The coastal city of Melbourne, Australia is filled with lively entertainment, beautiful weather and outdoorsy people. Although it was founded in the early 1800s, Melbourne has rapidly turned into a cosmopolitan city over just a few decades, diversifying with the influx of immigrants from Southeast Asia and Mediterranean countries.
With a carefully planned urban structure that connects café, to restaurant to music venue to sailing club, nowhere in Melbourne encapsulates the spirit of Australia more than St. Kilda Beach.
St. Kilda Beach is considered the ‘city’s beach,’ in that it neighbors the central business district connecting the southern unpopulated beaches to Port Melbourne. In many other cities around the globe, its city beach status would make it the most polluted, with dirty water and commercial madness – but Melbourne’s laws and regulations ensure that it stays clean.
With littering fines at AUD$5000 and licenses only granted to small and family-run businesses, St. Kilda Beach remains beautifully intact with a liveliness that relies not on fluorescent lights and loud music, but rather an atmosphere that is modern yet also evokes a bit of nostalgia for cities where character hasn't been wiped out by a row of skyscrapers.
Walking down the promenade you pass people on rollerblades buying old fashioned ice cream from wooden shacks, and fish and chips in newspaper-like wrapping from take away stalls. And the scene is dotted with palm trees and city-endorsed mosaic graffiti and filled with the soft sounds of waves crashing.
Just over the road there’s the view of a large wooden rollercoaster that belongs to Luna Park, a seaside amusement park that is more than 40 years old and gives the area an air of festivity. Electric trams run up and down the beach and throughout the city, webbing Melbourne together without the usual noise pollution and car dodging, allowing you to fully embrace the landscape in peace.
Despite the physical beauty of St. Kilda Beach, it’s also the mix of people that hang out at the beach which lend to its uniqueness. Because it is right on the city’s edge, you’ll find kids hanging out there after school and city workers riding by on their bicycles taking the scenic route home.
It’s surreal to be able to step out of the bustle of the city, cross a couple of roads and sit at a large beach that is completely void of litter and pollution.
As you lie on the sand and look out at the horizon, you feel like you’re on holiday rather than simply at a city beach, and the city’s ability to maintain that atmosphere while developing Melbourne as a modern, cosmopolitan city is a truly remarkable feat.
