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# Trip review: Melbourne
- URL: https://ninja-pigeon.pikapod.net/trip-review-melbourne/
- Published: 2025-11-10T06:01:35.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-24T11:08:27.000Z
- Author: zhuoyanakl
- Tags: life, transport and public transit, #Migrated-1787569658619, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-24 11:07

Melbourne was not a city destined for me to enjoy. 

But I'm a strong preacher of the French phrase, je ne sais quoi for a reason. It directly translates to "I don't know what" but would be better said to be used to describe an elusive quality that's hard to pinpoint or simply hard to articulate in words. 

![](https://ninja-pigeon.pikapod.net/content/images/2026/08/railway-car_1f683.png)

Five nights and five catch-ups later, I think this applies well to Naarm.

tl;dr - I had a surprisingly good time as a tourist in Melbourne's inner suburbs and now I'm less reflexively anti-Melbourne than before from an infrastructure POV.

**Put plainly: vibes are good. And cities are better with people**

Here's why I couldn't see it as a small-town Auckland bumpkin.

Firstly, having not been overseas much nor a man with the biggest friend groups, I wasn't expecting how much I enjoyed catching up with all the new expats. My sister, Sachi, Rebecca and Andy, Alana. This is to be expected though as I am a needy man.

Secondly, it's hard to articulate when a place has a good or interesting vibe. Especially when you're an infrastructure nerd and might gravitate towards being anti their new toll roads.

Don't you worry reader — there'll be plenty of train talk for you later in this blog post.

![](https://ninja-pigeon.pikapod.net/content/images/2026/08/img_0726.jpg)

But when you're riding along on a tram, walking along the flat CBD streets, visiting quirky small shops that otherwise wouldn't exist in Auckland, overhearing the conversations around you — you do get an interesting feel of Melbourne's vibe.

It was obvious to me before why so many people from Auckland were and are moving to Melbourne. Salaries are higher. Living costs are lower (relatively speaking). More career opportunities. But it feels searingly obvious now. More opportunities for fun. More to do. Vibes are good. Weather only slightly more shit.

Am I too cool for Melbourne? Probably. I did feel some reassurance when back home. Auckland is lame. I am lame too. That makes a couple of us. I'm not sure how much I'd enjoy dressing to Melbourne's standards or being competitive in its job market.

Anyways...

**Look at all the cool stuff I got!** ... from some of the cooler places I visited.

*Sticky Institute*: This is a shop for zines! Yes! Permanent! Zine Shop! Not just a festival! Look at all the cool zines I got in Melbourne. And this cool tote bag.

![](https://ninja-pigeon.pikapod.net/content/images/2026/08/mixcollage-10-nov-2025-12-37-am-4897.jpg)

*Flinders St Station!* Every city must have a grand old train station.

![](https://ninja-pigeon.pikapod.net/content/images/2026/08/image-15.png)

![](https://ninja-pigeon.pikapod.net/content/images/2026/08/image-1-3.png)

*Supernormal (restaurant)* \- yom! highly recommended

Did I mention the food in Melbourne? The food is great! Good Days in Brunswick was very good too. All the food I had while I was there was good.

![](https://ninja-pigeon.pikapod.net/content/images/2026/08/img_0753.jpg)

**Other observations**

*Piss weak coffee* \- A single shot scam.

*People are prettier* \- Unsure what it is. It's because they dress better, Irra says.

*Smoking* \- ew Australians! \* *Oh yeah, ew! Australians!*\*

*Hotels with fixed showerheads* \- I'm looking at you The Victoria Hotel. What gives? First world complaint of the highest level possible. Breakfast buffet makes up for it fully.

*Cheap apartments* \- why would you pay nearly $1 million for a 1-bedroom DGZ apartment on the city fringe in Auckland when you can pay half that for something nicer and with better connected in Melbourne's city fringe? That's what my sister did anyways.

*Sydney vs Melbourne* \- Flat! More chill vibes. Friendlier people. Less corporate. More artsy and cultured. They both definitely have their own distinct characters as cities of five million people. Sydney feels dramatic and showy to me. The view from Circular Quay train station is spectacular and awesome. The view from Flinders St is lower-rise and more intimate. Less intimidating and more welcoming.

![](https://ninja-pigeon.pikapod.net/content/images/2026/08/img_0724-1.jpg)

POV: You're sitting on a COMENG, pootering along in your cool Melbourne life.

