Peter Hitchener: Why I love Melbourne, the city I call home
IT’S not the look of the place that defines Melbourne. There’s no harbour bridge or opera house, but what we do have is lifestyle, writes Peter Hitchener.
Opinion
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I LOVE Melbourne, and make no secret of it.
A beautiful city, with its tree-lined boulevards, parks and gardens, the MCG and the Yarra.
However it’s not the look of the place that defines Melbourne. There’s no harbour bridge or opera house, but what we do have is lifestyle.
It’s a city where we do things, we turn out for everything — check out the crowds at the footy, the Australian Open or the Melbourne Cup — and it’s not just sport. The National Gallery’s van Gogh exhibition broke all records, and they sold about 700,000 tickets to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival this year.
There’s never a shortage of things to do. Visitors come here for our flourishing theatre and live music scenes, and there’s usually a queue of tourists taking in the street art in Hosier Lane and other city locations.
Starting in January with the tennis, the Melbourne events calendar includes the Grand Prix, Moomba, AFL and Spring Racing Carnival. Is it any wonder our city has again been voted the world’s most liveable.
The Queen Vic Market and other institutions, like our trams, are still going strong.
We should be forever grateful our transport chiefs did not join the rest of the country in doing away with trams when it was all the rage to do so in the 1960s.
Of course, there are issues to deal with, as Melbourne is a victim of its own success. A rapidly expanding population needing somewhere to live is forcing up the price of property. Also there’s no denying we’ve experienced a spike in crime, in particular, aggravated burglaries and carjackings.
But for me, the city still feels safe. Most people are friendly, inclusive and welcoming, adding to the ambience.
Melbourne looks different these days, more apartment towers and higher-density housing, but life is reassuringly familiar. There are still trams, laneways, street art, restaurants, theatres, and our love of sport and I haven’t even mentioned universities, hospitals, zoos, the sandbelt golf courses, our proximity to the snow and the beaches.
There’s no doubt, I love the place. Yes, we still need a rail link to the airport, we could do with some more trams, trains, and alternative roads to help us get around when Punt Rd is clogged.
But overall, it’s sensational. There are great cities all over the world but, for me, Melbourne will always be home.
Peter Hitchener is a Channel 9 news presenter
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