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Lonely Planet - Parkville
Only a short stroll from the hustle and bustle of the city centre, you'll find Parkville a cosmopolitan area that blends the intellectual with the recreational, the multicultural with the mainstream. Surrounded by parklands, close to vibrant Sydney Road, and to Carlton's Italian quarter, this campus has everything.
Destination overview
Students at Monash Parkville on Royal Parade are doubly blessed, being close to the city centre's action while also surrounded by lots of open parklands. About 2.5km north of Melbourne's city centre, it's a pleasant walk into town or about a 10-minute tram ride (No 19). In the other direction, the vibrant shopping strip of Sydney Road, Brunswick, is full of fantastic baklava shops, Mediterranean wholesalers and Middle Eastern food outlets (thanks to the many Italians, Greeks, Turks and Lebanese who migrated here after the war).
Royal Parade becomes Sydney Road; it's about 800m to the start of Sydney Road from campus. The No 19 tram also goes all the way along this (very long) road.
Right across the road from the university you've got Princes Park (Princes Park Drive, North Carlton). Joggers, walkers and punishing boot camps make early morning pilgrimages to pound the gravel around this park every day. Then just to the west of campus there's the vast open spaces of Royal Park (between Royal Parade & Flemington Road), great for a variety of activities. It contains the Royal Melbourne Zoo (see following), a number of sports ovals, netball and hockey stadiums, a public golf course and the Games Village (to be completed by 2006 to house athletes and officials for the Commonwealth Games).
Take a tram to Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, where there's an unusually high concentration of cafés, restaurants, bars, specialty stores and pubs: a lifetime of outings condensed into one street.
There's so much more within easy reach of Monash Parkville. See the ‘Things to Do’ section for more information.
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Eat & drink
Places to eat and drink (off-campus)
Only a short tram ride away, Carlton and Fitzroy offer an abundance of choice. Between these two suburbs, you could eat at a different restaurant each day for around a year and still not been to them all. Here are just a few worth checking out.
- Abla's (tel 9347 0006; 109 Elgin Street, Carlton; mains $12-16; lunch Thu-Fri, dinner Mon-Sat) is an old-time favourite and arguably the best Lebanese food in Melbourne. The quality and quantity of the entrees will make it hard to get to the mains; the bread and dips alone are worth the visit.
- For something sweet and light, Brunetti's (tel 9347 2801; 194-204 Faraday Street, Carlton; mains $12-23; 8am-11pm Sun-Fri, 8am-12am Sat) trattoria and pasticceria-gelateria is still an exceptionally popular pit stop for coffee or pastry. Try the hot chocolate for a real treat.
- Down the road in Fitzroy, eating tapas in front of the fire at De Los Santos (tel 9417 1567; 175 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy; mains $10-25; 6pm-late Tue-Sun) is one of Melbourne's finest winter pleasures. The food is both authentic and exciting. Be sure to try the fried cheese balls with dill – people drive across town to try these little delights.
- Or for a drink, Ginger (tel 9419 8058; 272 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy; 5pm-1am Mon-Sat, 5pm-11pm Sun) is a definite contender for the 'best' cocktails in town. The bar staff shake up delectable blends of exotic spirits, fresh fruit and herbs in a suave burnt-orange setting.
- If your after fun and games with your coffee or beer, check out Red Triangle (9419 7330; 110a Argyle Street, Fitzroy; 2pm-2am Sun-Mon) which offers a unique atmosphere in one of Melbourne's most dedicated snooker halls. Besides doing great coffees, the staff know their way around the rules of the games and will be happy to set you up with pool, snooker or billiards on one of the well-maintained tables.
- Or for those that have a love for music, The Empress Hotel (tel 9489 8605; 714 Nicholson Street, North Fitzroy; 4pm-late Mon-Tue, 12pm-1am Wed-Sat, 2pm-11pm Sun) has great simple food, pool tables, a blend of students and artists, and an ever-changing program of rock and folk music.
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Places to stay
Places to stay (on-campus)
While not on campus, Bachelor of Formulation Science, Pharmacy, Pharmacy/Commerce and postgraduate students will find it more convenient to live at the Melbourne University Colleges. Those colleges listed below accept Monash students. Please contact the individual colleges for more information.
