Travelog

Okay, lots of catching up to do… here goes:

Another relatively uneventful day. Gregor and I woke up somewhat early and headed into town. We had nothing major planned for the day, other than catching “Fear and Loathing” at the Cinema In the Park (which is just what it sounds like – a blow-up movie screen in the park – where you can sit and picnic and watch a movie). I was, however, on the hunt for an external hard drive as a further backup for my photos and other sundries, which I’m a tad bit paranoid about losing. We checked out a few stores on Latrobe that we’d passed the night before, but there weren’t any major deals to be found.

Amy’s boyfriend had given us a few passes to the cricket match at MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds), so we decided we’d use those and check out a game. As Bill Bryson puts it, “It is not true that the English invented cricket as a way of making all other human endeavours look interesting and lively; that was merely an unintended side effect. I don’t wish to denigrate a sport that is enjoyed by millions, some of them awake and facing the right way, but it is an odd game.”. The stadium itself was pretty nice, and fairly modern. It seats about 100,000 but there were probably less than 200 people in attendance for the afternoon game. It was Victoria vs. Queensland, which is apparently not a huge draw.

After the game (or after an hour, since cricket games can and often will go on for days [although this game would probably only last six hours or so]), we headed back to the house and took a bit of a nap. Monica came home a few hours later, and suggested that the movie might be a bad idea on account of the rain. When Amy came home we all agreed we’d skip the movie and just hang out in St. Kilda. For dinner we gathered up Monica, Amy, Jason, Gregor and myself and headed to an Indian place. I had something tasty, but I’ve forgotten the name. We had intended on watching a movie when we got home, but didn’t really end up doing anything at all.

A completely lazy day, spent mostly in St. Kilda. In the evening, Rob, Amy, Monica, Mick, Gregor, and I went to the Union of Soul concert at Melbourne’s Atheneum Theatre.Opening up was Clare Bowdich, who was pretty enjoyable and reminded me of Beth Orton.  The Waifs were next, and probably my favourite. Finally, American-Australian, and friend of the environment and Aboriginals everywhere (or at least Australia), John Butler closed off the night.  John is pretty popular in Australia, and put on an amazing (if slightly rushed) show.   All in all a good night, with some good bands and people.  Sorry, no pictures.

Superbowl Monday in Australia. The game started at 10am Melbourne time, so I let Gregor watch that while I headed to downtown St. Kilda to take a yoga class. It was an advanced Iyengar yoga, a style I’d never tried before. It involves the use of props (blankets, ropes, blocks) and a lot of terms I had no recognition of. I picked things up pretty quickly, though. I could certainly tell I hadn’t done much yoga of late.

After yoga, I headed back to Amy’s house and had a shower. It was too nice a day to spend watching football, so we had some breakfast and decided to walk into the city.

We walked along St. Kilda road, stopping at the Shrine of Rememberance – a building built in the 1930s to honour Australia’s soldiers. We thought it was closed, but the guidebook was wrong, so from there we visited the Melbourne Art Gallery. There was a Modern British Art exhibit Gregor wanted to see, which was enjoyable, as well as some interesting portrait photography.

We headed next door, to the Art Centre, to check out the musician Nick Cave‘s exhibit. We thought it was going to be some of Nick Cave’s art, but it turned out to be more of a retrospective on Cave himself. I enjoyed it, but Gregor thought it was a tad self-indulgent (which it was).

We met up with Amy for dinner – eating at a chain called Nandos. Mostly chicken, but nothing terriby special. Amy wanted us to see the view from the Rialto towers, so we headed over there next. Caught a 15 minute movie that showed some of the highlights of Melbourne and surrounding area, then took the elavator to the top and took in a 360 view of the city.

Gregor and I had tickets for the Old Melbourne Gaol at 8:30, so we crossed town to the Gaol (they spell Jail wrong here), got there a little early, and wandered around “Little Italy” till 8:20 or so.

The tour guide at the Gaol stayed in character as one of the hangmen of the jail. We were lead through the jail by candlelight, which was pretty unique. The jail is most famous for housing Australian folk hero (and murderer) Ned Kelly. Apparently the building is the most haunted in the state of Victoria, if you believe in that sort of thing.

We walked back across town to the Crown casino when the tour concluded. I spent about $5 in 5 minutes on 5 cent slot machines, and decided I’d call it a day soon after that. The casino was nice, with a huge number of slot machines, mostly all 2 and 5 cent machines. Not sure how 2 cent machines work in a country without pennies, but that’s just one of the mysteries of Australia.

We caught the tram back to Amy’s and attempted (successfully I might add) to go to bed without waking her up.

