Melbourne Dos and Donts
Melbourne Dos and Donts
Do visit a pub, especially in smaller towns, for a slice of Aussieness (youll likely see poker machines adjacent to bars or eating areas). Even where good restaurants are expensive, you can usually get a good, cheap pub lunch or snack at a milk bar or coffeeshop...
Do seek out sporting clubs (motor, rugby or soccer) that allow nonmembers to sign in. You can enjoy an inexpensive, high-quality lunch or dinner and entertainment on the weekends...
Dont be surprised if the Australian version of English leaves you mystified. Australians use slang liberally, and we saw a play in Sydney (featuring rural, working-class women) in which we understood about 40% of the dialogue...
Dont count on cuddling a koala while youre Down Under. The adorable, sleepy-looking creatures, which appear so cuddly as they cling to their eucalyptus branches, are not fond of being petted: Theyve been known to piddle on would-be human fondlers. Some places have ended the practice of allowing visitors to handle the animals...
Do attend an Aboriginal music and dance performance. Its a great opportunity to hear the low-pitched drone of the didgeridoo, a wind instrument made from a small hollow tree trunk...
Dont be surprised by what they wear (or dont wear) on the beaches. Lady Jane is the nude beach in Sydney...
Do try Vegemite, a yeast spread that has the same standing that peanut butter has in North American cuisine. But its best to start with a small taste (and we mean small)...
Do visit a working sheep station. There are many outside Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne....
Tipping: Tipping traditionally has not been required in restaurants or taxis, but the practice is changing. Everyone youll meet seems to have a different opinion on the subject, so use your own judgment.
Recommended Guidebooks and reading
- Australia: A Travel Survival Kit by Tony Wheeler (Lonely Planet).
- Rough Guide: Australia (Penguin).
- Aboriginal Australia: A Travellers Guide (Angus and Robertson).
- Frommers Australia (Prentice Hall).
- Outback Australia Handbook by Marael Johnson (Moon Publications).
- Bushwalking in Australia (Lonely Planet).
- Australia: The Outdoor Travelers Guide by Gerry Ellis and Sharon Cohen (Stewart, Tabori and Chang).
- Islands of Australias Great Barrier Reef by Tony Wheeler (Lonely Planet).
- Stepping Lightly on Australia: A Travellers Guide to Ecotourism by Shirley LaPlanche (Globe Pequot).
- The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes (Knopf). A superb history of the founding of Australia.
- Triumph of the Nomads: A History of Aboriginal Australia by Geoffrey Blainey (Overlook Press).
- Kakadu, Looking After the Country -- The Gagudju Way by Stanley Breeden and Belinda Wright. Provides good insight into Aboriginal history and culture.
- The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin (Viking-Penguin) is a semifictional journey into the world of the Aborigines and a meditation on the meaning of Dreamtime, the Aboriginal creation myth.
