Four Seasons In One Day

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This may well be our last blog (boo hoo) that is of course if we don't get withdrawal symptoms and start writing about the monotony of our day to day job seach back in good old Dubland. Strangely, I am well and truly ready to return home and I am looking forward to getting stuck back into some routine. Ed would happily keep the wanderlust going for another six months.

So our flying Australian visit has come full circle and we are back in Melbourne wrapping up six and a half months of carefree wandering. The last couple of days in Melbourne have been fantastic and kept our minds off the long and boring flights to come. By luck our stay coincided with the Australian Open and we were lucky enough to get our hands on ground passes. In the opening days of the tournament the players were boiled alive and temperatures showed no signs of cooling. We stocked up on sunscreen and water and couldn't belive it when we woke to torrential downpours on Friday morning. My heart sank as ground passes do not give you access to the main arena (The Rod Laver) and with most of the courts outdoors I figured we were doomed to spend a soggy day eagerly awaiting any tennis that might come our way. However the gods were watching over us and we managed to get into the Vodafone Arena to watch two mens and two womens singles matches. I fear we brought them all bad luck, as all the seeds we watched cruise through their third round matches, Djokovic, Mauresmo, Dementevia and Gasquet later crashed out in the fourth round. I couldn't believe how tiny Mauresmo was in real life, I've always considered her really big when I see her on tv!

The rain continued right through Saturday and we made the best of the day by availing of Melbournes many free indoorsy activities. We were missing our Asian catch all markets and were not disappointed by the Queen Victoria market...1,000 stalls offering free deli tasters and even wine...we left with enough food in our bellies to skip lunch and a bottle of vino which we were promised would leave us hangover free. The rest of the day was spend as tourists wandering through exhibitions from photography and milliners hats, to Ednaville (sets and displays in honour of Barry Humphreys, Dame Edna Everage...Hello Possums)

Needing a change of scenery we escaped our city centre hostel on Sunday, for the trendy suburb of South Yarra. We had plans to meet up with Eds college bud, Alex and his wife Ellie who live close by in Richmond. Ed and Alex came to Australia together in 1999, Alex fell under Ellie's spell some short months later and now he refers to Austrlias sports teams as "we"...hmmm. It was fantastic to meet up with them and we were delighted to see Ellie sporting a trendy little bump which is to become Baby Clarkin in June. Thanks a million for the catch up guys, we really enjoyed it. Ed was a little disappointed that Alex still has a full head of hair, I think he was secretly hoping for a shiny baldy patch.

Australia has been the perfect call for breaking ourselves gradually back into Western ways. All the development without the bad weather (well actually we have seen plenty of rain here in Melbourne). It's taken us six and a half months to unwind and truly relax into our wanderings and no doubt it will take only two weeks to fall back down the rat race pit. We hope to carry some of the Buddhist calm we have experienced home with us! So long for now...hopefully it won't be too long before we have cause to start up another travel blog.

'We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time'
-- T. S. Eliot

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Photos

Ellie and Alex
...and baby bump

True Colours
Vodafone Arena, Australian Open

Deli Counter....
...we were in heaven sampling all the goodies

Big Bottomed Girls
Umpire at the tennis

Railway Art
Flinders Street Station

Hello Possum
Eddie and Mrs Everage

Comments

[Waltzing Matilda]

Welcome home
Welcome back home, and may the truth of your TS Eliot quote ring true. We came home to Washington State less than two months ago from a year of wandering -- and are experiencing a bit of culture shock ourselves. Have enjoyed being occasional readers of your blog. Cheers!

[Claire]

will miss the blog
Hi Amy, Hi Ed, Can't believe your trip is drawing to a close. Have loved your blog and will miss logging in to read it. Can't wait to hear about the trip in person. See you soon, Claire Mc.