Got up at about 9am, which might be the latest I’ve slept in thus far. There were four of us sleeping in Amy’s room, so it was a tad stuffy. After showering and that sort of thing, we walked down to the arts and crafts market at St. Kilda’s beach. Lots of nice stuff, but nothing I was inclined to buy.

Rob and Amy decided to take Gregor and I to Brighton Beach, so we took Rob’s car along the water to the beach.There were a bunch of small boathouse like buildings lining the beach, which Rob figures cost a few hundred thousand each. It’s all about location, I suppose. We walked along the beach, which was not nearly as nice as Bondi, but didn’t go for a swim, as it was a little cool and overcast.

From Brighton we drove for about twenty minutes and grabbed some fish and chips at a small shop in Williamstown. The place was packed, so we decided to eat lunch in the park across the street, that overlooks the bay. Other than being stalked by seagulls, it was an enjoyable meal – but I think I’m greased out for another week or so. Back at Amy’s, we wanted to check out the St. Kilda’s Pride Parade.

By the time we got down to the esplanade, there was no sign of the parade, so we must have had bad timing. We grabbed groceries for dinner, then some gelatto. The three of us are exhausted (although we can’t figure out why, since we had plenty of sleep), so we’ll probably just relax at home tonight.

Groundhog Day, although you wouldn’t know it here in Australia. I guess they’re not too concerned about how long winter will last here.

Amy wanted Gregor and I to try her favouite St. Kilda breakfast location, so we showered and headed to Fubar to have breakfast in the back courtyard. We grabbed some food from the grocery store after that, then headed back to Amy’s to chill out for a bit.I had noticed a market of some sort by the beach while we were walking, and since I didn’t really feel like sitting around, I headed down to check it out. Instead of a market, it was some sort of Aboriginal awareness thing. I took a quick walk through, but wasn’t too interested, so I walked along the beach then headed back to the house.

While we were in Sydney, Amy had asked Gregor and I if we were interested in going to a bbq with some of her friends. We had said yes, so we hopped on the tram to Flinders, and took a train to Greensborough, which is a suburb of Melbourne.Gregor and I are engaged in a rather vicious punchbuggy competition here, since there are still a few VW Bugs floating around (I imagine the lack of a winter helps), so it was a good chance to scan the scenery, while keeping our eyes peeled for punchbuggys. Doesn’t make for a very relaxing time, however.

Amy’s friend, Tracy, picked us up at the train station and we headed to another friend’s, Deanne’s, where we hopped into her car. From Deanne’s we headed to Melissa’s to get a few more supplies for the bbq, and then Tracy, Amy, Deanne, Gregor and myself headed off to the Yan Yean Reservoir Park.

For a Saturday the park was pretty empty. The girls had put together a fairly elaborate setup for the bbq – especially considering Gregor and I both thought we’d just be eating a hotdog or two in someone’s backyard. Melissa and her boyfriend, Darren, showed up later – and we ate our lunch. Amy’s boyfriend, Rob, showed up a tad bit later. We stayed at the park for about 5 hours, saw some camera shy birds that were either lorikeets or parrots (very bright colours, either way) then headed to Melissa and Darren’s.

At Melissa and Darren’s we sat around and chatted for a while, then took turns batting at cricket. Poor Darren had to climb the fence a handful of times, but it was good fun. It turned into a high school dance pretty soon after that, with the girls citing cool temperatures and heading indoors, while the guys stayed outside. We discussed a number of things, not least of which being the popularity of Steve Irwin in Australia. By 11:30pm it was time to head back home. Thankfully Rob was driving, so we didn’t have to take the train back. We were all passing out in the car (except Rob, thankfully), so we opted against stopping at the casino on the way home.

Gregor was up early to catch his bus back to Melbourne. I had a few hours before I had to make my way there myself, so Louvelle, who was home and on crutches with an infected foot, and I finished the last of the breakfast food before I made my way to the airport. Probably getting a little too accustomed to flying, so I got to the airport a tad later than I probably should have, and it was already final check in for my flight. That actually worked out well, as I was able to bypass the line – and still had plenty of time before boarding.

Arrived at Avalon airport, which is outside of Melbourne by about 40 minutes. Hopped on a shuttle to Southern Cross station in Melbourne’s CBD, with nary a clue as to where I was or what there was to do. I had finished my book on the plane, so I was hoping I’d come across a used bookstore in my travels as well. My first inclination was to head towards the water, so I walked towards, and crossed over, the Yarra River, circling the Crown Casino, and then walking along the south bank. It seemed to be mostly food courts, and restaurant/bars, with the occasional unusual sculpture dotting the landscape.

