy
wooden pirate ship) it gained in charm (free fruit and tea). Alex loved the
playground and I wish we could have spent more time there. However, it did feel
like we had stumbled on a local’s only secret.
We also had two day trips, the first to the
Great Ocean Road and the second to Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island. We
booked both trips with the same small start up company. Therefore our tour
guide, Jason looked after us on both days. Jason was absolutely amazing,
particularly with the children. Having grown accustomed to Queensland heat we
were completely unprepared for Victorian weather. However, he brought much
needed baby blankets and books. He also bought Alex hot chocolate and babysat
whilst we were wine tasting.
The Great Ocean Road, as expected was
spectacular. It reminded me of Cornwall. However, in my opinion the twelve
apostles, did not live up to their hype. The main twelve apostle viewpoint was
overcrowded. However, Jason took us to a lesser-known beach with views of some
of the stacks. It was much quieter so I felt able to actually enjoy our
surroundings, rather than just standing in another tourists camera shot. We
also saw some wild koalas and over-friendly birds. It was a brilliant day
despite the British weather.
The trip to Mornington Peninsula was
absolutely fantastic. Turns out that Jason lives and grew up on the Peninsula,
so it was basically his favourite haunts. We were the only ones on the tour so
it was very laid back. We consumed significant amounts of cheese and tasted far
too many wines. We also visited a beach with lovely painted beach huts. In the
mid-afternoon we took a boat trip to Phillip Island to see the Blue Penguins
come ashore at nightfall. The penguins were brilliant, marching up the beach,
unfazed by hundreds of gaping tourists. However, the whole day was spoilt by a
Phillip Island staff member asking me to move from a public area whilst
breastfeeding. I have been breastfeeding Elliott for 9 months and this was the
only time I have been asked to move. I was absolutely mortified and made to
feel very ashamed. I tearfully ran towards the tiny baby changing room (as
instructed, despite it being used to heat a curry) whilst Irmeet complained.
Other staff members apologized, however the whole incident spoiled an otherwise
perfect day.
Sydney
In April, the four of us made the quick
flight to Sydney.
Without doubt it has the iconic sights that
fill you with a strange elated feeling. The Opera House and Harbour Bridge are world
famous, on par with Times Square and the Eiffel Tower. They give you a peculiar
sense of deja-vu because you are so accustomed to seeing them in photos and
films. I had to pinch myself to make sure it wasn’t a weird dream. One of the
simplest yet oddest experiences of my Australian adventure was breastfeeding
Elliott in the rooftop café of the Museum of Contemporary Art overlooking the
Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. I never expected that it would be so
beautiful, but more surprisingly I never imagined that I would breastfeed in
public.
Sydney is big, well big by Australian
standards. It feels like a proper world city, with the museums and culture to
match. Consequently, it suffers from the problems of other major cities. For
example, there appeared to be significant poverty and homelessness.
Unfortunately the majority of the CBD was a homogenous blend of boring
buildings, with the occasional park thrown in. We had some lovely walks around
the Rocks near Harbour Bridge and Darling Harbour. However, both areas felt
like fake tourist traps, similar to going to London and only spending time in
Covent Garden. We failed in our search for interesting suburbs. However, we
only had four days so it was impossible to get a grasp of the entire city. I
have no doubt that some areas of Sydney are fantastic but unfortunately we
missed them. To try and summarise, Sydney has islands of gold in a sea of Meh.
I feel like I am being unfair to Sydney as
we enjoyed our time there. The amazing children’s play area in Darling Harbour
made Alex’s holiday. We visited the Rocks Discovery Centre and Hyde Park
Barracks. Both museums focused on the origins and development of Sydney,
particularly the convict history which was interesting.
