I only had a few hours this morning and afternoon in Melbourne before I had to leave for the airport. Maartje and I walked through the Melbourne Botanical Gardens, which a fellow traveler said was really nice (it was).
I discovered something while at the botanical gardens that made me really angry with myself. My camera, which is quite good, actually takes better photos in "automatic" mode than it does on a specific setting!!!! (Those were exclamation points of outrage, at myself for not knowing this!) I don't know if that is true in all cases, but at least on days that are very bright but cloudy, my camera has never been very good. Until I tried the auto setting. /Grrrr at myself for not learning more about my camera before!/ And I know that a lot of my photos so far have been good, but of course I'll wonder what could have been even better, had I let the camera just do its thing.
Then I showed Maartje some of the alleys and things I saw on my walking tour a few days earlier. I didn't even charge her for the private tour. We spent quite a bit of time just chit-chatting over a cup of coffee, too. About travel and families and girl stuff.
While touring the graffiti-covered alleys, we came across this couple and their photographer taking wedding photos. Way cooler than a boring old garden trellis, that's for sure.
My train rides to the Tullamarine Airport were kind of annoying. The trains and trams in Melbourne seem pretty extensive and reliable. But due to not being familiar with the different train platforms and lines, I managed to get on the two least efficient trains possible. But I made it to the airport in plenty of time. Tullamarine is big, clean and pretty efficient, and parts of it are kind of science-fictiony. I don't know if it has dedicated sleeping areas, but there are enough couches and out of the way places that people could sleep if they wanted to. It supposedly has free wifi, but something is wrong with it, as I am currently connected but can neither send nor receive data. :( (So you'll be reading this long after I write it, although you probably will anyway because most of you are sound asleep as I write.)
Security was the norm: x-rays and bag scan, nothing unusual. Oh well, there was person weighing people's carry-on luggage just before the security gate, and if anyone exceeded the 7kg limit, they were sent back to check-in. I haven't seen that anywhere before, either the bag weighing or being sent back.
By the time I post this, I will probably be in Christchurch, New Zealand, unless the wifi magically turns on before I leave the airport. My review of Australia will follow in the next couple of days. [The next morning:] Yup, I'm posting on Saturday morning from Christchurch.
[So time to add a bit more:] My flight to New Zealand was uneventful and on time. I got to my B&B around 1am. The only unusual event happened at the Christchurch airport when one of the airport's dogs that sniffs for quarantined materials (and maybe drugs? I dunno, but I was told it was looking for quarantined material) went crazy over my carry-on backpack. The lady with the dog wound up taking everything out of it without finding any fruit or meat or drugs (among other things, she had to touch my dirty hankie haha) and the dog still had his nose buried deep in the bag. I told her a cat had tried to pee on the bag about 5 days earlier, and suggested that was the cause of the dog's excitement. Who knows?? Eventually the woman shrugged and commented that that the dog's behavior was weird, and she repacked my bag and I went on my way. I guess we'll never know.
Then I showed Maartje some of the alleys and things I saw on my walking tour a few days earlier. I didn't even charge her for the private tour. We spent quite a bit of time just chit-chatting over a cup of coffee, too. About travel and families and girl stuff.
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| Looks like the groom forgot to change his pants. |
Security was the norm: x-rays and bag scan, nothing unusual. Oh well, there was person weighing people's carry-on luggage just before the security gate, and if anyone exceeded the 7kg limit, they were sent back to check-in. I haven't seen that anywhere before, either the bag weighing or being sent back.
By the time I post this, I will probably be in Christchurch, New Zealand, unless the wifi magically turns on before I leave the airport. My review of Australia will follow in the next couple of days. [The next morning:] Yup, I'm posting on Saturday morning from Christchurch.
[So time to add a bit more:] My flight to New Zealand was uneventful and on time. I got to my B&B around 1am. The only unusual event happened at the Christchurch airport when one of the airport's dogs that sniffs for quarantined materials (and maybe drugs? I dunno, but I was told it was looking for quarantined material) went crazy over my carry-on backpack. The lady with the dog wound up taking everything out of it without finding any fruit or meat or drugs (among other things, she had to touch my dirty hankie haha) and the dog still had his nose buried deep in the bag. I told her a cat had tried to pee on the bag about 5 days earlier, and suggested that was the cause of the dog's excitement. Who knows?? Eventually the woman shrugged and commented that that the dog's behavior was weird, and she repacked my bag and I went on my way. I guess we'll never know.
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