Melbourne: Discovering the city's hidden delights
Oct 12 2009 by Steve Murphy, Birmingham Post
melbourne travel australia
At the end of the pit straight, the first corner is a lot sharper than it looks on TV. Hard on the brakes, I clip the apex then find the perfect racing line before powering out of the turn.
When Formula One star Lewis Hamilton takes the same route this weekend in defence of his World Championship title he’ll be reaching speeds of 200mph. Me, I’m doing just under 20mph, yet my legs are burning and sweat is distorting my vision.
On your bike!
I’m on a cycle ride around Melbourne’s famous Albert Park grand prix circuit as part of a city tour with Murray Johnson, who runs the Real Melbourne Bike Tours company. This relaxed tour is one of the many ways to see this confident and cultured city.
I was also lucky enough to take a sunrise hot air balloon flight, which offered spectacular views of the city centre and business district, as well as its many parks and open spaces, followed by my personal favourite – an hour spent whizzing round the sights on the back of a Harley Davidson with John Karmouche.
The bike ride starts from my hotel, the Crown Promenade on the South Bank, past the edgy architecture of the Federation square complex and the stunning Eureka skyscraper, which offers panoramic and vertigo-inducing views. We then head out towards the coast, through streets lined with Victorian-style buildings, dodging the vintage looking trams on to the chilled-out beach suburb of St Kilda.
It’s here that the cyclists and rollerbladers make the most of the smooth promenade and pathways, and the bustle of the city seems miles away. On the way back we go past the world famous Melbourne Cricket Ground, a must-see for all sports fans, where volunteers take visitors on tours round this historic sporting venue.
Beyond the glitz of the town centre, the real Melbourne is hidden away. The uber-cool Brunswick Street is full of independent retro shops. I’d suggest spending the afternoon sipping a cool beer with locals who ooze style and bohemian sophistication before jumping onto a tram back into town to track down a watering hole for the evening.
