Black Sheep and Mountain Goats

Melbourne is the second most populous city in Australia, the "most livable city in the world", and one of the most expensive. The reason for its popularity (and hence its price) is that it is a city of art, culture, coffee and good food, where the quality of life is high. With no breakfast available at our otherwise superb pub-cum-hotel, we joined local Melburnians at a trendy morning eatery in the neighbouring Abbotsford district.

Breakfast

Breakfast at Three Bags Full saw us partake of a latte and a 'flat white' coffee, with a veggie breakfast for K and 'smashed avocado' with feta on sourdough toast for me. Smashed avocado - essentially guacamole - is terribly popular in Melbourne, presumably owing to the preponderance of the fruit. Although pricey, the breakfasts were both substantial and tasty. If it were possible to overdose on avocado, here is where it would be most likely to happen.

Holy guacamole

We walked off the hearty morning fare with an orienteering stroll through Fitzroy Park into the CBD. We proceeded along Flinders Lane, named after Capt. Matthew Flinders - a navigator and, later, cartographer, who in 1791 first voyaged to Australia at the young age of 17. In only his second visit, he discovered that Tasmania was an island set apart from the Australian mainland, the stretch of water between them being subsequently named Bass Strait after his companion, George Bass. His third voyage saw him circumnavigate Australia, investigations from which he used to draw up detailed maps, which were published in 'A Voyage to Terra Australis'. He even proposed the name 'Australia' for the continent. Truly, a remarkable man.

Reaching Federation Square, at the heart of the CBD and ajacent to Flinders Street railway station, we found a sensory overload. The square, much like the surrounding area is a clash of ultramodern and colonial architecture.

The old and the new

A quick perusal of the information centre revealed a catalogue of events and places to see. We reeled from this and wondered how we would ever manage to do justice to the cornucopia of Melbourne's delights.

Flinders Street station

Paralysed by choice of where to start, we went with the closest location and slid into ACMI - Australian Centre for the Moving Image. Here we stumbled onto Yang Fudong's exhibition 'Filmscapes'. This presented exquisitely shot film sequences - often using multiple cameras - in a spacious darkened gallery. The 'installation', New Colours, shot inside an artificial beach set with high-definition cameras, used actresses to mimic magazine-style glossy photographs - the subtle movement of their hair the only indication that this wasn't a still image. The images dripped with primary colours, in contrast to the restrained palettes of the other exhibits, and with sexual imagery - cacti, snakes, open tent flaps, sea shells - interspersed with the memento mori of rotting food and other processes of aging. Judging from K's reaction, she could write a thesis on it. That's what I get for marrying an English literature graduate.

Fudong at ACMI

We also viewed the permanent collection, which describes the advent of film and television, through to the current day, with a heavy emphasis on Australian talent and productions (step forward Baz Luhrmann).

Everybody wants to be good neighbours

After the calm presentation of Yang Fudong's artwork, this was an onslaught to the senses, which had me withdrawing from the room and into the darkness of the next-door theatre, in which Australian wartime newsreels and propaganda were being shown.

Emerging once again into the light of Fed Square, we collected ourselves over a coffee - another 'flat white' to be precise, which seems to be an antipodean reimagining of an Italian cappuccino with slightly less foam.

Melbourne CBD is on a grid, forming a rectangle on the northern bank of the Yarra river. Although the tram can be ridden for free within this rectangular zone - and indeed a circular tram patrols its periphery - we resolved to explore the centre on foot. This allowed us to walk through charming arcades linking the main thoroughfares Flinders St., Collins St., and Bourke St.

Single-occupancy Batmobile gets priority lane

Throughout Melbourne, one finds references to Batman - we spotted an avenue and a park. Despite initial assumptions, these are not named after Gotham's crime-fighting superhero, but are in honour of John Batman, who negotiated a controversial 'treaty' with the local aborigines (Kulin) for land in the Port Phillip area, which became the settlement that flourished into the capital of Victoria. Brilliantly, he named this settlement 'Batmania'.

I called our exploration of inner Melbourne to a close by late afternoon and had us head east on the tram to the end of town where the Yarra river winds its way northwards. Fittingly, just off River Street, in leafy Richmond (can't get used to these recycled names), we discovered the Mountain Goat brewery.

Goat people

With its doors open to the public only twice a week, the spacious bar was packed - the bar itself resting improbably under a pile of boxes. We had come for the brewery tour, the first session of which was already full, so we joined the second (which was also oversubscribed, necessitating a third).

During the wait, we sampled four tasters - an IPA, Hightail nitro amber ale, North street pale ale with fresh galaxy hops in "Randall" (the hopinator), and Surefoot stout.

All of the brews were good, but the standout was the inspiring tour by a former beer sommelier. Fresh and bouncing despite having just done the very same tour, our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and had an infectious enthusiasm.

Goat man

In addition to relating the brewing process, as well as Mountain Goat's specific set-up, he told the story of the two founders. Eleven years ago, with one homebrewing in the USA and the other sampling good beer while backpacking in Canada, they decided to give it a go in their home country. Having brewed in their spare time, they eventually sought capital to scale up. After several unsuccessful applications for a bank loan, they finally raised enough funds with the collateral of "1 car, 2 bikes, and 3 surfboards". With that $50k injection (on the $100k they raised themselves) they haven't looked back. Despite these pioneers, the Australian craft beer scene is, according to our guide's estimates, 20 years behind the US and 6 years behind NZ. He quoted 5% 'craft beer market penetration' in Melbourne, versus 50% in Wellington and 50% in the whole state of Oregon (home to trendy Portland and the Rogue brewery).