Melbourne, Victoria: Part 2—Getting Settled

As the day dawned on the first complete day of living in Melbourne we ventured out to find that most of our notions from the previous evening were completely wrong, and it was unsurprising that it had taken us a good 30 minutes to walk home because we had headed in the complete opposite direction in the first(see end of post for explanation on why). We spent the first days doing the general walkabout thing, spending a considerable amount of time in Melbourne Central on one day. It would be unfair to call Melbourne Central a train station (which it is in essence) because it contains everything. A fully equipped (American style) mall, a supermarket, a fairly large food court, a bowling alley, nightclubs/bars, a movie theatre and even the old lead shot factory right in the very center of it all (pictured on right). The first day was also the first experience on one of the cities trams which is both like and unlike the nyc subway system (more on that later). The later days would lead to further exploration, some of the major streets (Elizabeth St, Swanston St and Bourke St[left and below]) as well as the QV centre. The QV centre is another one of these bizarre mall-like structures. What we had originally set out for was the Big W (essentially Wal*Mart except minus the food part) to find some basic necessities that weren’t included with the room. Turns out the Big W is hidden under the QV centre (a mix of fashion, food and entertainment [and even living space as I discovered after wandering in the back way thinking id found another QV centre--it was the same one] places). Along with it, hidden in the basement is a partner store and major supermarket Safeway (or as it’s known ANYWHERE else in Australia Woolworths). I should also mention at this exact moment that Australians seem to have a love of chocolate/candy/sweets; Big W alone has about 13 aisles of the stuff. In the first few days I only got down as far as Bourke St along mainly Elizabeth St and Swanston St (see map, outlined in blue). Maps, as a reminder from reference, became our best friend, because although Melbourne seems pretty square and linear the top part of the city bends. It just so happens that the bend is away the village and you can be determinately heading north from the city along Swanston St (the general direction you want to go in) and be getting further from where you want to be without knowing it. This is especially frustrating with two handfuls of shopping from Safeway. Once you’ve figured out that fact, it’s pretty hard to get lost in Melbourne, and you realize that it isn’t really that big of a city. Reassuring, yes?