June 11th - Melbourne

So today’s entry will be relatively short since it only covers a day’s time. But currently, I am again writing from Mick and Lloyd’s apartment in the Kensington district of Melbourne, I’m across the street from the largest horse race track I’ve ever seen in my life, and the outside temperature is approximately 45 degrees. So this morning, I woke up several times, possibly due to jet lag, possibly due to the fact I was sleeping on a mattress on the floor with half a sleeping bag covering me. Regardless, we were supposed to wake up around 7am to begin our tour of Melbourne. Luckily for me, the others were still sound asleep, and didn’t wake up until around 9am. We had a quick breakfast of cereal (I felt like I was at home!) and then we were off. Today, Carla (Mick’s girlfriend) who I knew from our previous trip to Venezuela, greeted us at the apartment, and would be our ride in our tour around Melbourne. We were able to all catch up for a little while, before heading off on our trek. We began with a short driving tour of downtown, then Port Melbourne, the harbor and marina. After approximately 35 minutes of driving, we parted with Carla to continue our tour on foot. We began by heading to some of the parks near Port Melbourne, I can’t remember the exact name, but I know the Prix is held there annually. After that, we walked over to the WWI museum for a honor ceremony and to read about a little WWI History from the Aussie side. There were also some great views of the CBD from the area, so I was sure to take some good pics. Then I had my very first opportunity to ride public transit in Australia… Lloyd was sure to get some pics of me entering the tram (which I will be doing plenty of, once I reach Brisbane), but we were on the tram to head into the main CBD of Melbourne. Once there, we checked out the main downtown train station, then headed up to the 88th floor of the Eureka Tower (tallest res. Tower in the world, tallest bldg in the southern hemisphere). Once there, we gathered some breathtaking views of Melbourne. My two hosts, Mick and Lloyd of course are natives of the Melbourne area, so I got very detailed descriptions and stories about most of the buildings and areas within sight of the tower. We also were able to see the enormous MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds), where we would be heading later in the day to see a “footie” match (Aussie Rules Football). After the skydeck tour, we went for a short lunch downtown before walking out to the MCG, for a true Victoria event, Aussi Rules Football. A combination between football, soccer, basketball, and some other sports… it was quite a sight. Very entertaining and requiring much athleticism of its players… I’ll have to explain in more detail later. After the match, we took a brief walking tour of the city before heading back to the apartment for some canasta and homemade chilli. All in all, based on my brief visit to Melbourne, I can see why these guys like it so much. Definitely has a very classy, almost European style feel, with the combined laidback nature of Australians. Additionally, the weather wasn’t warm, but was fairly mild considering the winter season that it currently is here in Australia. I’m not sure when, but I would very much like to come back here and spend a bit more time exploring and getting to know the city, as I’m sure it has plenty of surprises and exciting areas which I wasn’t able to see this time around. As for tomorrow, I’ll be headed back to the airport around 7:15AM to catch a 8:25am flight to Canberra , where I’ll be spending the remainder of the week for our EAPSI orientation.