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Published: October 3rd 2010
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After close to 30 hours, between layovers and flight time, I arrived in Melbourne early yesterday evening. I took a few hours to get settled and shower and went to sleep until early this morning. My plan was to see everything I could in Melbourne today. It is now close to 7pm and I think I did pretty well. Melbourne is a stunningly beautiful city and like everywhere else I have traveled (outside of always muggy New Orleans), the weather has been perfect. As such, I decided to use the oldest transportation known to man to explore, my two legs. Two good legs, a good diet and a camera allow for a lot of mapping in one day!
My hostel, a small place not far from St. Kilda beach in Southern Melbourne, was a good place to start walking as I was able to go check out the beach just after sunrise. Along the beach, good fitness is on full display as bikers in packs and joggers come whizzing by on specially designated paths for them. Bikes are very popular in this city and they even have a rental system (still in its infancy) to complement all of its recreational
riders. Sydney reminds a little of South Beach in Miami and the Hamptons on Long Island ( the quirky architecture) and even Los Angeles (all the taught bodies hurling up and down it) along the beachfront but that is where the similarities end. The infrastructure in Melbourne is quite good. On a hot day, walking would not be advised as it is quite spread out, but there are free buses and trams for tours, a metro that is both regional and local as well as trains. Furthermore, there is ample room for biking. One of the most charming visual effects in Melbourne is the numerous Victorian era houses and structures interspersed throughout the city. These buildings and the name of Victoria, which adorns much in this city, provide a clear reminder of an important aspect of the city's past and present. Nonetheless, unlike Los Angeles or Miami(People of Latin Descent), Melbourne's immigrant milieu is dominated most by Asians that now call it home.
My first drinks in the city were poured by an Australian lad, Rye (not sure of the spelling), with Indonesian parents. It was funny that (like me) he just started learning Indonesian. I took pictures of
him and another Australian girl, Justain, originally from the Philippines. They both thought of Australia as home (Their Serbian barmaid, Elene, felt the same) and had been here for more than a decade. What delighted me most was their Australian accents. They gave the scoop on the local micro distillery and micro beer scene which is apparently not too great. Nonetheless, they served me an interesting flaming drink and a tasty craft beer called Bees Knees (honey wheat). Both were good. Sadly, I didn't eat much interesting yet today. I had breakfast at 7-Eleven and lunch on the run in order that I wouldn't waste too much time sitting around.
I walked all the way from St. Kilda beach in Southern Melbourne to the Central Business District in Northern Melbourne and very close to the port. You can see some of it from the pictures I took from the top of Skydeck 88, Melbourne and Australia's tallest building (I was told).
I walked through a number of tourist and artist zones and photographed some fun activities such as a Malaysian dance performance.
Tomorrow I will try to get a ticket to Sydney where I will meet a
friend from Bangkok and his Thai girlfriend. Several days after that I will meet my friend Jon and his wife to do some traveling and relaxing on the beach south of Sydney. I picked up a bottle of organic locally made chocolate port at Queen Victoria's market this afternoon. This market reminds me a lot of Quincy Market in Boston with lots of interesting foods inside.
Too little time and too many things to do.
Oh yeah. Australia is expensive as all get out!! The American dollar has not even gone one for one here and water often goes for above $2 a bottle. Outside of American currency woes on international markets, the fact that Australia is an island with a relatively small market makes commodities like food and water (relatively scarce) more expensive here. This goes for transportation as well which is on the higher scale overall. (An all day train pass is $5 but one ride is $3....Australian).
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