Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Melbourne & back to work.
Hi folks.
Welcome to a chilly Melbourne. It's a bit cooler here compared to Cairns. It touches freezing point at night, but it's a crisp 15 odd degrees during the day, with glorious blue skies and sunshine.
I arrived in Melbourne by Virgin Blue flight from Sydney late on Saturday, and checked into the very central Greenhouse backpackers. It was ok, but after two nights of non privacy, a serious need to re-arrange my bag and catch up on sleep, I decided instead to move out of the centre and get a cheap single room at the Toad hall hotel. It honestly isnt as bad as it sounds! In fact it's quite homely, quiet and rather nice.
Anyway, back to Melbourne. It's nice, as I said before. Reminds me a bit of Manchester with the trams, docklands and river redevelopment, and the strange need for far too many modern sports venues. I utilised one on Sunday by going to an Aussie Rules Footie match at the Telstra Dome. I didn't have a clue what was going on, but it was fun nevertheless.
I met a professor from RMIT on Monday who is involved in the field I wish to study further in, GIS. That night I went to the cinema - da vinci code (don't see it! read the book instead), and wandered briefly round the huge Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex. The biggest casino in the Southern Hemisphere, and as far as my ignorant soul concerns, the biggest everything listed hereafter I've ever seen: casino, foodcourts, boutique shops, cafes, restaurant, waterfront entertainment (including gas blowers on the hour), sports complex and hotels. In short - it's just gigantic.
Yesterday I didn't do much. I went to the Melbourne Gaol, where some uninspired bloke called Ned Kelly was hung. I don't really get the Aussie obsession with the criminal - or in fact with prisons - and it was needlessly dull. I took in the Botanic gardens, and the Olympic village, including Rod Laver Arena and the MCG. There honestly are five stadiums there (Olympic, Rod Laver, MCG and VODAfone arena and the Lexus centre) within 500 metres of one another. I have NO idea why they need so many.. nevermind the Telstra dome on the other end of town. That night mum and dad rang, plus I was quite late getting in after doing some clothes shopping (warm work clothes I must say). Oh I bought a textbook too, since being academically re-invigorated.
I then nipped out for some food (malaysian), and wandered round the parts of Crown I hadn't been before. I then fell prey to it's lure and before I knew what I was doing I had a small amount of cash (20 bucks) on the cheapest roulette table. I'm very pleased to say that I walked away with treble that - take that Australian Government. Having said that, I found it very disturbing to note that when I was playing with my few little chips, there were people chucking thousands of dollars a time onto the board. And not just a few, with the size of these complexes, there must have been thousands of people, literally spending thousands. I haven't done a thousand squared on a calculator, but I know it's a big figure...
This morning I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing yet. I've kind of seen all the sights in a sense. I need to catch the night train, tonight at 19:30, which gets me into Sydney tomorow early morning, from where I'll take another train out to Moree, for 19:00 tomorow night. I am eagerly looking forward to spending 24hours on a train .. or perhaps not.
So this may be my last update for quite some time, as I'll be out in the sticks again. Still, I'll probably only be there for another four to six'ish weeks (just depending on how the season runs). By then we'll be nearing August, and it will be time to come back home - which I'm quite looking forward too now.
Few bits of news, unrelated to me:
- Sophie is back home (hurray!) but is already back at work (boo!) She starts her teaching course soon (hurray!)
- El finished her exams (hurray!), and has started sixth year (boo!). She's coming to live in Edinburgh with me (I just made that up)
- Holland are going to win the World Cup (hurray!), and I'm going to miss it all due to no good tv coverage (boo!)
Anyway, best wishes to all, and I'll catch up with you all again when it rains.
Jan.
Welcome to a chilly Melbourne. It's a bit cooler here compared to Cairns. It touches freezing point at night, but it's a crisp 15 odd degrees during the day, with glorious blue skies and sunshine.
I arrived in Melbourne by Virgin Blue flight from Sydney late on Saturday, and checked into the very central Greenhouse backpackers. It was ok, but after two nights of non privacy, a serious need to re-arrange my bag and catch up on sleep, I decided instead to move out of the centre and get a cheap single room at the Toad hall hotel. It honestly isnt as bad as it sounds! In fact it's quite homely, quiet and rather nice.
Anyway, back to Melbourne. It's nice, as I said before. Reminds me a bit of Manchester with the trams, docklands and river redevelopment, and the strange need for far too many modern sports venues. I utilised one on Sunday by going to an Aussie Rules Footie match at the Telstra Dome. I didn't have a clue what was going on, but it was fun nevertheless.
I met a professor from RMIT on Monday who is involved in the field I wish to study further in, GIS. That night I went to the cinema - da vinci code (don't see it! read the book instead), and wandered briefly round the huge Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex. The biggest casino in the Southern Hemisphere, and as far as my ignorant soul concerns, the biggest everything listed hereafter I've ever seen: casino, foodcourts, boutique shops, cafes, restaurant, waterfront entertainment (including gas blowers on the hour), sports complex and hotels. In short - it's just gigantic.