I crossed over the Yarra once more, and walked along the north bank till I reached Flinders Street Station. Fed Square, a large and Frank Gehryesque (although it is possible he designed it) area, was across the road, and there was a large tourist information building, so I popped in there for some maps and to get idea of some of the attractions. Following that, I walked up Swanson and down Bourke Street, to meet Gregor’s friend Amy.

I’d met Amy several years ago, so I was a litle skeptical that I’d recognize her at the rendezvous spot, but it turns out it wasn’t so difficult. The two of us headed back up to Federation Square (stopping at a bookstore along the way), and had dinner and a drink at the Transport pub. After dinner we took a walk by the Yarra to where three or four of Melbourne’s stadiums are. I’m not sure why a city needs so many stadiums, but there’s another one on the other side of town as well. We headed back to Fed Square along the other side of the river, and took in the Australia vs. India cricket match that was being broadcast on a giant screen. Amy tried to explain the sport to me, but I’m still not too sure I know what’s going on.

We took the free city tram for a loop of the city, which helped give me an idea of what there is to do and see in Melbourne, then met up with Gregor’s bus at 9:45. Hopped on the tram from there, and headed to St. Kilda which is the neighbourhood where Amy lives. Dropped off our bags at Amy’s, then headed into St. Kilda so Gregor could get something to eat. Turns out we were all hungry, so we ate and had a drink, before heading back to Amy’s for some sleep.

Since it was probably my favourite part of Sydney, (despite what you might think when you see the dozens of pictures of the Opera House I’ve taken) we decided to wake up early and do the Coogee to Bondi walk once again.

Not quite as hot as before, with a nice breeze, we caught a bus to Coogee and set out on the trail. Obviously having been feeding well, the spiders Louvelle and I had passed a couple of weeks ago were now about twice the size. Other than that, it was mostly the same walk – although with a lot more topless sunbathers.

Summer is over, so the kids are back in school, and Bondi was definitely quieter than the last time we’d gone. We found a nice place by the beach and spent a long time in the water. I borrowed Louvelle’s bodyboard, and really enjoyed myself on it. Gregor wasn’t so keen. By the end of the time in the water we were both a little (more) sunburnt, and I was bruised and scraped from some body boarding injuries. Nothing too painful though.

We intended to go to King’s Cross in the evening, to meet up with Enrico’s cousin. Getting in touch with the cousin proved difficult, and it started to pour rIN, so we decided we’d just eat near Louvelle’s. She took us to a tasty Malay/Thai place about two blocks away. It has an excellent view of the Sydney CBD, and I’d be inclined to check it out again before I leave Australia for good. Louvelle’s roommate, Lee, has a nice view of the CBD too – so either way I should manage to get a good photo of it at night.

It was still raining when we got back, and Louvelle had an injured foot, so Gregor and I walked down to her dance studio to pick up some crutches someone had left for her. Relaxed at Louvelle’s after that for a while, then tried to get to bed early, as Gregor has a bus to catch in the morning.

Gregor and I got on the bus and headed to Circular Quay to catch the ferry to Olympic Park.  It was a long ferry ride, filled with a bunch of seniors that got off on one island.  We figure it’s some sort of euthanasia program.

Olympic Park was hot, with not a heck of a lot going on.  We wandered around for about an hour, checking out the cauldron, and some stadiums – plus a list of all the volunteers and athletes in the Olympics.

Back on the ferry we headed to Manly Beach and swam in  some very wavy water for a good little while.  Lay on the beach for a while and read after that.  We were going to go back in the ocean, but some jellyfish were being washed ashore, and the lifeguards suggested that there were more in the water.  We took the ferry back to Circular Quay and headed back to Louvelle’s house.

At night, the three of us headed to a new Mexican place here in Glebe, and had a delicious meal.

Checked out. Picked up another Dennis Lehane book at the book exchange in Byron Bay, then headed back to the hostel to wait or my shuttle to the airport.

Flight to Sydney went swimmingly. I’ve had really good luck with my flights and seats. No one beside me on this flight, but otherwise nothing terribly special.

Gregor and I had set a place to meet in Central Station – but since neither of us had been to the meeting point before, I was a tad apprehensive that we might never find each other. I sat reading my book when I saw him coming. He was wearing sunglasses, a hat, and sporting a full beard, so I almost wasn’t sure it was him.

Gregor had spent the first part of the day at Circular Quay, and sleeping in a park, so we headed back to Louvelle’s, found the secret key, and chilled out.

Headed to the Lansdowne Hotel for dinner. $5 for a steak sandwich – nothing too tasty, but more than adequate for the price.

Headed back to Hotel Louvelle after that and hung around waiting for her to show up. Once she did, we set about killing cockroaches (or plotting their death) then listened to music on Gregor’s laptop for the rest of the night. Pretty lazy day all in all.