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Published: September 1st 2007
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Flinders Street Station
And the old city circle tram I've been around the world a couple of times, or maybe more,
I've seen the sights, I've had delights on every foreign shore,
but when my mates all ask me the place that I adore,
I tell them right away.
Give me a home among the gum trees,
with lots of plum trees, a sheep or two, a kangaroo.
A clothes line out the back, verandah out the front,
and an old rocking chair.
You can see me in the kitchen cooking up a roast,
or Vegemite on toast, just you and me, a cup of tea.
And later on we'll settle down and mull up on the porch,
and watch the possums play.
It's my last day in the land down under, and what an epic adventure. Sad to leave, but also I am ready to return to reality, face the music, play the violin with a bum thumb, and start work again. My last day in Melbourne was under a brilliant blue warm day about 20 degrees Celcius. I walked past an outdoor concert at Federation Square, then I walked on to the Botanic Gardens to walk among the gum trees. Then I took the tram
down to St Kilda Beach, a busy outdoor place with a marina, 1 km long pier, a small beach and many cafes. It's the place to be on a sunny Saturday, the first day of spring. Today September 1st is called the first day of spring here in Australia. (I do know there is in this paragraph a really lame mixed metaphor.)
Yesterday, I walked to the Queen Victoria Markets, a market place in the traditional sense - market stalls with independent sellers. Vegetable, fruits, meats, clothing, souvenirs, jewelry, items for the home, and other general ware. The market building(s) were saved from demolition in the 1970's. The place looks really old, as if it might fall down, but the locals love it and the tourists flock in droves for their cheep souvenirs. (Including me)
In Melbourne this winter at the National Gallery is a Guggenheim exhibit from New York. I checked it out, and was thoroughly confused at the work these people call art. Vertical fluorescent tubes, a piece of string suspended horizontally and a red canvas is each considered art. I left wondering what happened to my $20. I went through the rest of the free
gallery to look at Rembrandt, Picasso, Gainsborough, Monet, Manet, Leichtenstein. In addition there was a small collection of travel photos from the 19th Century. This I enjoyed, and would have gladly parted with $20 to look at this, while a free look through the Guggenheim museum would have been sufficient.
It's taken a few days to get a good sense of the city, to learn my way around and to learn how to effectively take the trams without getting run over. Compared to my other trips, Australia just doesn't feel foreign. It's all in English, which helps tremendously, more than any other factor to be sure. But the whole structure of society even in its details feels the same. The same shops, money is basically the same, everything is easy, available and accessible. It just doesn't feel that different, unlike some other places I've been. We share the same Queen on our money.
I think what sets Australia apart from Canada is that there is more cultural identity here - more songs, more stories, more images and more national identity. There are more cultural markers here, more things that say Australian, more things for Aussies to say are
uniquely theirs - more than Canada. At least, that's how I see things. Certainly there is a Canadian identity, but somehow it just doesn't seem as strong as Australian identity is here. I've bought a few CD's full of Australian songs to bore you all with, because I've quite enjoyed my time among the gum trees.
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