We also had daytrips to Bondi Beach and
Manly. Bondi was lovely and reminded us
of Cornwall. The weather was drizzly, however it didn’t spoil Alex’s fun. He
loved playing with Spiderman and Iron Man on the beach. A work colleague recommended
a walk between Bondi and Coogee, we had been reassured that it was perfectly
stroller accessible. Unfortunately after approximately 100m it became apparent
that we had zero chance of getting the stroller round (without carrying it the
whole way). We travelled to Manly on the public ferry service, which was
brilliant and far cheaper than expensive harbour cruises. Manly is a beautiful
seaside town with a great beach. We had a lovely morning chilling on the beach
and eating breakfast in a beachfront café.
It is the little things that I will
remember fondly. For example walking around the botanical gardens watching a
couple getting married on a yacht overlooking the Opera House and Alex
accidentally knocking my sunglasses into the harbour. We also had some great
food, the Malaysian hawker food was brilliant, Alex wasn’t so keen. It was also
great to catch up with Irmeet’s old work colleague Olivier. It has been 8 years
since we last saw him in London when we were young, unmarried and childfree.
Therefore seeing him and meeting his family after so many years was fantastic.
Cairns
Our next trip was Cairns in May with
Grandma, Grandad and Uncle Paul. It is approximately the size of Solihull and
definitely lacks the city feel. Cairns is a major gateway to the Great Barrier
Reef, therefore is focused on tourism. You cannot compare Cairns to Melbourne
or Sydney. However, I don’t think that people from Cairns care, the Great
Barrier Reef is enough.
Our first full day was spent on the Kuranda
Scenic Railway. The railway connects Cairns and the Mountain town of Kuranda.
Kuranda was nothing special, another hinterland town comprising of tourist
markets advertised as boutique arts and crafts (and kangaroo testicles).
However the train journey was great. All trains are cool when you are four, so
Alex was always going to be impressed. However, this was a particularly cool
train journey. It twisted up the mountain around cliff faces and over gorges,
rainforest and waterfalls everywhere you looked.
The next day we headed to the Great Barrier
Reef. Rather than heading to a reef island we decided to base ourselves on a
pontoon on the edge of the reef.
Although not pretty, the pontoon had more children’s facilities and sun
protection than the reef islands. The boat journey out was very choppy. A
significant proportion of the passengers were vomiting (including Alex and
Grandma). However, Alex’s strawberry milkshake vomit didn’t stop him from
having a lovely day. He spent most of his time in what can only be described as
an open topped cage hanging from the side of the pontoon. This enabled him to
swim with the fishes of the Great Barrier Reef in a pool a foot deep. Even
though Irmeet hasn’t dived for years, he was able to have two dives from the
pontoon. I also went snorkeling, a big accomplishment for me as I’m not the
best swimmer.
The remainder of the trip was spent
exploring the area north of Cairns in a rented mini-bus (which Alex named
Virgin Australia). We visited an amazing beach at Palm Cove but unfortunately
the weather wasn’t great. The signs warning of ocean hazards were cool, yet
terrifying.
However, the highlight for me was driving
along a spectacular coast road to Port Douglas. On the way up the beaches and
cliffs were stunning, easily rivaling the Great Ocean Road. However, I will
always remember the trip home in the dark. I have never seen so many stars and you
could clearly make out the Milky Way. Port Douglas was brilliant; we spent time
on the beach and in the sea. We rented a boogie board and had great fun making
fools of ourselves. After the beach we decided on a quick trip to Mossman
Gorge. Unfortunately we didn’t give ourselves enough time to appreciate it
properly. However, I am so glad that we make the effort to visit.
We all really enjoyed our time in Cairns.
We had wonderful day trips but also good nights out around Cairns. We had some
lovely meals including a great Greek dinner. However, I must mention the
Bavarian Beer Bar on Cairns Esplanade. Obviously great beer, but the highlight
was Alex wearing the Bavarian drinking hat.
In summary, we have had some brilliant
adventures and we have thoroughly enjoyed our trips to Melbourne, Sydney and
Cairns. However, my thoughts on the best city in Australia? Obviously Brisbane,
by a mile, but that is for another post.
