​I enjoyed my stay in Melbourne, hard not to really.   Pleasant enough place, especially if you are sportingly inclined  and between the coffee shops and vegan cafes, there are glimpses of history.  Some great buildings (although some of those in disrepair are ‘Gentlemens Clubs’!) and if you make the effort, there are several  Museums.  (Melbourne Museum being one of bigger ones and Captain Cooks House being one of the smallest).

Like some other cities in Asia/Australasia it is adorned with cranes building new skyscrapers.  Hope it does not become a bit sanitized, with all the new build, like a Singapore – don’t think it will as the progressive city seems to value its history but wants to move on too.

Indeed, perhaps my overriding observation though, compared to earlier visits is of a much more cosmopolitan city and country.  They seem to ‘apologise for the past at every opportunity’ as my local friend Keith delights in telling me –  whether at the Museum, the Cathedral, the Tennis Centre, in the papers and even at last night’s T20 Big Bash Cricket (where in front of 20,000+ plus raucous Australians, a somber Indigenous/ First People was respectfully observed by young and old alike).  In the past I cringed at meetings and in conversations with older guys at the barely concealed White Australian Policy views only recently put to bed.