Blogs from CBD, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Oceania - page 7

Well, what a shock – back to chilly weather, not unlike an English summer. Only 17-22 degrees here although the day we arrived it had apparently started as 35o and suddenly plummeted as a massive storm swept in. Actually, our flight only just made it in to Melbourne as we saw many storms encroaching which resulted in the diversion of all flights following us that day. The flight from Alice Springs was remarkable in that the scenery over which you fly is dessert all the way. Of special interest is Lake Eyre which is Australia’s largest salt lake and the lowest point at 50 ft below sea level, in the midst of Central Australia’s desert. It really stresses how the habitable land is only a relatively small coastal strip of Australia. We arrived at my Uncle ... read more

Our first few days in Melbourne were spent mainly working and flat searching as we had booked only 4 nights in the hotel so that we could have some reliable internet access for Jo to work and for us both to search for flats. We were both ill for these couple of days too as we had caught colds and so weren’t feeling like doing much. We did escape our hotel room on a couple of occasions though. On the first day we had a wander around the central district and bought a couple of sandwiches for lunch which we ate on the banks of the river. We also had a walk through Melbourne’s infamous Avenues and Laneways where Jo discovered lots of beautiful things in the boutiques that Will had to tear her away from. ... read more

I must prefaces this entry with the fact that I am not actually busy like I would be back home, but almost everyday I have something to do. Whether it is going to the bike shed to work on my bike (which i have to do again on Friday for the third time) or a day trip that we have planned or doing mundane things like laundry and grocery shopping. It helps that every places has unusual hours, if I want to go to the Market it is only open Tuesday and Thursday 6am to 2pm or 6am to 4pm Friday to Sunday and the bike shed is only open Friday to Saturday; 11am to 5pm. LOL there (at the bike shed) 11am is considered early. I’ve also tried to keep up with running and on ... read more

Travelling through Australia by train is neither quick nor particularly convenient, but it does provide an opportunity to understand more about the geography of this continent. From the sight of kangaroos hopping through the trees and desert scrubland of the Northern Territory, we journeyed into the arable farmlands and wineries of South Australia, the driest state. Here, and into Victoria to its east, rolling hills of thirsty crops were interspersed with smalls towns with strange names, like Mount Gambia, Warrnambool and Broken Hill. As seems to be the way, most people in these two states live in their capitals, Adelaide and Melbourne. Partly due to the infrequency of interstate trains, that is where we found ourselves, with no real purpose other than to experience more of metropolitan Australia, its food, markets, attractions, architecture and people. The ... read more

One of the things I wanted to do in melbourne before I left was to go to a theatre to see something. I had heard a lot about Draculas as they have been around for almost 3 decades and there is one on the Gold coast as well. It's a dinner theatre comedy show musical with a twist haha. Once you arrive you are ushered into the upstairs bar area where you can have a drink first. As the name suggests all the staff and the decor is dressed up in a vampire kind of way. Really fun! Then, a ghost train like ride takes you down to the theatre. So much fun but also terrifying! They also don't tell you that they take a picture at one of the scarier points. Quite funny. We then ... read more