Apologies to all for my lengthy absence. It can be very hard to find opportunities to blog without access to a computer. After much drama and delay involving an attempted on-line computer purchase, I ended up having to go to the store to buy one in person earlier today. Amazingly, through a twist of fortune involving an unexpected sale and the rising value of the US dollar, I ended up paying less than I was going to using my friend's education discount at the Apple On-line Store. So I now return to the land of the computered and can start to post regularly again!
I arrived back in Melbourne by bus overnight from Sydney. That ends up beginning quite appropriate as I plan to tell you a bit about my first stay in Melbourne, which started about three a half weeks ago. I flew from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Melbourne, Australia on October 25th just as spring was blooming in the city. The first few nights I couch surfed with a woman in her late 40s or early 50s who lived in the suburb of West Footscray just to the west of the city. She had a very nice older home that she was in the process of renovating. It was very cozy and felt very homey, except for one thing: it was freezing inside. Apparently once spring arrives, people in Australia turn off the heat no matter what the temperature reads outside. Of course, I accidentally forgot my fleece jacket at the hostel in Malaysia right when I actually needed it. I spent a lot of time under the covers at that house just to keep warm.
On my first full day in town, I went on a walking tour of some of the historic buildings downtown. My couch surfing host had lent me the brochure for the self-led tour that started outside the immigration museum wound down some of the main streets of town past old banks, pubs, hotels and warehouses to the Parliament House and finally ending at the Royal Exhibition Building. Melbourne is definitely a very walkable city and seemed to have a very lively vibe. I almost didn't make it downtown at all that day, though, after I nearly lost $50 AUD on my way to the train. When I was coming up to the train station, a man pointed out a $20 bill that had fallen out of my bag. I was able to rescue it after it blew down the train platform, but I noticed the other $50 I had brought with me was missing. I realized it had probably fallen out somewhere between the convenience store near my host's house where I stopped for a snack and the train station. I gave it up for lost, but decided I should still probably retrace my steps just to make sure it was actually gone. I walked down the street from the station, then turned the corner to go back toward the store. Halfway down the sidewalk, what should I see on the ground, but my (or perhaps someone else's) missing $50 bill. Someone was clearly looking out for me that day, though, perhaps my air of resignation and acceptance as opposed to panic and hysteria gave me some good kharma.
After about three nights in West Footscray, I came into the city to stay at a hostel in Chinatown. That night I met up with my next couch surfing host, Ross, for a few drinks and ended up just crashing on the couch at his house. After retrieving my bags from the hostel then next day I basically just spent the afternoon buying groceries and doing errands up near Ross's place right to the north of the city. In the evening after I'd cooked dinner, some friends of Ross's roommate, Andrew, came over to get ready for a Halloween party at a friend's house. They talked me into going with them and wearing a mishmash costume that involved furry overalls and an Australian flag. I just told everyone that I was Australia or Oz for short. The party was a bit dead when we got there so we left after a while to go to a bar downtown. For a while I had fun dancing and hanging out until 4:00am rolled around I decided it was definitely time for bed. Luckily I talked everyone into leaving with me and we caught a cab home.
The following day I was still freezing cold because the bright sunshine of my first few days in town had been replaced by cold wind and rain. I decided I couldn't take it any more and had to buy a warmer jacket. I went to the shopping plaza down the street intending to buy a cheap fleece at Kmart. I almost wanted to cry when I walked in and saw only rows and rows of swimsuits and sundresses. Luckily I happened into another clothing store in the complex and found a number of hoodies on spring clearance. It was still a little bit more than I had wanted to pay, but was absolutely unavoidable. With my new fleece in hand, I made my way across the river downtown later that afternoon to meet up with Aaron who I had met in Beijing and some of his friends. Among the people in the group were others who had participated in the Mongolian Rally with Aaron so it was really interesting to listen to all their stories. After leaving the brew pub, we went back up to Chinatown to have dim sum for dinner.
Monday was Halloween and my mission was to get my computer, which had just stopped working again, fixed. I brought it to the repair shop and they told me they would take about 45 minutes to take a look at it. I used that time to walk over to the Old Melbourne Gaol where many notorious convicts were imprisoned and executed. The most famous of them all was the bushranger Ned Kelly, who has become an Australian legend much like Billy the Kid in the United States. Among the items on display were the homemade armor he used in his final standoff with police. You could also walk up to the area where they had the original gallows and see the trap door through which prisoners condemned to death would drop.
I stayed until the museum closed and then walked back to the repair shop. They didn't have very good news, saying they couldn't fix it and my best bet was to go to the Apple Store when I got to Sydney. It turned out to be the death knell for my computer as even the "geniuses" at the Genius Bar later gave my computer up for naught. On that somewhat unfortunate note, I made my way back to my couch surfing home to find Andrew, his girlfriend and her roommate getting ready for another Halloween party. Even though I was planning to get up early the following morning to go to a party for the Melbourne Cup at Aaron's friend's house, I decided once again to come along. This time, I just dressed in a red "blood-soaked" dress and painted my face white with red blood streaks. We rode our bikes (me on Andrew's creaky bike) to the house, which was actually one of three in a row open to partygoers. Within a few hours there was an absolutely insane number of people inside. Eventually the police showed up--something that hasn't happened since college--and cleared everyone out. Since were were friends with the party hosts we stayed after all the other guests left in spite of the early hour. I started to get rather bored and began to clean up while waiting for Andrew to be ready to go. I finally gave up and decided to ride the bike home by myself. It was certainly not the smartest idea ever, but luckily I made it back in one piece.
The next morning when my alarm went off, I had no desire to jump out of bed. My flight to Sydney left at 4:30pm and my plan had been to go to the Melbourne Cup party and then leave for the airport from there. The Melbourne Cup is a big horse race kind of like the Kentucky Derby for which everyone in Victoria gets off the day off as a public holiday. However, I was so overtired that by the time I got out of bed and got my bags packed I knew it was too late to go over to the party. It is still one of the biggest regrets of my trip that I didn't make more an effort to get there as apparently the apartment overlooked the racetrack and it would have been a great opportunity to experience a truly iconic Australian event firsthand. I guess we all make our choices and need to pay for the consequences of those choices. I should have come home from that Halloween party hours earlier so I was well-rested for the festivities in the morning. I guess as they say, you live and learn.
No comments:
Post a Comment