Yesterday I didn't do much. I went to the Melbourne Gaol, where some uninspired bloke called Ned Kelly was hung. I don't really get the Aussie obsession with the criminal - or in fact with prisons - and it was needlessly dull. I took in the Botanic gardens, and the Olympic village, including Rod Laver Arena and the MCG. There honestly are five stadiums there (Olympic, Rod Laver, MCG and VODAfone arena and the Lexus centre) within 500 metres of one another. I have NO idea why they need so many.. nevermind the Telstra dome on the other end of town. That night mum and dad rang, plus I was quite late getting in after doing some clothes shopping (warm work clothes I must say). Oh I bought a textbook too, since being academically re-invigorated.
I then nipped out for some food (malaysian), and wandered round the parts of Crown I hadn't been before. I then fell prey to it's lure and before I knew what I was doing I had a small amount of cash (20 bucks) on the cheapest roulette table. I'm very pleased to say that I walked away with treble that - take that Australian Government. Having said that, I found it very disturbing to note that when I was playing with my few little chips, there were people chucking thousands of dollars a time onto the board. And not just a few, with the size of these complexes, there must have been thousands of people, literally spending thousands. I haven't done a thousand squared on a calculator, but I know it's a big figure...
This morning I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing yet. I've kind of seen all the sights in a sense. I need to catch the night train, tonight at 19:30, which gets me into Sydney tomorow early morning, from where I'll take another train out to Moree, for 19:00 tomorow night. I am eagerly looking forward to spending 24hours on a train .. or perhaps not.
So this may be my last update for quite some time, as I'll be out in the sticks again. Still, I'll probably only be there for another four to six'ish weeks (just depending on how the season runs). By then we'll be nearing August, and it will be time to come back home - which I'm quite looking forward too now.
Few bits of news, unrelated to me:
- Sophie is back home (hurray!) but is already back at work (boo!) She starts her teaching course soon (hurray!)
- El finished her exams (hurray!), and has started sixth year (boo!). She's coming to live in Edinburgh with me (I just made that up)
- Holland are going to win the World Cup (hurray!), and I'm going to miss it all due to no good tv coverage (boo!)
Anyway, best wishes to all, and I'll catch up with you all again when it rains.
Jan.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
From North to South in three days.
Hi,
Quick update in order I suppose.
We spent our last few days in Cairns enjoying (or as one evening was the case, suffering) the sunshine and heat. Probably hit mid to high twenties, with high humidity. Cairns is nice in an 'in your face' sort of way. It's nothing much more than six square blocks of pubs, resutaurants, tour agents, accomodation and shops, surrounded by vast expanses of commercial estates.
In any case, as The Rough Guide said, Cairns strength is in doing, not seeing. So as instructed we booked to go rafting the day before we were due to go home. We spent a full day on the Tully river, enjoying grade 3-4 rapids, getting very wet, and absurdly for we only had about one hour of sun, sunburned! We went out that night with our multicultural raft buddies (Canadian, Irish and Dutch) for a few beers.
So then it was back to Sydney (thursday), late that night. We checked into the quite excellent Vulcan Hotel for our last two nights. Spent Friday just catching up with bits n pieces, and had a bit of a disaster that night as Sophie lost her purse. No real damage done (we cancelled all the cards), but a frustrating way to end the best five weeks of my life.
To make up for it we had a nice lunch at the Sydney Opera Bar, overlooking the bridge in the chilly sunshine, before late that afternoon we both trundled to the airport. Sophie should by now be somewhere in the air in the Middle East, I caught my plane to Melbourne, where I spent the night at Greenhouse backpackers. Melbourne is a nice city, far less brash or busy as Sydney. Much more charm and elegance, but not nearly as exciting. I'm due to go to the "footy" (aussie rules) later today with some friends, and hopefully be able to catch up with a contact on Monday.
Speak to you all soon,
Best wishes,
Jan.
Quick update in order I suppose.
We spent our last few days in Cairns enjoying (or as one evening was the case, suffering) the sunshine and heat. Probably hit mid to high twenties, with high humidity. Cairns is nice in an 'in your face' sort of way. It's nothing much more than six square blocks of pubs, resutaurants, tour agents, accomodation and shops, surrounded by vast expanses of commercial estates.
In any case, as The Rough Guide said, Cairns strength is in doing, not seeing. So as instructed we booked to go rafting the day before we were due to go home. We spent a full day on the Tully river, enjoying grade 3-4 rapids, getting very wet, and absurdly for we only had about one hour of sun, sunburned! We went out that night with our multicultural raft buddies (Canadian, Irish and Dutch) for a few beers.
So then it was back to Sydney (thursday), late that night. We checked into the quite excellent Vulcan Hotel for our last two nights. Spent Friday just catching up with bits n pieces, and had a bit of a disaster that night as Sophie lost her purse. No real damage done (we cancelled all the cards), but a frustrating way to end the best five weeks of my life.
To make up for it we had a nice lunch at the Sydney Opera Bar, overlooking the bridge in the chilly sunshine, before late that afternoon we both trundled to the airport. Sophie should by now be somewhere in the air in the Middle East, I caught my plane to Melbourne, where I spent the night at Greenhouse backpackers. Melbourne is a nice city, far less brash or busy as Sydney. Much more charm and elegance, but not nearly as exciting. I'm due to go to the "footy" (aussie rules) later today with some friends, and hopefully be able to catch up with a contact on Monday.
Speak to you all soon,
Best wishes,
Jan.
