Rain?!? And Ramsay Street

Its definitely become chillier recently - and a couple of days ago there was a day of rain!! I was promised non-stop sunshine in Australia...anyway, Melbourne is a great city, I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I arrived here last Friday, after a few final days in the west - I signed up for the "Southern curl tour", in a bid to see as much of the country south of Perth as I could in the short time available. It was a fun trip - a small group - mainly Brits, and we set off from Perth for a few days of caves, beaches, wine-tasting, blow holes and forests, - including the 60 metre climb up the Gloucester tree. The climbing up was fun and surprisingly not terrifying - but my thigh muscles were complaining bitterly for the next couple of days!
We stopped in Margaret River and Albany - perfectly nice towns but didn't see an awful lot of them.
So then a flight from Perth to Melbourne, and so far I'm loving the place - its just about small enough to walk around, and easy to navigate. Trams are a big thing here - and there's a free circular tram called the City Circle tram, on which I took a ride the first morning I was here. They have a wonderful theme song which I which I could recreate here for you - the best I can manage is the words...
"Come take a ride on the City Circle tram,
Its a great way to help you understand
the layout of our town
its the best way to get around
and its free...on the city circle tram"
Imagine a bloke sounding not unlike Rolf Harris and an annoyingly catchy tune and you're there.

Anyway, other highlights in Melbourne have been the Queen Victoria Market - a massive place open for much of the week (clothes, food etc), the Yarra river, the National Gallery of Victoria (a wonderful art gallery), Federation Square, a few shopping centres which I haven't managed to explore properly yet...and also a choral evensong at St Paul's Cathedral - can't say it was a choir up to the English choral tradition - in fact (for those that know it) I'd say St Mark's Choir, Surbiton was possibly even better back in the day - but it was nice to go along and hear a little bit of pre-Christmas fare.

HOW could I have nearly forgotten - of course the biggest highlight of the week so far - Neighbours day! I just had to do it, sad as that may be to some.
It was very surreal to be standing on Ramsay Street, a very ordinary cul-de-sac in a Melbourne suburb, but where the houses are totally familiar, and there is a 24/7 security guard. We also drove past the old Erinsborough High - not that I would have recognised it - and then had a "meet and greet" with a Neighbours "star" Janelle Timmins - couldn't say I knew her, but I had my photo taken with her nevertheless. As its likely you won't know her either - here is her wikipedia article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janelle_Timmins

In the evening - Neighbours night - which is held every Monday night at an English pub called the Elephant & Wheelbarrow in St Kilda - involved alot of merriment - and a few Neighbours "stars" - again I was a bit flummoxed as to who most of them were - and Paul Robinson, who I of course I do know from back in the day, performing with his band. They weren't very good, but it didn't really seem to matter! Apparently usually Dr Karl and his band play but he's doing panto in Aberdeen....

So I moved hostels yesterday and I appear to have found myself in a bit of a party hostel. Not that I'm averse to partying you understand - just possibly a different kind (or age group). However its fine as a base for exploring, and then on Sunday I'm off down the Great Ocean Road for 3 days, before returning to Melbourne, to stay in a different area called St Kilda. And then its Sydney, a few days before Christmas.

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