We were down in Melbourne for a short winter break, a bit of culture and a catch up with friends. It’s a three-and-half hour flight from Cairns to Melbourne (direct), some 2,817 kilometres away – that’s the equivalent of London to Moscow and, let me tell you, it felt like Moscow, with an arrival temperature of just 6 degrees. Just as well we packed the jumpers, long trousers (trousers, imagine!), puffer jackets, socks (!) and scarves… so we felt rugged up and warm as we emerged from the glorious Prince Hotel into to the bleak mid-winter of Melbourne – specifically, brisk St Kilda Beach and environs.

We’ve been coming to this ‘home away from home’ hotel for many years now and it really hasn’t changed much at all. Still the uber cool hub of St Kilda, it has a rich history dating back to the mid 1800’s, evolving from a modest guest house to a prominent newly rebuilt P&O style Art Deco hotel. During World War II, the then Prince of Wales Hotel was the headquarters to the US military as their Officers Club, attracting many happy-go-lucky thrill-seekers to the area, keen to mingle with cashed-up and glamorous foreigners. Which naturally, of course, set the area up as the hectic red-light district of Melbourne and made The Prince the very first venue to embrace a gay and lesbian scene. Complete with a beacon of light atop the rooftop flagpole, which remains glowing to this very day. https://theprince.com.au/history/

The Prince is located on the corner of Fitzroy and Acland Streets with a short stroll past dozens of restored Victorian villas, stylish Art Deco apartments and smart 50’s/60’s blocks, across to the main shopping/dining area of Acland Street, where the tram ends and the legendary cake shops begin amongst the heavily graffiti’d laneways. Mind you, that’s pretty much the whole of downtown Melbourne. For whatever reason, graffiti here is an essential part of the city DNA. Wilful self-expression or a grungy form of instantaneous street art? Discuss. It works well in some of the laneways, but goes sort of rogue in places where the ‘art’ is not that successful and often appears to be just plain vandalism. You look up in the city streets, marvelling at the impressive architecture this city does so well, and see random graffiti lazily tagged at dizzying heights. How the hell do these ‘kids’ (it has to be kids right?) get up there?

Morning dawned quite bleakly in St Kilda early in the week with leaden clouds and a stiff cold wind off Port Phillip Bay. Thankfully, with charged up Myki cards, the old yellow #16 tram trolleyed us up Fitzroy Street and St Kilda Road towards Swanston Street station and Federation Square to The Ian Potter Gallery, part of the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria). We were there to see a few things: The Colour of Memory: Sally Gabori. Marking 10 years since the passing of Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda, The Colour of Memory is a small exhibition in a darkened space, that brings some of her internationally known bold colourful abstract paintings to luminous life. In another contained space in the Ian Potter Gallery is the ‘Bark Salon’ the largest ever staging of the NGV’s dynamic and expansive collection of indigenous bark paintings. The exhibition features some 150 works showcasing figurative, totemic and traditional narratives, across time and place in a 19^th century colonial salon-style hanging.

Adjacent to these two exhibits is the Wurrdha Marra (Many Mobs) collection of art from emerging to senior indigenous figures, across time and place. Another glorious bit of Australian culture with some truly remarkable paintings. 

Back at The Prince, after a tram and on-foot wander round Fitzroy and a scrumptious Chinese lunch in Little Bourke Street, the light was quite magical at sunset in St Kilda, especially that the 450m pier has been completely renovated with a curving walkway that stretches out into Port Phillip Bay out towards the rocks and the Fairy Penguin colony. It was a tad chilly on this mid-winter evening, but well worth the stroll out on the boardwalk out as the sun set over this sparkling colourful city. 

It was a not so bleak city there that evening and it all looked rather glorious in the gold and purple of the mid-winter sunset. Melbourne is a very liveable city, actually ranked #4 in the world according to Forbes Magazine (Sydney was a debatable 6^th – should be higher me thinks). Melbourne is very walkable. Transport is excellent. The food is some of the best you will find in Australia. It’s hot in Summer but rather sobering in Winter – which is one of the reason’s we pop down mid-year. Deliciously chilly! Gloriously not bleak! 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2025/06/18/the-20-best-cities-to-live-in-the-world-according-to-a-2025-report/