Melbourne back in the day

If you'd like to see what Melbourne looked like in the 1970s, or if you like rock-n-roll, check out this video:

Day 75: The Great Ocean Road, Australia (March 23, 2011)

I didn't like waking up at 6:20am, but it was worth it for the tour of the Great Ocean Road, which runs along the southeast coast of Australia.  I'm not sure how long the whole road is, but we did about a 500 kilometer loop, making about 10 stops along the way.

Most of the stops were along the Road were along the ocean, and they speak for themselves:

Look closely.

Here are a couple shots of the Twelve Apostles (of which there are eight):

We also took a short walk through a rainforest:

And stopped to see some native animals:

Koalas like to hide high up in the trees.  Did you know we can't eat them because their diet of eucalyptus would poison us?
Not that I would eat one.

The tour itself was quite fun.  Our guide Di was good.  She had informative and funny stories about the things we saw and a nice way about her.  And a few years ago, she got fed up with her job, so she quit and travelled the world for 12 months, so she and I swapped stories and she shared some of her tips for my upcoming stops.  The tour group meshed pretty well too.  There was a lot of laughter and people talking.  I'm glad a couple of people (one local, one fellow visitor) suggested I see the Road; I probably wouldn't have done so otherwise.

Far out!

Check out this short video of me in the Matrix.  (Be sure to press the play button!)

Day 74: Melbourne, Australia (March 22, 2011)

Melbourne is really cool.  I wish I'd known this before I made my schedule, I'd have stayed longer than 4 nights.  And my next two days are mostly devoted to day trips out of town, so I really only have 1.5 days in the city.  (I don't want to miss either day tour, so I don't regret booking them.)

For those who are wondering why don't I change my schedule and stay longer... Well, I could, but I'd have to pay to reschedule my flight to Christchurch, and might lose a deposit on my hotel there too.  One thing I learned about around-the-world tickets when I made my plans was, there really isn't a hop-on hop-off option.  I'm flying on about 10 different airlines, so what I have is a series of pre-booked flights, not one flexible ticket.  It's possible (but I don't know this for a fact) that around-the-world tickets booked through a single airline might allow more flexibility, or maybe such things existed in the past.  But they don't seem to now, at least not for my itinerary.  Now back to my day...

I took a walking tour of Melbourne today.  As I expected, the tour skipped most of the obvious tourist sights, like monuments and museums, and mostly walked through parks, city streets, back alleys and some arcades (the old shopping malls, not the video game parlors).  Our guide was quite good, and told a nice mix of stories and history of the city.  Some of what we saw would be pretty obvious to anyone walking around town:

A bell sculpture that plays music all day long.

But we also spent time exploring the alleys, which are covered in street art, much of it quite fantastic:

Yes, the dude in the lower left wants "Brains."

Later, over dinner, there was a discussion about the difference between graffiti and street art.  My oh-so-astute observation was that if it's ugly, it's graffiti and if it's beautiful it's art.  But I know that's much too simple an explanation.  Maybe someone who's studied art or the philosophy of art can explain the difference?  (Hint hint @ my dad!)

I vote "art."

Melbourne has 4 million people, but it doesn't feel crowded at all.  Bustling, yes, but not busy or crowded.  Like most other Australians I've encountered, everyone is pretty friendly.  Most of the shops close at 5 or 6 (it seems like the whole country closes at 5 or 6!) but there are lots of pubs and restaurants that stay open later, so we had no trouble finding a place to eat dinner and desserts.

Oh, and by "we" I mean Sandra, Jon and I.  Sandra and Jon are visiting Australia from Hong Kong (originally from The Phillipines) and we chatted a little on the tour.  They were very nice and we compared notes about our travels around the country.  Tomorrow is their last day here, though, so I won't get to see them again.  On this trip at least... maybe I will make it to Hong Kong someday.

Sandra and Jon

Speaking of dinner and desserts...  Australia has really let me down food-wise.  So far, I'd say I'd eaten one tasty restaurant meal (at a pub in Sydney) and discovered one really tasty snack (pastizzis, I think they are called, also in Sydney).  Every other meal I've had out has ranged from bland to dubious.  The grocery stores sell a few tasty items, especially the Woolworths, which prepares some of its own dishes.  Otherwise, though, the food in this country has really been a let-down.  My biggest food disappointment came today, when I discovered there is a Wagamama town!  Every time I go to London, I eat there at least 3 times, so of course I really wanted to go here.  Sadly, the Melbourne Wagamama was as bland as everything else.  :(  Our dessert in another part of town wasn't so bad, though.  Oh well, it's been good for my budget that I've been buying a lot from the groceries.  Like everything else here, dining out is expensive.

