It’s all a bit like Guangzhou in summer really, a dirty jaundiced pall hanging over the city, the slight breeze wafting foul stenches, each end of the street losing focus into a smokey mist and a baking heat pressing the life out. The only thing missing is the heavy blanket of humidity endlessly rotting the city back into the river delta. The difference is in Guangzhou it’s just a mix of tropical haze and unrelenting pollution, while in Melbourne it’s the detritus of bushfires gutting the Alpine National Park.