Melbourne
Apologies to all readers. I'm in Melbourne at present for the and have hardly seen an internet connection since I arrived.
I have walked the streets, however. As always that strange feeling of arriving in Western cities. Have all the people been lifted off by aliens, leaving only this eery quiet? Who is controlling the steady lines of black-dressed walkers in the main streets, whose pace never flags and whose personalities are suppressed beneath the order of things? Where are the singers, the greetings, the laughter, the fruit stalls, the conversations, desired or not? What strange machine generates this silent traffic, which seems to have no desire?
Melbourne has a cold beauty. Locals seem to apologise a lot for the look of their city, manifesting what some call "icon envy" with regard to Sydney, which has its opera house and harbour bridge. But I find Melbourne beautiful in a slightly melancholic way. Glass towers rising from beyond parking lots and pretty parks. The nineteenth-century buildings are stunning, especially the red-and-yellow Flinders St station which is so charming and squat in front of the icy skyscrapers.
There are many themes for me to resume on this blog, and I will do so soon. Meanwhile I go to have more conversations with the Melbourne public about books.
In her defense Melbourne has charms and a sensibility beneath and beyond the apparently sparse city scape you describe. She may not be teeming with life (like the cities of the east) but she is quirky and will make you want to discover her slowly.
If one wants immediacy of impact then Sydney is your woman, sexy, bold and willing to reveal all at the drop of a hat.
Just give Melbourne time, her mysteries are worth unraveling¡.
Yes but all of OZ's cities are replicas of Europe. If you want to experience real OZ you need to go 'outback' and meet the remote and rural folk both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, they are slightly slicker than the city slickers and a damned site more reliable.
but if you're sticking to the cities Rana, you may as well go back to UK - you won't find the real OZ in any of her cities. But perhaps you're just a city lad at heart - eh?