Melbourne and its Marvelous Trams

Though overshadowed as a tourist destination by Sydney and its incomparable harbor, Melbourne is a major international travel hub and well worth adding an extra day or two to your itinerary. In fact, it’s worth a visit even if you reach Australia through another gateway. It’s one of the most pollution-free major cities in the world, and, according to its tourism agency, boasts a 1994 ‘World’s Most Liveable City’ award.

Why visit there?

* For its clean, compact downtown, packed with quality shopping and fine dining opportunities along with many historic buildings. (The city was founded in 1835.)

* For vast, tranquil parks and gardens just a short walk or tram ride from the city center.

* For its central location and user-friendly airport --- one of the world’s best, according to frequent flyers --- connecting North America and Europe with New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, and the rest of the South Pacific.

And, for lovers of transportation history, the marvelous Melbourne trams. They’ve been providing clean, efficient public transportation since 1889. And, much modernized, still do today. What other major city counts, as one of its most well-known international exports ... old streetcars?

Quick Tips:

Interested in a dinner of a different sort? Check out Melbourne’s restaurant tram, which operates from a terminal near the casino, on the south bank of the river west of the Spencer St. Bridge. It wasn’t available on the one night I would have had an opportunity to ride it, but if it’s managed as well as the rest of the city’s tram operations it could make for a very enjoyable evening.

Melbourne’s tourism web site, Melbourne.8m.com will give you a general overview of the city’s attractions and transport systems but won’t provide detailed maps or schedules.

For information on intercity rail and bus services throughout Australia, including fares and schedules, visit Countrylink. This incredibly helpful service will even make prepaid reservations for you, charged to your credit card.

For a long list of handy Melbourne phone numbers, including several leading to decidedly adults-only services, try phone lists.

Best Way To Get Around:

Trams are the cleanest, most comfortable way of getting around the city. For further-out destinations, check the commuter-rail schedules before investing in a rental car or taxi fare. There’s a huge fleet of commuter trains operating out of Flinders St. Station, with several routes and extremely frequent service.

I can’t emphasize enough the importance of a good transportation map for a do-it-yourself tour of Melbourne. During my travels, I used free maps and guides given me by the information office at Flinders St. Having lost or mislaid my transit map since my 1999 visit, I’m refreshing my memory with the 'Melbourne City Pocket Map', published by the UBD Division of the Universal Press Pty., Ltd. of Australia. I picked it up at the local Rand McNally map store for U.S. .50. It has everything I need except tram and bus route numbers which, alas, the map that I lost did have.

An all-day, three-zone pass good on trams, buses and commuter rail can be had for AUD 9.50, approx. U.S. .75.

Directly across the street from the Treasury Gardens and less than a half-mile from the Victoria State Parliament Building, this high-rise hotel is also served by Melbourne’s free City Circle tram. This makes it an ideal location for someone who prefers walking or inexpensive public transportation instead of a rental car or taxicabs.

The Mercure was a Sheraton when I stayed there in April, 1999. The change of franchise apparently occurred sometime after Spring of 2000, so I suspect there have been few if any significant changes in facilities or amenities as yet. (Hotels often switch franchises without changing much but the name on the door.)

My stay at the then-Sheraton Melbourne was a split visit. On both occasions, I was offered generously-proportioned rooms overlooking Treasury Gardens and the larger Fitzroy Gardens and conservatory beyond; one on a relatively low floor, the other much higher. Both were nicely furnished and well-insulated from street noise. The trams rumbling beneath my windows went relatively unheard, or at least not heard well enough to be distracting.

There was a small but adequately-stocked bar opening off the lobby, but separated from it by a TV lounge where friendly Aussies tried to explain the near-incomprehensible mayhem that they call ‘Footy’. It had a congenial atmosphere that I found very welcome in a foreign country.The restaurant, which also opened off the lobby, was adequate but, frankly, not what I would have expected from a Sheraton: More what I would call a ‘coffee shop’ than a fine-dining establishment. The view of passing trams and the gardens was pleasant, but my two dinners there were forgetable.

One special courtesy I greatly appreciated: I was planning a six-night rail tour beginning and ending in Melbourne but had with me some three weeks’ worth of luggage from earlier travels. Management arranged for me to store the excess, at no cost, until my return.

On a return trip to Australia, in August 2000, I stayed at a Mercure hotel in Brisbane, which offered me the same courtesy during a side trip there. The Brisbane hotel had a friendly, capable staff and appeared to be well-managed. So, I suspect the one-time Melbourne Sheraton is in good hands with Mercure. According to a current hotel guide, summer 2001 rates at the Mercure Melbourne were AUD 167-215 for a single or double. That would be something under U.S. $100.

This is one of those classic hotel dining rooms that most of us would reserve for a very special occasion --- impressing a prom date comes to mind. ‘Old World elegance’ was the only appropriate way to describe the lobby I walked through en route to the restaurant itself. Even the location bespoke elegance: directly across the street from Parliament.

