Melbourne

I arrived in Melbourne on Wednesday afternoon. I got off the plane, called for a hotel and took a cab there. The hotel was nice enough. I had to share a bathroom, but the bed was comfortable and the location was central. The first day I just walked around the city and got my bearings straight. I met a couple people at a local pub and chatted them up a bit.

On Thursday, I set out into the city. My first stop was at the zoo. Yes, Melbourne has one of the best zoos in the world. Since I had not been to a zoo for years, I thought it would be fun. And it was. The zoo was cool because I was able to see a lot of the native species close up. Below are a few of the photos I took of the animals.




I also went to visit the first gaol (jail) in Melbourne. This jail was where Ned Kelley was imprisoned and hung. Ned Kelley is a famous Australia criminal much like Billy the Kid and the like. The pictures I took there did not turn out very good. The tour was very interesting, however.

I met several people while in Melbourne. Below are some of the bloaks I hung out with. One of the guys has a brother that lives in St. Paul. He is only the second person I have met in Australia who has actually been to Minnesota. Unfortunately, when he visited it was winter.



On Friday, I took a tour bus down the "Great Ocean Road." The sites along the road are amazing. The tour was a bit long however. I left at 7:30 a.m. and did not return until 10:00 p.m. But I have some great pictures.



One of the stops along the Great Ocean Road is that of the 12 Apostles. The 12 Apostles is a set of rock formations (12 of them) along the shore. The view of the formations is breathtaking.




Another rock formation just down the road was called London Bridge, named before it collapsed.



The first space between the rock formation and the shore used to have a piece of rock that connected the formation to the shore. That was why it was called London Bridge (it really is enormous), but it collapsed just about 10 years ago. In fact, there were people camping out on the formation when it fell. No one was hurt, but they had to be flown by helicopter off of the formation after the "bridge" fell.

I saw many other great views while traveling along the road. The bus was quite interesting as well. I was the only American on the bus. Most of the people were young Japanese women speaking with varying levels of english. Along the way back to Melbourne we stopped in this very little town for a dinner break. The tour had arranged for us to eat at a restaurant that provided a buffet--but those of you how know me well know that I do not eat buffet. So I ventured off to in the town to find another restaurant.

I am quite glad I had wondered off. While the rest of the tour bus gorged themselves on disgusting buffet food (it did look disgusting too). I slipped out of the restaurant which was just off the main highway. I walked down about two blocks to the "main street" of the town. The town could have been a town of five to eight thousand in southwest minnesota where I grew up. The main street was wide with cars parked diagonally on each side. Along one side was a large city park where a team of twenty high school aged boys were practicing what looked like rugby to me. (I later came to find out that it was footy--australian rules football).

As I walked down the street, I felt completely at home. The type of cars parked along the street and cruising by were the same as you would find in Slayton Minnesota (a small town near where I grew up). I first came upon a pizza joint. I looked at the menu, very typical pizza place. So, I thought I would continue on. Next was the video store, a antique shop, a vacant store, a hardware store. Across the street I spied an interesting looking place. The front sidewalk was set up with old furniture (like from a bad garage sale) with tables set up between.

So I crossed the street and wandered into the cafe. The converted store was decorated with a unique eclectic collection of multi-era antiques including lamps, dishes, dolls, manequins with 1920's era clothing draped upon. In the center of the room was a make-shift bar with the very cute woman poised behind. I asked her if she had a menu. She said, "What do you want? I have most of it in my head."

"Well what are you serving, do you have any sandwiches?"

"Oh you must be on one of the tours. I see you have a little taste, wandering away." Just as she was about to tell me the sandwiches, another woman appeared from the back. She must have been the owner as she was a bit older and demanded a larger presence.

"The chicken and avocado focacia is beautiful" said the owner.

"Great I will have that. And a vodka tonic and a glass of water."

I sat in one of the mismatched garage sale type chairs pushed up to the random table collected outside on the sidewalk in front of the cafe. Soon the bubbly bartender brought out my drink. I sipped my drink and enjoyed the view of "main street". Across the street in front of the pizza place, a dog was tied up to one of the table barking for its owner who was obviously sitting near the window in the restaurant. I could not understand why you would bring a dog to eat and then sit inside with your dog tied up to an available table outside. Soon, I saw other of my fellow tourists meandering away from the horrible buffet and onto "main street".

Within five minutes or so, the owner brought out my sandwich. "One have has a breast the other half has leg meat," she said. The sandwich was delicious. Large juicy chunks of chicken with avocado and chutney between two slices of soft focacia bread. The bubbly bartender was right, I was the one with taste stopping here for dinner.

Saturday, I spent the day walking around the city and hanging out at the Melbourne city beaches, also know as St. Kilda area.





There was a volleyball tournament that was just finishing as I was walking along one of the beaches. I wished I could have played. I have not played since I have been down here and I miss it a lot.

Saturday night, I went over to some friends place and we had cocktails and talked before heading out to the nightlife. Melbourne's night life is much different that Sydney's (at least what I experienced). Although its not as exciting as Sydney, the people were extremely friendly and I had a great time.

Sunday, I left for Tasmania.

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