Essendon and Beyond

I thought I'd take a moment to give you a better idea of Essendon and Melbourne in general and also show you some more pics. It's where we live!

Can you find Essendon?

Essendon is about 10km out of the CBD of Melbourne (Central Business District) to the North West. So we're in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne. The town of Essendon came into existence in the 19th Century (like most things in this country) as a stop on the way from Melbourne to the gold fields of Castle Maine. Since then it has been swallowed up as the city got bigger and bigger and now is just one more part of Melbourne. Nowadays Essendon is known as a middle class suburb; home to affluent families with 2 kids, a dog and a 4x4.  It is known for good schools and desirable (and expensive) property. Some of the blocks (house and garden) here are huge. Intermixed with the big houses are some small developments of flats and units. Some are nice, some less so. We're lucky to be in one of the nicer ones - though where our 5 houses/units stand there was probably just one big house before. Houses round here and across most of Melbourne are built in the classic Victorian or Edwardian styles. Which means they're built out of either weatherboard or red brick respectively. The weatherboard houses are very pretty.

Victorian style houses

Edwardian

Jacaranda in bloom

There is no one central shopping area in Essendon. The shops and banks are spread out over maybe 3 separate streets, quite far apart. Fortunately the main shopping strip in North Essendon is just 5 minutes walk from our house. Up this part of Mount Alexander Road is a mix of butchers, bakers, banks, grocers, post office, hairdressers, cafes and restaurants and beyond that is a Coles Supermarket where we do our food shopping. The tram also goes right up the middle of the street though rows of palm trees - I think this scenic image is unique to this area: I've seen it on postcards.

The Tram!

Essendon is also known for Essendon Airport which handles mainly small charter flights - throughout the day small aircraft and helicopters often buzz overheard, and the Essendon Bombers, the local AFL team. They have been one of the most successful teams in AFL history though I don't think they've won the grand final (as its called) recently.

A local specialist sweet shop

One of the great views in Essendon is that of the CBD from Mount Alexander road. Rising up in the hazy distance beyond the palm trees and tram lines you can see the gleaming towers of the City's financial center. This is the distinct city skyline you see in calenders - its quite striking, especially as the rest of the city is relatively flat.

We were both a bit worried about how we would adapt to city life when we arrived having lived in the deepest darkest parts of Fife for so long. How would we cope being back in a big bustling city of 4 million people?
The good thing about Melbourne is it somehow doesn't have this busy, built up feel to it. The city is so spread out, there are so few high rises beyond the center and there are so many parks and trees that the city feels more like one massive village surrounding the bristling skyscapers of the CBD. The emphasis here is on the word MASSIVE. Melbourne is huge. The suburbs stretch for miles and miles. You can drive for a couple of hours and still be in the suburbs. The scale of the place is mind boggling. And Melbourne just keeps getting bigger. Each year more and more new developments and suburbs spring up. Would you really want to commute 2hrs into the city center to work? Maybe not

Another distinctive feature of Melbourne is how multicultural it is and how much of a melting pot the city has become. Immigrant Italian and Greek communities have had a huge influence on the character of Melbourne and have shaped its culture ever since they arrived in the aftermath of the World War II. The city is known for its Italian and Greek food. Lygon Street is famous for the amount and quality of its Italian restaurants. Its the place to go for a plate of pasta. The Greeks and Italians have also left their mark on the city architecture - many houses are festooned with white columns, fountains and ornate plaster work as if they're trying to transform themselves into Grecian palaces or Roman villas. The other great gift the Greeks and Italians have brought to Melbourne is coffee. Melbournians love coffee and can get very snobbish about it. They may spend weeks searching cafes for that elusive perfect cup of coffee. I prefer tea myself. Julia loves coffee but hasn't felt like drinking it for the last 9 months, so I have been spared being dragged from cafe to cafe.

Essendon at sunset

Alongside the Mediterranean arrivals the other big and obvious influence is that of South East Asia - namely China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and South Korea. When I first walked through the city center I remarked on the large number of Japanese and Chinese tourists there were walking about. Then I realized that they were the locals and I was the tourist! The South East Asians make up an important part of the city. There is oodles and noodles of brilliant Asian restaurants representing every area of the orient. Sushi is everywhere; in mainstream shops and corner stores alike. I love Asian food so this is heaven for me. I can't wait to try out more restaurants at some distant time in the future when we get arranged with a babysitter. I would also like to give cooking more Asian food a go. There is a big China town in central Melbourne and when we finally go I will endeavor to take some pics and tell you more about the local food. Yum.

Other features of Melbourne? That would be the Yarra River, which isn't so much a river but a huge brown stream though it is beloved by Melbournians and is an important artery through the city. Big sports grounds - especially the fabled Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) which is one of the few buildings massive enough to rival the skyscrapers. And the traffic, oh god the traffic. I'm not looking forward to driving in Melbourne. The main roads and thorough-fairs and motorways crawl constantly with traffic. Its bumper to bumper stuff. Patience will be the key to survival. God bless public transport (I never thought I'd hear myself say that).

And beyond Melbourne is the rest of Victoria. Victoria is about the same size as the UK!  It has a population of about 5.5 million, so basically almost everyone lives in Melbourne and the country is sparsely populated with gun totting farmers and wild men (ok I exaggerated this bit). Victoria does feel like a state with a split personality and perhaps much of Australia is like this. Bustling metropolitan city or remote bush-land and farming country. The culture and fashions reflect this - Melbourne is very progressive and international in its views whereas the country is much more conservative. I suppose this could be true for any country but the division here is stark. Driving out of Melbourne can be like driving back in time. Where Julia and I had our honeymoon, in Eden (which is admittedly just over the border into New South Wales), stonewashed jeans and mullets abounded. We were back in the 80s. Driving further on I we would have reached the 50s and then the turn of the century where we'd find horse drawn plows and townspeople excited by the arrival of the newfangled steam train.
But rural Victoria is beautiful. Massive and beautiful. I look forward to escaping the city and exploring and I shall update you on our travels when we do.

So that is my experience of Essendon, Melbourne and Victoria in a nutshell. I have only just scratched the surface and there is still a lot more to discover. I'm looking forward to it.

why are Julia's photos so much better than mine?