Oh and I almost forgot:  In between the tour and dinner we stopped at the Australian Center for the Moving Image, which is sort of a museum dedicated to moving images of all types:  TV, movies, videogames, video art, and pre-20th century inventions like the flip-book and those hand-crank machines that show little movies when you look through a viewfinder.  Keep an eye on the blog later today for a cool little film shot at the ACMI.

Day 73: Sydney to Melbourne (March 21, 2011)

Being a travel day, there wasn't a whole lot of excitement.  Oh wait, I did break one of my cardinal traveling rules ("There's carry-on luggage and there's lost luggage!") and checked one of my two bags at the airport, and sure enough, it got lost.  I've actually been checking my bags on most of my flights, and haven't had any problems.  But today I left the check-in counter feeling a bit worried, as I hadn't gotten to see my bag move along the conveyor belt; it just sat there.  Well, the airline had called my hotel in Melbourne even before I arrived to say they had located my bag and it would be dropped off for me late this evening.  So no big tragedy (yet at least).  And I always carry on my most important items:  Paperwork, camera, laptop, book, medicine.  And I wear two pairs of underwear.

I missed my noon photo today.  I thought about it while enroute to the airport, but when noon itself rolled around, I completely forgot.  And didn't remember until about 6pm when I was all comfy in my hotel room.  I've only missed two or three days, and I know I shouldn't get mad at myself for missing them, but I do anyway.  And I'll be mad at myself for hours.  Today's self-loathing reminded me of this time I went out for brunch in Durham, North Carolina.  I forget the name of the place, but it was kind of pricey for Durham -- and for students on a budget! -- but I could usually make their omelets last two meals.  But one time I had half my omelet packed up then I left it on the table.  I was mad at myself for a week.

Anyway, despite those two mishaps, my journey to Melbourne was easy.  As always, in a new city, I had to learn to use the public transportation, but Melbourne's seems really good.  I especially like that it has trams, which go even more places than the trains (the subway) and are above-ground, so I can view the city as I ride.  I arrived later in the day, but had time to go out for dinner.  One of the guys I met while touring the Red Center is from Melbourne, and he recommended some places to go, so I dined on the "Italy Street" (not its real name) then had a nice ride back to my place.  Sadly, Adrian, who gave me the tips, won't be around this week to show me anything in person.  But I just heard from Maartje, who will be in Melbourne in a few days and will stay at the same hotel as me (I wish I'd known, I could have smuggled her into my room for at least one night; it has bunk beds).  That should be fun.

To make up for being such a homebody in Sydney (which I did like, it just wasn't very exciting), I will be quite busy in Melbourne.  I've booked one half-day city tour for tomorrow and two full-day tours for my last two full days in town.  So I should have a lot of photos and stuff to write about.

Finally, let me raise a toast to the unsecured wifi in some neighboring building!  This hotel charges $8/hour for wifi (or $25/day), which I was not going to pay.  So I thought I'd be scrounging for free wifi at cafes all over town.  Instead, I get it in my room on someone else's network.  I hope it lasts!

UPDATE:  I got my missing luggage just after midnight on the night it was lost.

Day 72: Sydney (March 20, 2011)

I am embarrassed to admit that I spent a large chunk of my last day in Sydney eating, chatting with a friend on the internet, watching a movie, and eating.  Well, embarrassed is too strong a word, because that's how I might have spent any ordinary rainy day if I were at home.  Except I'm not at home, I'm halfway around the world and maybe I should have gone out more instead.  This could be a day where I look back on my trip and wonder if I should have spent at least some of that "wasted" time exploring the town.

Having said that, I don't regret any of the time spent chatting with my friend.  The people I've stayed in closest contact with are not the people I expected to.  It's been a really nice surprise, and I don't feel like my other friends have forgotten me or anything.  But I sure didn't expect that "make new friends at home" would be something that happened while I was away.  :)

So, you get off easy with this post because it's short due to lack of content.  Here's the fourth pet I tended to while in Sydney:

"Mr. Pee"

Dogs vs. Cats

I never thought I would write something like this, but... I like the dogs better than I like the cats.  Well, I like the dogs better than I like one of the cats.  This has a lot to do with the fact that Gus the orange cat tried to pee all over my stuff.  Fortunately, he was really bad at it.  He squatted right on top of my bag but his aim was off by about two feet and all he managed to hit was the hardwood floor.  He's outside now, and will remain banished from my room when he returns.

Here are the pets who did not try to pee on my stuff:  Ella, Oscar and Meow: