Best Budget Accommodation in the heart of Melbourne, Australia! "One of the very best" (Let's Go, 2002)

As well as being reviewed by Let's Go in 2002 as "One of the very best", here's what the Melbourne Times & the Visiting Views have had to say about the Stork Hotel in recent years ...

"Not far from the Madden Crowd" (Melbourne Times, 1998)

Now, as this part of the city changes and is revitalised, the lucky stork is a cheery sign for those who are interested in the venerable pubs and the life that swirls around them.

Since the Madden family took over last July, they have turned the old bistro, with its standard issue purple carpet, into a relaxed café. The original wooden floors of this 1852 building are exposed and a stencil with a grape motif added. The walls and ceiling are painted yellow, the lighting is art deco and there are revolving exhibitions, the latest being Don Whyte's 'Early Risers' 60 portraits of characters in the Market. These black and white photos are on sale and are to be followed by an exhibition of cartoons including work by the inimitable Leunig.

In the cafe a table near the entrance bears a jug of lemon-flavoured water and glasses, and another has fresh bread rolls. It's handy being able to help yourself before examining the stork etching, the stork painting and the stork jug. So to the meal - less stork, more action.

Helen Madden, known for her art walks around Melbourne, also makes an accomplished waiter. Dinner at the Stork, she says, is standard Australian fare, such as the sausages I enjoyed as well as bush tucker, including kangaroo shashlik.

When the public bar is renovated it will open on to Elizabeth Street and include tables painted with bush tuck images such as lily pily. A trip to the lavatories showed just how much work still needs to be done, but it's obvious the Stork has already become an intrinsic part of the city, with Maggie Millar doing her wonderful Molly Bloom there on St Patrick's Day (and who cares if they couldn't spell Guinness in their flyer?).

Visiting Views (Sunday Age, 18th July 1999)

It is London without the hassle, Lyon without the smog. It is rich in culture and diversity and the people are laid back and lovely. This is Melbourne as seen through the eyes of backpackers who have decided to stay a while and who, if pushed for just one complaint, in the middle of winter, can nominate only the weather.

"It's colder than I thought it would be," says Helene Spielberg 21, from Denmark. "I have no warm clothes. I thought Australia would be hot the whole year round."

The backpackers find it hard to name one outstanding landmark or highlight, but say it's the vibe that they love, the little pieces of Melbourne put together that make the experience so good.

They like parks, the food, the bars, the architecture, the music scene and the multiculturalism.

Rachel Harris, a 25 year old Sydneysider, says she loves Melbourne's pockets of ethnic culture and the variety of cuisines they foster. "Carlton is good for pasta, Richmond is good for Asian food, and Fitzroy is good for getting out of bed at one o'clock in the afternoon to have breakfast."

Melbourne has lived up to the high expectations the travellers had, expectations raised mostly by Australians they had met in other parts of the world. Malene Znaty, a 21 year old from Denmark, says that every Australian she met overseas recommended she visit the city. "I never heard any guy or girl say anything bad about Melbourne."

Melbourne is increasingly drawing backpackers to it, and keeping them here. Rachel Harris plans to stay "for a while longer". She explains that she couldn't face Sydney on returning from travel overseas, and thought she might stay in Melbourne for six months. One year later, she considers Melbourne her second home.

"Melbourne just suits me now", she says. "Things are a lot more relaxed and I feel like I fit in. It's better than Sydney - and I know that is a disgrace to say, but it's true. There's much more of a scene in Sydney. They have a real 'where are you going to be in five years' attitude."

Tim Coxhead, a stockbroker, has been back to Melbourne twice. He originally planned to stay only for a couple of months but then "just kind of got stuck". These days he is staying at the Stork Hotel, a city pub that offers budget accommodation and where he helps outdoing everything from ordering the beer to painting the building.

He has been seduced by the city and says he would live in Melbourne permanently if he could. "I went home for six months and couldn't wait to get back basically", he says. "It's a perfect size. It's relaxed and laid back. It's like a smaller, chilled-out version of London." Znaty agrees that Melbourne is reminiscent of London. "I really love London, and this reminds me of it because there's almost English architecture, but it's much more laid back. People are more easy to get in contact with. But in the inner city it is still quite busy."

They combine their time between a friend's flat in South Yarra and the Stork Hotel, where Znaty works. They have experienced both sides of the city and say the south side of the Yarra is "very different" from the north. "It's for the 'beautiful' people" says Helene. "You go to the supermarket and feel under-dressed."

"Everyone is so well-coiffed," says Harris. "I took some friends from Sydney down Toorak Road and I knew enough to know I wasn't supposed to be there."

But Znaty says it's not all bad. "You have the snobbish area of Chapel Street where people go out to show how much money they've got, but if you go down Commercial Road you've got the gay strip and all the cool places as well."

Paul Madden, who runs the Stork Hotel in Elizabeth Street with his partner Helen, says the city is now a rival to the traditional backpacker haven south of the Yarra.

Their hotel is around the corner from an interstate bus terminal, on the road to the airport and next to the Victoria Market. The 16 rooms have themes, like The Ned Kelly room, and are usually full by 9pm. At least a couple of backpackers are always working on the staff.

The Maddens say they were conscious of keeping the local element at the Stork Hotel when they took over four years ago. They estimate that up to three-quarters of the patrons are travellers, but on Thursday and Friday nights Melbournians flock to the Stork for the live rhythm and blues.

"We always intended to have it as a budget accommodation and a friendly place for locals and travellers alike," says Helen Madden. "We wanted to provide a place for visitors to be able to come across some nice local Oz culture; that's why we're in it."

The travellers say locals are one of the most reliable sources of information, but they recommend looking at hostels, brochures and the trusty Lonely Planet for more.

Harris also recommends the Melbourne Events Book she picked up from the public bar of the Stork Hotel. "I'm on a tight budget and I looked through that and found about 29 free things I could do," she says. "Actually, I thought public transport was free until I got fined for it."

Coxhead nominates the Dandenong Ranges as his favorite place. He's got a Kombi van and has been up there five times, but the girls are still struggling to name one stand-out.

"It's so difficult to name one thing," says Znaty. "It's got pretty much everything. It's got all the culture, it's got the theatre scene, the music scene, all the markets and the gardens."

Coxhead says all Melbournians should know "how lucky they are to live here. "There's the Great Ocean Road, the Yarra Valley and the Dandenongs and it's all so easy to access. It's blown my mind this country. I love it, love it to bits."