Killing Time in Melbourne.

July 13, 2008 8:36 PM

My partner and I are going to Melbourne in August to see Wicked. We're only there for one night, but while we're there we have a few hours to kill before the show and about an hour or two in the morning before we fly back home to Brisbane. What should we do/see while we're there?

We'll be arriving in Melbourne on a Friday, checking into our hotel (located in the CBD) at about 2pm, and the show starts at 8pm. What do Melbournian MeFites suggest we do in the 5 hours or so that we have before we need to get ready for our night out?

The next day, Saturday, we will probably check out around 10am but our plane doesn't leave until about 1pm. We'll need to be at the airport by about midday, so we only have about two hours to kill on a Saturday morning. Suggestions for what to do in the CBD on what I assume will be a cold Melbourne Saturday morning would also be appreciated!

posted by Effigy2000 to travel & transportation (16 comments total)

There's a nice art deco show on at the National Gallery of Victoria, just a short tram ride (actually, a ten minute walk) up St Kilda Road. But the Melbourne CBD really does have some interesting little alleyways and arcades in it and I submit that you will quite easily entertain yourself there for a good while on the Friday afternoon. You could maybe catch a tram up to Brunswick Street (Fitzroy) and have a look at Polyester (link possibly NSFW) and grab some nachos and a delightful beverage or fifteen at Hideout.

As for Saturday, all you'd really be able to do is potter around maybe in the Bourke Street Mall for an hour (me, I can spend hours in Reader's Feast alone) - assuming your flight is departing from Tullamarine, you're going to want to give yourself at least an hour to get out there since your only options are the transit shuttle from Spencer Street Station or, yes, a very expensive taxi ride. Unless they've built a rail line in the two years since I was in Melbourne last.
posted by turgid dahlia at 10:49 PM on July 13, 2008

Really depends. mefi meetup?

Leave about 45 minutes to get to the airport, wont possibly take more than an hour, unless you're at Avalon. Skybus schedules here.

Fed square on Friday night is still in the city, it has the Ian Potter gallery (NGV Australia), if you like the yartz. Or catch a tram to St Kilda, have a cake in Acland street and a beer at the Espy.

If the missus* likes shopping, I'm told we're good for it (not that I would know). Chapel street, I believe?

The casino is a soul destroying vacuum of greed and hell. Maybe your thing?

I wont recommend the Museum, it's OK but not very wow.

Botanical Gardens are very nice if the weather is good and you want to do something contemplative.

The Aquarium is good, but no better than others around the world.

Everything I'm suggesting is close to the city, should be easy to get around and find stuff .

*occurs to me that that comment is heterosexist and gendered. But still a reasonable generalisation.
posted by wilful at 11:44 PM on July 13, 2008

visit the Wunderkammer?"This Wunderkammer is both a museum and a retail store. The shop specialises in science and natural history. In the collection are antique botanical prints, anatomical models, specimens preserved in vintage glass canisters, fossils, medical instruments, beetles and butterflies in hand blown specimen domes: the scope of Wunderkammer is as broad as the scope of human scientific enquiry."
posted by dhruva at 11:47 PM on July 13, 2008

I had a few hours to kill in Melbourne earlier this year - quite enjoyed Brunswick St for eating and drinking (easily managed to get a tram there and back), and found lots of interesting little shops in Little Collins St and Bourke St.

My husband took in a computer games exhibition at the AAMI near (in?) Federation Square, previously they've had a Pixar 20th anniversary exhibition there as well, so if you're of the geeky type it's worth a look to see what they've got on now.
posted by harriet vane at 1:13 AM on July 14, 2008

the National Gallery of Victoria (heh) has a decent collection, almost as good as the gallery in Adelaide. it's worth at least half an hour of your time.

other than that, from a touristic point of view, i'm always happy enough to visit st kilda & brunswick st, fitzroy, in order to kill a few hours in melbourne.

if you go to st kilda, look up the cakes. and have a beer at the espy. probably slightly more interesting than fitzroy.
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:40 AM on July 14, 2008

brunswick st or lygon st for a coffee and some atmosphere.
get the city circle tram, it is free adn easy and you can see the format.
for shopping go to collins st, get a coffee and enjoy 101 collins
posted by edtut at 4:38 AM on July 14, 2008

In 2006 I lived just opposite the "soul destroying vacuum of greed and hell" casino. Agreed on all counts (my husband uncharacteristically loved the slots, but ended up even), but eating a meal in one of the restaurants by the river there is surprisingly pleasant.

Loved the Greek food and the Journal Cafe. Found most of the central restaurants overpriced and excessively trendy. South Melbourne market has been recently renovated according to houseguests last week, and it's a fun spot for early morning people-watching.

Terrific galleries, chocolate, and cappuccino if you like to wander around and sample.
posted by mozhet at 4:54 AM on July 14, 2008

Friday - Brunswick Street in Fitzroy, then grab a cab back to the theatre.
Saturday - get up early and go and have breakfast in St Kilda on Acland Street. Enjoy the coffee you lucky lucky people.
posted by awfurby at 5:24 AM on July 14, 2008

Thanks for your suggestions everyone!

