Every drop counts

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Australia may be in the grip of the worst drought in recorded history but thanks to expert management and efficient irrigation, Melbourne's spectacular Royal Botanic Gardens has found ways to beat the big dry.


Recognised as one of the world's top three botanic gardens, this is a wonderful place to while away the hours. Lucky for me, this 38-hectare CBD paradise is right across the street from my office, so no matter how highly over-rated work may be, spending one's lunch hour in such a place is at least some compensation.

Cute one day, deadly the next

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It's comforting to know that in a country with a staggering number of killer creatures, there are also plenty of cute, cuddly marsupials and lots of chirpy little types like these wild rosella parrots, which had a snack courtesy of Annie a while back.

It makes me nuts that there are spiders big enough to eat birds here – how INSANE is that? - and that nine of the 10 most venomous snakes in the world will bite the life out of you faster than you can say “Crikey!”

So I fear I must always watch my back. Even the spiders IN MY HOUSE can grow as big as the palm of my hand ... and if that's not heart attack-inducing stuff, I don't know what is.

Soon we will be going to the top end of Oz, where the animals are much deadlier than they are down here in Victoria. So if I find myself at the business end of a saltwater crocodile, for example, or a stonefish, which is the deadliest fish in the world, or a box jellyfish ‑ which has the deadliest venom of any species anywhere in the world and kills more people in Australia than snakes, sharks and crocs combined – I will surely pray for a quick end, for surely there is little hope of seeing another sunset.

Wish me luck.

Hot in the city

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“I give you all of Sydney Harbour
All that land and all that water
For that one sweet promenade.”
‑ Australian folk legend Paul Kelly, pining for his beloved Melbourne

A woeful lack of international flights means too many visitors leave Melbourne off their itinerary in favour of the well-worn tourist path of Sydney, Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock), Kakadu National Park and the Great Barrier Reef. But if you’re willing, you won’t be disappointed.

Here’s why:

Aussie-rules football: Melbourne is home to the Australian game, and Melburnians are fanatical about it. And ladies … the BODIES on these guys must be seen to be believed.

· Cafe society: Sydney is tourist-heavy and in-your-face. Melbourne, on the other hand, is subtle, refined and quietly cool. Melburnians don't have to try that hard. They know their coffee and their alcohol ‑ and they know how to enjoy it right.

· Fashion: Even the world’s top dogs decided Melbourne was the place to set up shop, including haute couture stars Donna Karan, Armani and Versace. Homegrown designers are becoming big names, and the Melbourne Fashion Festival, on next month, is a huge draw.

· Sport: Melbourne's got the tennis (Australian Open), the Formula One (Grand Prix), the best two-mile gallopers in the world (Melbourne Cup), a burgeoning soccer and rugby league scene, international cricket and, of course, Aussie rules.

· Food: Melbourne is the undisputed champion here. The restaurants are world leaders and you can eat your way around the globe without ever leaving the city.

· Old money versus new: Melburnians prefer the understated elegance of suburbs like Toorak and Brighton. Sydney's brash harboursiders look at life from way up on high.

· Culture: Melbourne is definitely Australia's cultural capital. It's got the best art gallery in the Southern Hemisphere and more performance venues than any similar-sized city outside New York.

· Weather: Melbourne may have brisk winters and a reputation for four seasons in one day. But the truth is, Sydney generally gets more rain.

· Festivals: Melbourne's got the hugely popular International Comedy Festival, Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, Moomba (a sort of mishmash that's very popular with the locals) and the International Film Festival and the Queer Festival.

· The look: OK, OK, so Sydney Harbour is hard to beat for looks. But get to Melbourne for views of another sort: watch the sun go down in St. Kilda, wander the brilliant Royal Botanical Gardens (among the world's best), stroll around Albert Park (a city park with a man-made lake and a great round-trip drive that doubles as the F1 race track), get out on Port Phillip Bay (where dolphins delight), float down the Yarra River, catch some rays on Brighton Beach (with its photogenic bathing boxes), and ply the city streets by old-fashioned tram.

Marvelous Melbourne

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Many years ago, I had the good fortune of living for seven months in Sydney’s Manly Beach, which is what you’d expect a Sydney bayside suburb to be: Lovely beach, awesome waves, beautiful people, lots of fun. In fact, Manly ‑ so named by the founder of Sydney, Captain Arthur Phillip, after his encounter with the confident, “manly” Aborigines he found there ‑ is probably the very best that Sydney has to offer.


And yet, I still must fly the flag for Melbourne (above), which is too often shortchanged when the lion’s share of the headlines go to its rival half a day’s drive north. Simply put, Melbourne is a city with its priorities in order: where a horse race is reason enough to give everybody the day off work, where substance matters as much as style and where the good things in life are there for the taking.


When I step out of my office building on the Yarra River, this is the view. Superb, no?

Tennis, anyone?

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Miraculously, both a babysitter and a very generous friend materialize in one and the same person – our dear friend Gracie – and Travellin Mama gets two tickets for a night at the Australian Open with her hubby. If you look real close - way, way down - that’s Roger Federer near the net. (On this particular night, as on thousands of others, he was in mighty fine form indeed, and we count outselves among the lucky ones to have seen the best tennis player of all time, live, in our favourite city in the world.)

Any excuse for a party

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It’s been quite a few years time since Travellin’ Mama has done B52 shooters in the middle of the day ... but when you live in a place where the entire state gets the day off for a horse race and the city is basically one big party, what’s a girl to do? The racing brings it out in all of us. Damn, I love Australia! (joining Doog and I are Melbourne friends Bonnie, Travis and Alana, on my lap)

Not sure where the kids are!