I’d discovered it while scouting both for photo opportunities and a place to celebrate the last night of a long journey through Australia and New Zealand. This would be perfect --- but would there be a dress code?

No, the host replied. Slacks and a sport shirt would be fine. I should, however, make a reservation.

I arrived for dinner amid lush carpeting, mahogany furnishings in warm, subdued lighting, and impeccable table settings ... the memory of the atmosphere overwhelms memory of the meal itself. I recall it being an Australian specialty --- lamb, most likely --- and, albeit expensive, enough to convince me that this would be the restaurant to return to should I be in Melbourne again.

Though most of Melbourne’s currently-operating ‘trams’ are actually modern light-rail cars, the City Circle Trams are transportation history; much as they probably were in the 1930’s or even before. (At least two American cities --- New Orleans and San Francisco --- have imported sisters of these historic trolleys for use in their own public-transit systems.)

The City Circle trams generally follow the perimeter of the Central Business District: Spencer, La Trobe, Spring and Flinders Streets, with a brief detour through Parliament Gardens. Attractions they serve include:
- Spencer St. Station, terminal for intercity trains to Sydney, Adelaide and inland cities;
- The (former) Royal Mint, State Library and Museum of Victoria;
- Parliament House and the adjoining Parliament Gardens;
- The Old Treasury and other state office buildings;
- Treasury Gardens and, further east, the larger Fitzroy Gardens;
- The Fox & Hounds Hotel and several other of Melbourne’s oldest and most ornate buildings;
- Flinders St. Station, a major crossroads for tram lines and hub of a vast commuter rail system.

Since there’s no fare, you can get off and reboard as often as you like, Trams run frequently, so you shouldn’t have a wait of more than 10-15 minutes (probably less).

Though the free tram takes you around downtown, It won’t take you past the City Center’s most popular shopping, dining and entertainment venues. For those, you’ll need to walk or take a paid tram along Bourke and Collins Streets or walk northward from Flinders St. along Swanston St, Walk.

Rialto Tower, said to be the Southern Hemisphere’s tallest buillding, is at Collins Place, a block north of the City Circle Tram stop at Flinders and King Sts. What the tourism agency’s web site calls the Central Business District’s most popular shopping center is on the tram line near Swanston St. Walk.

Treasury Gardens and the much larger Fitzroy Gardens just beyond them were easily one of the highlights of my Melbourne walking tours. Laced with quiet, usually well-shaded walkways, they’re islands of tranquility within minutes of the downtown Melbourne bustle. Landmarks you’ll want to see and possibly photograph include a John F. Kennedy Memorial, the Conservatory, Captain Cook’s cottage and a delightful miniature Tudor village.

For a longer walk, you can continue to the east and south, crossing the tram line along Wellington and on toward the Melbourne Cricket Club. Following the signs to the commuter rail station, and crossing the tracks, with take you to Olympic Park and the banks of the Yarrow River, for excellent views of the Melbourne skyline from a different angle.

If, at this point, you’re tired of walking, you’ll encounter a handy tram line waiting to take you back downtown. If you’re still game for more walking, the Royal Botanical Gardens are a little more than a mile further on, on the opposite side of the river walking east from the Swan St. Bridge.

Walking through downtown, it’s easy to forget that Melbourne is also a seaport. For a nice change of pace, lasting anywhere from two hours to a full morning or afternoon, consider a tram tour to the the seacoast between Albert Park and St. Kilda.

The legendary sea captain Joshua Slocum spent Christmas 1897 at St. Kilda, resting during his solo sailing voyage around the world. The Royal Yacht Club, there to greet him then, is still there today. There are two principal tram-line terminals on or near the beach: on Victoria Street in Albert Park and at the foot of Fitzroy St. in St. Kilda. There’s a long beachfront promenade between the two and, at the St. Kilda end, a very attractive park. The walk is a little under a mile and a half long. Along the way, you’ll pass the quarters of the Middle Park Life Saving Club and the Surf Lifesaving Association of Australia. Beyond the park at St. Kilda, you’ll encounter the somewhat garish facade of Luna Park, a popular amusement park.

The tram lines from downtown to the waterfront and back will give you a look at Melbourne neighborhoods most tourists won’t see. Having lost or mislaid my handy transit map, I can’t give you exact route numbers. My own journey started at the intersection of St. Kilda Road and South Bank Blvd., just across the river from Flinders St. Station, and, with a change of trams somewhere that I can’t remember, took me to the waterfront at Albert Park. Returning, I left from a tram terminal near Luna Park in St. Kilda and wound up on Spencer St. downtown.

The whole trip, including the leisurely walk along the waterfront, took perhaps 2-1/2 hours. You’d probably have to be a serious trolley lover to enjoy this jaunt as much as I did, but even if you’re just a casual sightseer you might find it worthwhile. It IS a pleasant diversion from the ordinary.