Flying high in Melbourne
Credit to Author: Dave Pottinger| Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2019 00:04:42 +0000
The city’s skyline—a soaring line of glassy high rises—stands like a line of sentries to the west, their millions of windows reflecting back the purple-grey of the rising dawn. Standing securely in the basket, my hands gripping the top of its woven dividers perhaps a little too tight, we lift higher in the air, leaving the dewy Aussie soil below. At the controls—and by controls, I mean, mostly, a couple of cords, hanging from above—our pilot pulls down hard, releasing a blast of heat and flame.
“When I learned to be a pilot, they said you have to remember one thing—to burn,” says Dariusz Brzozowski as we drift slowly, inexorably on the light morning winds toward that skyline, where the towers still look taller than our current position.
It’s early, and below me, just over the edge of the ever-ascending basket, I watch as the city wakes up. On a green tennis court, a couple of early-birds knock the ball back and forth, and a few seconds later I see a pair of rowers ply the perfectly calm waters of the Yarra, their rhythmic oar-strokes emanating tiny waves all around the slender boat.
As we reach the heart of the central business district (CBD), those high rises right there, Brzozowski pulls again—and we’re up, and up, and over. Below us—just below us—we spot helicopter pads and roof gardens, the tops of the highest buildings in the one of the world’s most impressive, vertical cities.
Melbourne as seen from a hot air balloon.
I’m in Melbourne, one of Australia’s fastest growing cities, which has undergone a remarkable transformation in the last twenty years—seeing big changes, even in the past five. The city, which now has a year-round, daily, direct flight on Air Canada from Vancouver, has risen vertically and, with that ascension, the heart of town has become vital in brand-new ways. I’m here to get high—only in altitude—and see Melbourne from a whole new perspective.
Brzozowski lets us down in a city park, bumping to the ground, the basket tipping, just for a moment, before we stick the landing. Afterwards, still early in the day, I sit down for breakfast with Kiff Saunders, owner of Global Ballooning. He says that this is one of the few places in the world where you can actually do what we’ve just done—balloon right over downtown. “It’s a testament to Melbourne as a very liveable city,” he reflects. “We have great weather, lots of green spaces, and no paranoia.”
Later, I tour the labyrinth of laneways that crisscross the CBD with Fiona Sweetman, who specializes in taking visitors to the city’s back lanes and arcades. “They used to call Melbourne ‘the doughnut,’ because there was nothing downtown,” Sweetman tells me—all the action happened around the edges. But things started to change in the 1990s, when the municipal government mandated that all new developments needed to set aside at least 30 percent of their ground space for bars and restaurants.
Rooftop and subterranean bars are the pulse of Melbourne.
Now, these once-isolated lanes draw both tourists and residents seven days a week. Commissioned street art has taken over the walls, with many pieces from international artists, including Banksy, and motifs range from the beautiful to the ridiculous (one lane is dedicated to George Costanza from Seinfeld, prompting people to paint another in honour of Elaine Benes—the Elaine Lane).
And the restaurants and bars buzz with energy. With the long shadows of evening forming, I’m joined by Allan Campion, a chef with more than two decades of experience, and Cam Smith, who has a food-and-wine radio show, who take me above it all. We leave the busyness behind, ascending to Madame Brussels which, when it opened 13 years ago, was one of the city’s first rooftop bars. “We wanted it to be bright and airy—Alice in Wonderland meets Peggy Guggenheim,” explains owner Paula Scholes (who always goes by the name Miss Pearls).
We sip their signature drink—a Madame’s Double D Cup—and watch the fading sunlight splash off the surrounding buildings; the Princess Theatre and St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the state parliament building. Looking down on the surrounding blocks, Pearls still seems amazed by the difference in her own neighbourhood. “It was just a plan, to bring people back downtown,” she says, with a smile. “Now it’s a reality—this is the hub.”
We hit a couple more rooftop spots, including Union Electric, which opened its rooftop just last year—while the ground floor focuses on rum, the roof specializes in Australian craft gin. All along the way, we sip, and nibble—everything from duck buns to spanner crab to spit-roasted wagyu beef—each selection reflecting the diversity of culinary offerings here. Smith remembers when the local cuisine was bland, and vaguely British—boiled vegetables, and the like. “We came to recognize that we’re all from somewhere else, and that we can celebrate that diversity in a relaxed and self-assured way.”
I continue to explore from the air, including a day trip down the Great Ocean Road, first driving, winding our way west from the city, skirting the sea. We stop and stroll around charming villages like Lorne, where surfers coast in toward the broad beach, tour through stands of eucalyptus trees to spot koalas, and have lunch at a simple spot called Apollo Bay where we sit at a picnic table and dig into the best fish and chips I’ve ever tasted.
The Twelve Apostles.
It all culminates with a helicopter ride over The Twelve Apostles, a dozen limestone stacks strung just off the coast. Impressive from the shore, they’re even better from the air, their yellow-orange tones contrasting with the vast green-blue of the Southern Ocean.
Soon enough we’re back on the ground, but I wish we could’ve choppered all the way back to Melbourne, just to see that skyline, again, at its best angle—from up high.
If you go
Stay: Part of what’s arguably Australia’s chicest new hotel brand, the QT Melbourne opened a few years ago, one of several recent accommodations additions to the city’s CBD. Located in a former cinema building with a hand-picked art collection and rugs designed by local street artists, it also features one of the city’s best rooftop cocktail bars, a favourite spot to catch the sunset. https://www.qthotelsandresorts.com/
Get there: Air Canada offers the only nonstop service from Canada to Melbourne, flying a 787 Dreamliner direct from Vancouver International Airport, just this year increasing service from seasonal to year-round. Their Signature Class includes private pods with lie-flat beds, and top-shelf food and wine. https://www.aircanada.com/
Tour: Localing specializes in taking guests to Melbourne’s tucked away spots (https://www.localing.com.au/), as does Hidden Secrets, with their Lanes and Arcade tour and Global Ballooning provides rides that you won’t soon forget.