Williamstown is waterfront suburb, west of the Melbourne CBD. Despite having its fair share of multimillion dollar houses, its much more relaxed than the eastern bayside suburbs like Brighton.

I visited for the first time on the weekend, on a mission to see something new in Melbourne. I’ve started to really miss New York, especially exploring new parts of the city every weekend.The best parts about travel don’t have to end when you come home. As I found in Williamstown, you can see new places and surround yourself with a different community or atmosphere without even leaving your own city.

I acknowledge the Boon Wurrung and Woiwurrung people as the First Nations owners of the lands now recognised as Melbourne. I pay respect to their Elders, lores, customs and creation spirits. I recognise that these lands have always been places of great natural beauty, culture and community. 

Williamstown’s high street, Nelson Place, is lined with early 19th century buildings that remind me of small towns like Ballarat and Hobart. Walking down the street, we passed many welcoming, family-run restaurants. People were in singlets, shorts and thongs. I forgot for a moment that I was in Melbourne, and instead felt like I was in a northern NSW beach town. This isn’t trendy Melbourne, but laidback, unpretentious Melbourne.

We admired the boats lined up along the pier, including the Steve Irwin, which belongs to anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd, and enjoyed the city view. We ate fish and chips  in the park, careful to keep the seagulls at bay. The park was full of young families, many of which were speaking different languages. I hear so many different languages walking around Melbourne every day, but it’s usually from backpackers or international students rather than entire families. It was another side of Melbourne that I rarely see in the city.

We sat on the end of the pier for a while, watching the boats. Funnily enough, the view took me back to New York – the place that inspired this little half day trip in the first place. Looking across the water from Williamstown to the the Melbourne city skyline reminded me of sitting on the sand in East River Park in Williamsburg, marvelling at the Manhattan skyline. This also reminds me that I have a heap of NYC content still to share!

Before we left, we got out of the sun for a while at a small restaurant, The Strand. The outdoor seating area has a lovely view of the city skyline.

Spending the afternoon by the water in somewhere totally different to my own neighbourhood made it feel like we’d got out of town for a while. It’s great to have places like this up my sleeve when we need a change of scenery but don’t have the time to stray too far.

Visiting Melbourne? Check out my Melbourne travel guide page.