At this stage I like the idea of catching a tram from outside my hotel on Collins Street up to Federation Square and perhaps St Kilda. How much time will that eat up in travel?
posted by Effigy2000 at 4:01 PM on July 14, 2008

about 3 minutes on the tram to Fed square. About 20 minutes to St Kilda. One other thing I forgot, which you can combine with a trip to St Kilda, is a stop at the Shrine of Remembrance. If that's your thing, it's pretty sombre. (yeah and there are great views from the top).

The info centre is at Fed square, for maps and all that stuff.
posted by wilful at 4:36 PM on July 14, 2008

As an aside, the National Gallery of Victoria predates Federation (1901) by forty years, hence the name. You've missed the computer games exhibition mentioned above but might still enjoy a visit to ACMI at Federation Square, in fact the whole square seems very popular with visitors (and locals). My own interstate visitors often find themselves dragged around Southbank, and/or various of Melbourne's laneways which are full of graffiti-style murals and other public art, and funny little bars and cafes. I'm especially fond of Degraves St. but there are plenty to choose from. Bookish types may enjoy visiting the domed reading room at the State Library.

St Kilda is pretty handy to the city really. 96 Tram from Bourke St or the 16 from Swanston St will get you there.
posted by Coaticass at 8:37 PM on July 14, 2008

OK, planned my trip so that after we have some dinner and some drinks at the Espy we leave there at about 5pm. I need just a couple of last pieces of advice though.

1) After we're done at the Espy at around 5pm, we don't want to go back to the city straight away. The plan is to get back to the city around 6pm. Will probably just walk around the city and see the sights for about an hour or so before we return to the hotel to rest up a bit and get ready for the show. But I was thinking in the meantime we might mill around St Kilda until a return tram at 5.30 arrives. Anything else interesting we should see/do around The Espy until then? I like Ubu's suggestion about the cakes but some other ideas would also be welcome.

2) On the Saturday we might get some hot breakfast at a nice cafe in the Bourke Street Mall, loosely following turgid dahlia's advice. Nothing too fancy... just bacon, eggs and the like. Any reccommendations for a nice cafe with good food there? Important; must be open on a Saturday morning around 10am!

3) Plan is to catch a taxi to Tullamarine from around the mall somewhere. I'd like rough indications for travel time to Tullamarine at 11am on a Saturday morning and rough cost, if you know.

Thanks for all your help so far, guys. Very excited about this trip!
posted by Effigy2000 at 8:58 PM on July 15, 2008

1) The Espy is near the beach - you could head down there. Or simply take a walk along the boulevard to Acland street (where the cakes are). The walk will take you past the Palais Theatre (abt 5-10 minutes by foot), then you could stroll down to the end of Acland street (past the cake shops) and catch your tram back to the city from there. That would kill your half hour.

2) Bourke Street Mall is not a good place for breakfast. Try Little Collins Street (runs parallel to Bourke Street Mall).

3) Travel time by taxi to airport from CBD - 20-30 minutes, $50-70.
posted by awfurby at 10:23 PM on July 15, 2008

$50-70? can somebody verify this? i only ever swipe cabcharges so don't pay too close attention, but i swear it's more like $35-45...?

just remember that the entire route is highway / freeway. if the cabbie starts taking you through suburban streets before you're almost at the foot of the CBD, you're being rorted.

*it's arguable whether it's cheaper to get off the freeway at the series of phallic "sculptures" (you'll know them when you see them!) & go past the hospital & queen vic markets or to go through that gimicky metal ribcage-tunnel thingy on the freeway & enter the city from the docklands side, but i've generally found the former to be the better bet...can you tell i hate dishonest cabbies?
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:03 AM on July 16, 2008

I'd certainly put the cost of a taxi from town to Tulla above $40, but don't think it would quite be $70.

The best breakfast you'll ever get in Melbourne is at the Town Hall Hotel, which is a tram ride to North Melbourne. Honestly, do it. You won't regret it. Get up early.

Failing that, the Elephant & Wheelbarrow at the top of Bourke Street (towards Parliament) also does breakfast, I believe, but I can't vouch for it.

Also, this will probably sound like blasphemy, but the Espy is a bit fail. And my guess is the weather won't be too great for a relaxing stroll along the beach. In fact, yeah, apart from the delicious cakes, St. Kilda is, as a rule, a dive.
posted by turgid dahlia at 4:09 PM on July 16, 2008

time your beer for sunset and the espy from the bay window is pretty nice. but yeah, it's better at about 1 am after a gig. We mostly have romantic delusions about it from our early twenties.

degraves street, just off flinders street to flinders lane is the place for cafes. They will all be open and serving breakfast, no worries about that.

The town hall does decent breakfast? well I never! If you did do that you could wander back through the Queen Vic market, catch a taxi from there. Concur that a taxi should be about $50, take about half an hour, and if you're not on an arterial in two minutes and a freeway in five, you're being had. From the city you would definitely go down Flemington road, going across the Bolte bridge is also a scam.

Yes unfortunately our taxi drivers are like that these days. 75% indian international students, 20% horn of africa recent immigrants, 5% old-timers.
posted by wilful at 4:53 PM on July 16, 2008