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Places to stay (off-campus)
Short-term – Hotels, motels and B&Bs
- Carlton College (tel 9664 0664; 95 Drummond Street, Carlton)
- Adelphi Hotel (tel 9650 7555; 187 Flinders Lane, Melbourne)
- Atlantis Hotel (tel 9600 2900; 300 Spencer Street, Melbourne)
- The Nunnery (tel 9419 8637; 116 Nicholson Street, Fitzroy)
Long-term – Student boarding/renting
- The Housing Advisory Service (tel 9903 2721; www.adm.monash.edu/community-services/housing/caulfield; Room 109, Caulfield Service Centre, Building A; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri) can help students find long-term off-campus accommodation. Also, take a look at Monash Residential Services’ website (www.mrs.monash.edu/off-campus) for valuable off-campus accommodation information and tenancy advice.
- UniLodge on Swanston (tel 9224 7888; 339 Swanston Walk, Melbourne)
- UniLodge on Flinders (tel 9224 1500; 238 Flinders Street, Melbourne)
- Arrow Heights Apartments (tel 9225 9000; 488 Swanston Street, Carlton)
- College Square (tel 9349 3600; 570 Lygon Street, Carlton)
- UniCity Apartments (tel 9600 1855; 408 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne)
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Things to do
- The Royal Melbourne Zoo (tel 9285 9300; www.zoo.org.au; Elliot Avenue, Parkville; adult/student $20/14.50; 9am-5pm daily) is one of the city's most popular attractions, and deservedly so. Established in 1861, this is the oldest zoo in Australia and the third oldest in the world. Set in spacious, attractively landscaped gardens with broad strolling paths, the zoo's enclosures aim to simulate the animals' natural habitats. Walkways pass through the enclosures; you stroll through the bird aviary, cross a bridge over the lions' park, enter a tropical hothouse full of colourful butterflies and walk around the gorillas' very own rainforest. There's also a large collection of native animals in natural bush settings, a platypus aquarium, fur seals, lions and tigers, plenty of reptiles, and a spiffy elephant enclosure.
- Just beyond Princes Park is the Melbourne General Cemetery (tel 9349 3014; College Crescent, North Carlton; 9am-4pm Mon & Wed-Fri, 10am-4pm Tue, 9.30am-4pm Sat, 9am-5pm Sun), which you might think a spooky, odd thing to mention, but its gravesites arranged in various denominations are a fascinating insight into Melbourne's multicultural history. Why not go the whole hog and join a guided full moon tour arranged by the National Trust of Victoria (tel 9656 9800; www.nattrust.com.au; student $20; twice annually).
- When it comes to shopping, you've got everything you could possibly desire in the city centre, from the very hippest designer boutiques to all the brand-name favourites. One shopping experience you should definitely partake of is the Queen Victoria Market (tel 9320 5822; 513 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne; 6am-2pm Tue & Thu, to 6pm Fri, to 3pm Sat, 9am-4pm Sun), a thriving community of over 600 traders, all bellowing special prices from behind colourful produce stalls. It's the largest open-air market in the southern hemisphere and attracts thousands of shoppers. You can buy everything the most fickle palate could desire here, along with clothing, knick-knacks and souvenirs. Saved from demolition in the 1970s, the market has been on the site for more than 130 years and many of the sheds and buildings are registered by the National Trust. Ring up about market tours if you're interested in exploring behind the scenes; cooking classes are also on offer. The market is on the edge of the city, at the right end of town for Monash Parkville students.
- The campus is also close to some of Melbourne’s finest shopping and restaurant strips. Lygon Street, Carlton, is the centre of Melbourne's Italian quarter and one of the city's liveliest streets. Day and night it is filled with people promenading, dining, sipping lattes, shopping and generally soaking up the atmosphere. It's also home to the fabulous Cinema Nova (tel 9347 5331; www.cinemanova.com.au; 380 Lygon Street), with its stellar selection of art-house, documentary and foreign films.
To find out how else you can be amused, head to the Melbourne Visitor Information Centre (tel 9655 1900; www.federationsquare.com.au; Federation Square; cnr Swanston & Flinders Streets), the city's pulsing hub.
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Work
Monash's Careers & Employment website (www.careers.monash.edu), which incorporates an online job-searching system, is the best place to start looking for part-time or casual work while you're studying (or full-time employment after you've graduated). Here you'll find any number of jobs advertised, from local restaurants and eateries to companies doing their annual stocktake.
There are often opportunities in local supermarkets, or try the bars and pubs in neighbouring areas for casual work. Options include:
- Barclay Square Shopping Centre (90-106 Sydney Road, Brunswick)
- Safeway (368-380 Lygon Street, Lygon Court, Carlton)
Also keep your eyes open for the 'Study, Work, Play' program, an initiative aimed at creating on-campus job opportunities for students.
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