Also: People make the Auckland = Sydney, Wellington = Melbourne comparison all the time, but I think this is super wrong. Melbourne culture is closer to Auckland culture than Auckland culture is similar to Sydney culture. Wellington doesn't feel like a real city whereas Melbourne certainly does.

*EDIT: Okay, Irra has corrected me, the above paragraph is an oversimplification. If it makes sense, Wellington city centre and fringe feels more urban than Auckland city centre and fringe. But Auckland feels more like a real big city than Wellington feels like a real big city and Melbourne in that sense feels a lot more like Auckland than Wellington.*

*Consider two-axis: Urban-ness, and big city-ness. Wellington is higher on the urban-ness factor than Auckland, but Auckland is higher on the big city-ness factor than Wellington. Melbourne is closer to Wellington in terms of* *urban-ness factor, but it's closer to Auckland in terms of its big city-ness factor. Auckland is more suburban more quickly. Wellington has more urban bits around the city centre like Melbourne. But Wellington lacks the massive urban agglomeration that creates different spaces, different centres of gravity, opportunities, and things to do like Auckland does. Auckland is like LA in the sense of being a big centre a la Melbourne.*

Also: It definitely feels like there's a divide between the predominantly white and yuppie inner tram suburbs surrounding the CBD, and the suburban sprawl that encompasses \*the rest of Melbourne\*. Of course, this heavily stratifies along income, class, and ethnicity lines in a way that is probably a pHD thesis for me in an alternate life. The fact that transport (mainly buses) are so much worse in the outer suburbs doesn't help. I'm sure that also affected my experience and it's something I'd certainly want to explore more in my next visit.

Visiting suburbs outside the main city centre and fringe is actually something I enjoy doing when visiting a foreign city.

And doing so in Melbourne will be no different when I'm back.

**Public transport review**

Melbourne's inner-suburb trams aren't very good by international standards... at all.

They are a step above Auckland's frequent bus network routes in the western half of the central isthmus — which historically used to be part of the tram network — but on paper, they're poorly separated from traffic (slow), with stops that are too close together (slow) and not enough capacity in the CBD parts of the system (slow).

![](https://ninja-pigeon.pikapod.net/content/images/2026/08/image-3-3.png)

But because of the density of the inner suburbs and the breadth of the tram network coverage (largest in-operation system in the world), they still provide a phenomenal product when taken in altogether. The grade separated sections are reliable, frequent, and provide a good service. It's clearly helped to shape the landuse and density of the inner suburbs and made them fundamentally more interesting and liveable places. It really feels like the next step for a city like Auckland.

This all comes from being a city that has largely rested on its public transport laurels since the 20th century. Here's a few fun facts about Melbourne's public transport:

![](https://ninja-pigeon.pikapod.net/content/images/2026/08/img_1243-1.jpg)

Auckland's bus network is better. It's more frequent. It's way easier to understand, and it's constantly getting better these days. By comparison, Melbourne's buses suck shit mainly because the trams are such a good bus-plus in the inner suburbs.

Melbourne could get so much out of reforming and rationalising its bus routings and network, especially in the outer suburbs, as the MelbourneOnTransit blog has covered.

Melbourne's trains are fantastic but many stations are old and dilapidated. The City Loop's routings are also very confusing. Plus, frequency is still so-so outside of peak hours and especially compared to where Sydney is at. It's kinda funny that Auckland figured out 10 years ago that Sundays were no longer no-trading days, but Melbourne trains are still stuck at running every 40 minutes before 10am.

Still though — altogether, even with the City Rail Link, Melbourne will have a better train system than Auckland by far for the forseeable future. Hopefully the LXRP (Level Crossing Removal Project) which is turning many stations into \* SKY RAIL \* carries on.

![](https://ninja-pigeon.pikapod.net/content/images/2026/08/image-5-2.png)

![](https://ninja-pigeon.pikapod.net/content/images/2026/08/image-6-2.png)

![](https://ninja-pigeon.pikapod.net/content/images/2026/08/image-4-2.png)

If you haven't been — Melbourne is a wonderful city to visit and one that has definitely made it into my book of favourite cities I've visited thus far. I'm extremely conscious though that my experiences were as a 5-night tourist staying in the city centre.

Vibes were good cause I was on vacation lol. But I did the same with Sydney last year and the vibes weren't as good as Melbourne. Am I thinking of moving? No, not now.

But if it came up in future? I was always somewhat anti-Melbourne instinctually due to its shit buses and lack of harbour (Auckland spoils you), but having visited it, I think it's a lovely place that I could totally see myself living in if push came to shove re New Zealand. I'm not moving to Melbourne ... yet.