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Published: December 4th 2006
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Busking Aussie-style
A busker on one of Melbourne's main shopping streets treats passers by to a performance of didjeridu techno-trance. Seriously. Complete with bizarre hand movements. It is not without a little sadness that we sip our last kaffir lime mojito in Bali (for this year, at least !). I'm extremely fond of this little island and its quirky contradictions: brash nightclubs and peaceful, incence-filled temples, surf beaches and dazzling rice terraces, unfinished concrete monstrosities and carved palaces. And it's the only place you can get a frozen lychee martini for next to nothing (and no, we haven't turned into winos - yet).
We have a late evening flight from Denpasar airport to Sydney, where we have planned to connect straight away with a Melbourne-bound domestic flight. The timing and duration of the flight from Bali conspire to deprive us of sleep for yet another night - huzzah ! Thus it is that we arrive at Kingsford Smith Airport exhausted and rather unprepared for the Great Australian Customs Experience. When I changed our flight dates from Bali I was told two hours connection time would be enough to make the Sydney-Melbourne flight, but the minute we saw the queue at Customs and Immigration we knew we'd miss the flight. And so we did. You may have heard, or read, that Australian customs are the most stringent
Quirky Brunswick
Trams trundling down the street, cafés aplenty, idiosynchratic inhabitants...Brunswick is a great place to have a nice big cooked breakfast while reading the papers. and unforgiving in the world - an understatement if ever I heard one... Understandably, with Australia being home to huge numbers of unique plant and animal species, the Australian authorities are not too keen on visitors importing pests, diseases and foreign species into the country. Just before landing we had to fill out a customs declaration of gargantuan proportions, before having all our luggage scanned again after getting the passports checked.
Everything of plant or animal origin has to be declared (well, I think the leather your shoes are made of is exempt but I wouldn't count on it). The rather Orwellian signs liberally pasted all over the walls of the customs hall made us a tad paranoid so we declared Alex's cheapo wooden fan, bought in the market at Phnom Penh for 25p. The fan was not judged to be a threat to world peace so we were waved through. Others weren't so lucky. Entire suitcases were being unpacked and searched with a fine-toothed comb. Muddy walking boots were having disapproving heads shaken at them. All kinds of food were being chucked into the quarantine bin. All I can say is:
Strewth ! We run to the domestic
Stone, steel, glass
Period buildings and glass-and-steel towers mingle effortlessly in Melbourne. terminal, although there's only 10 minutes or so before our flight to Melbourne is due to leave. We aren't allowed on, of course, but the nice people at QANTAS book us on to the next one. Luckily there's a flight every half hour so the wait isn't long. Looking at our guidebook while waiting in the lounge, I am astonished to discover that Melbourne is nearly 750km away from Sydney...I'd somehow always thought that the two cities were practically suburbs (which is a bit stupid I know - why would we be flying between them ?). My first introduction to the altered concept of
distances in Australia. This isn't a country - it's a continent.
We touched down in Sydney under the pouring rain. Encouraging start ! On arrival in Melbourne, on the other hand, it wasn't raining - but it was cold. My goodness it was cold ! Somehow we had naively expected Australia in the spring to be nice and warm and sunny. As we stepped out of the terminal in our thin jumpers we knew we were in for a big surprise ! A helpful shuttle bus service drove us into town under a cold, grey
Windy Melbourne
A short tram trip takes us to St Kilda, Melbourne's trendy seaside suburb. Kite-surfers brave the cold waters of Port Philip Bay. Next landfall ? Antarctica. sky...not the first day we had expected ! Mission number one: go out and find a coat !
Despite being Australia's second city with a population of over 3.7 million, Melbourne does not feel like the big place it is. Quirky buildings, trams and a relatively unhurried pace of life give it a friendly feel you would not expect to find here. We have a couple of days here before the start of our travels, which we spend exploring the rather Bohemian enclave of Brunswick, a collection of laid-back cafés, restaurants and shops slightly reminiscent of Camden Town (minus the hordes of tourists at the weekend). It's a popular spot with young Melburnians for breakfast on a Sunday morning - Alex and I opt for a delicious place of spanish
churros dipped in melted chocolate. Me likey Melbourne.
We also have time to pay a visit to Melbourne Zoo, reputedly one of Australia's best, where we have a chance to get nice and close to many of Australia's endlessly bizarre and endless cute (if you exclude emus) native animals. amongst many others. I'm not including any photos of Australia's animals, as we're hoping to see many of them
Melburnian skyline
A view of central Melbourne from the beach at St Kilda. in the wild over the next few weeks ! We also had a nice afternoon walk in the Royal Botanic Gardens, with their beautifully maintained grounds and exotic flora. The weather here suffers from severe split personality disorder: on the day of our visit to the zoo and the gardens, it's warm, sunny, and the shorts and T-shirts are out. Victorians (sounds odd, but that's what they're called) like to talk about the weather - lots. And they like to talk about the weather, too. And the weather. "Four seasons in one day", Melburnians proudly say to the pair of shivering Poms looking for winter coats in department stores that have just brought out all their summer lines...Welcome to the Southern Hemisphere...
Despite the weather (we're already turning into Victorians), both of us instantly take a shine to Melbourne, and to our first impressions of Australia. A big city this may be, but anyone who speaks to you invariably starts the conversation with "How you goin' ?". Not the formulaic, off-hand expression that "How are you ?" has become in Britain (one that expects no reply - but usually gets a complaint), but a genuine question that needs to
Botanic Gardens
South of the Yarra River, the huge Royal Botanic Gardens are a beautiful and quiet spot to wander around in. be answered. The pace of life here runs several notches behind what we're used to - and it's wonderful !
After a second night at our hostel (downside of being back in the "Western" world, even hostels cost three or four times more than a luxury place elsewhere) we catch a train to a rather uninteresting concrete suburb of Melbourne, Braybrook. A rather downbeat start to the next four weeks...
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