Feeling at home in Melbourne

The city of Melbourne is like an onion, where with each layer unpeeled, it exposes more places and experiences to be explored.

Such is the way it is described by Nigel Aldons, 49, head of global markets and commercial at Visit Victoria, the state’s tourism and events company.

“About 130,000 Malaysians come to Australia yearly and Victoria has the largest market share.

Goh (left) and Eric Teh selling Char Kuey Teow at the Colours of Malaysia event at Victoria Market in Melbourne, Australia.

“The majority are high-value travellers like young professionals and families with a minimum spend of above AUD1,500 (RM4,680) per person,” said Aldons who found that many Malaysian tourists preferred to self-drive.

Generally, Melbourne locals are warm and open, this writer observed.

They are generous with their smiles and quick to say sorry for anything that might be construed as inconvenience to others, such as accidentally bumping into one another or for blocking a path.

Long queues outside Myer department store during Christmas season.

It is also common to see people holding the door for others.

“About 50% of the population is born overseas,” said Aldons, explaining the locals’ manners towards newcomers.

One must not miss the street art in the alleyways, such as the narrow ACDC Lane, named as a tribute to the famous Australian hard rock band AC/DC.

ACDC Lane, named in tribute to the famous Australian hard rock band.

The city also has a rich cafe culture and is known as the coffee capital of the Land Down Under.

Another thing to look out for are the stained glass ceilings in its heritage shopping centres.

Those who happen to be in the city for Christmas season might have witnessed the queues outside Myer, a department store in Bourke Street.

At Federation Square, where you can watch sports matches on the live screen from a lounge chair.

The line that can sometimes stretch up to 200m long was not made up of shoppers waiting to get in.

Rather, they were waiting in line to look at the window dressing.

For a bit of fun, rent a boat and go sightseeing on Yarra River.

Plenty of street performances along the Southbank and Yarra promenades in Melbourne.

First-time navigators will find themselves surrounded by many co-pilots and the easiest way to spot a beginner pilot is from the zigzaggy way the boat travels along the river.

Interestingly, the boat rental service is located near Banana Alley Vaults, a place where fruit traders used to store bananas over a century ago.

Above the vaults, which have been repurposed into business premises, are train tracks connecting stations in Flinders Street and Spencer Street.

Heritage shopping centres in Melbourne are simply beautiful to look at.

Rugby lovers can watch a match on the live screen from a lounge chair, through the Southbank and Yarra promenades.

For street entertainment, take a walk from Federation Square where you’ll find puppeteers, buskers and even sword swallowers.

Do look for a place called Ponyfish Island bar for refreshing drinks. It is located right under Evan Walker Bridge.

Amira Husna (left) introducing kompang and angklung to visitors at Colours of Malaysia event at Victoria Market.

From there, you can head to Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre where The Lume, the world’s largest digital art gallery, is located.

Among the popular destinations in Victoria are Phillip Island, where penguin watching is a main draw, as well as the wineries in Yarra Valley and the Mornington and Bellarine peninsulas.

Here, you’ll find delicious Shiraz wines that taste like dark plums and fruit cake.

Another favourite destination is Great Ocean Road, which is 240km long and hugs the seaside cliffs.

At the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre where The Lume, the world's largest digital art gallery, is located.

Touted as one of the most beautiful drives in the world, the draw here is the 12 Apostles, a collection of limestone stacks rising from the ocean.

Huge student, expatriate community

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Victoria industry account manager Rohan Hepworth, 55, said the huge student population as well as an existing Malaysian expatriate community had greatly encouraged bilateral travel between Malaysia and Australia.

According to the Malaysia Consulate in Melbourne, there are currently 60,000 Malaysians just in Victoria alone.

Consul-general Nik Muhammad Nasyron Syah Nik Daud, 47, said efforts were being made to help Malaysians feel at home.

Apart from the online appointment system to improve and expedite procedures for Malaysians to register births, deaths, marriages and to print passports, the consulate in Claremont Street also hosts monthly breakfast days for customers.

“We don’t announce the dates of the breakfast days. Instead we wait for the days where we can expect a lot of people, based on the online appointment system.

(From left) Hepworth and Georgie Gowling, head of marketing Australia region Melinda Voon and MAS stewardesses at their booth during the Colours of Malaysia event.

“We’ve hosted five breakfast days so far. Our latest event saw us serving satay, fried rice, otak-otak and kopi ‘o’,” said Nik Muhammad Nasyron.

He also manages the consulate’s social media accounts himself and is known for directly replying to comments.

That the consulate office is also located at Yarra One, a development by Ecoworld International Bhd, a publicly listed Malaysian company, is a source of pride too.

Business opportunities

The number of Malaysians in Victoria has also given rise to business opportunities.

Case in point is Australian Don Lyon, 69, who is one of the largest importers of jackfruit, cempedak and durian from Malaysia.

Lyon has been a regular visitor to Raub in Pahang and brings over 25 tonnes of Musang King, snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen, to cater to the South-East Asian communities residing in Australia.

Then there are people like Vincent Goh, 35, a Penang-born cook who has been living in Melbourne for the past 10 years and works at a restaurant in Knoxville selling chee cheong fun, popiah and char kuey teow.

He was one of the traders at Colours of Malaysia, a two-day student-led event to promote our country’s food and culture at Victoria Market, a 140-year-old market in Queen Street.

Despite the long queues at his stall that day, Goh insisted on frying his char kuey teow one plate at a time.

“This is the only way to do it. Otherwise I’ll lose the flavour from the ‘wok hei’,” he said.

Goh’s char kuey teow was not the only stall which saw long queues.

Culinary and hospitality diploma student Fazita Ahmad Bustamam, 40, who sold satay, said she prepared 70kg of chicken on the first day and made over AUD4,000 (RM12,450) by closing time.

Another vendor, Mohammad Khalil Abdul Hamid, 43, who sold nasi lemak with a choice of sides like beef rendang, cockles and ayam masak merah, had queues that saw up to 40 people at any one time waiting to try his food throughout the day.

The father of six from Pahang said it was likely that his customers already knew him from his food truck, which could make him up to AUD10,000 (RM31,125) per week.

Another participant was Amira Husna, 21, who gave visitors impromptu kompang and angklung lessons at the cultural booth.

The commerce, accounting and finance student from Shah Alam, Selangor, also won a lucky draw prize for a KL-Melbourne round-trip ticket from MAS, who was the platinum sponsor of Colours of Malaysia.

Amira said she would use the prize for her parents to attend her graduation ceremony later this year.

More weekly flights

Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board deputy director Siti Hadijah Arifin, who is based in Sydney, said Australians were also flocking to Malaysia.

“They enjoy our food, islands and the adventure that comes from our natural attractions such as forests.

“Our favourable exchange rate is another factor,” she said.

Siti Hadijah, fondly known as Caddy, said some 350,000 Australian tourists visited Malaysia annually before the Covid-19 pandemic.

“After the pandemic, we targeted only 273,000 Australian tourists for 2023. By August 2023, we had recorded 202,000,” she said.

One avid visitor is Hepworth who has holidayed in Malaysia 35 times. He listed Penang, Langkawi as well as Sabah and Sarawak as some of his favourite destinations.

MAS flies from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne 14 times a week. It increased the trips to 15 times in early January a week to cater to the number of tourists during that period.