Touristy things...

Sunny Autumn day in the Botannical Gardens


The Welshies return for a few nights of mayhem (them - not me dad!)




The thing about living and working in a place is that you become so accustomed to your daily routine and the places you know that you forget to do all the things you came here to do.

So I'm trying to fill out the last of my time in Melbourne doing the touristy things and not just watching dvds and working.

On Monday, Swedish Jen and I explored Chapel Street - a long road crammed with boutiques, one-off shops, cafes, funky bars and music shops. We spent a few hours traipsing along and wishing we had money before catching one of the ancient-looking trams back to St Kilda for a movie night.




Yesterday, we returned there and ate Thai food at a pavement cafe in the sunshine (it was about 30C at the start of the week) and bought loads of fresh fruit. When Jenny disappeared off to work, I walked further up the street and explored the suburb of South Yarra with it's lovely old houses with wrought-iron balconies, tram lines criss-crossing the tree-lined streets and pavement cafes.

Eventually I came to the Botanical Gardens and wandered around in the afternoon sunshine for an hour or so - the autumn weather here is like those wonderful late summer days in England - perfect weather for a walk.

Then it was the Shrine of Remembrance - a large memorial to those who gave their lives in the World Wars. Rather like an ancient temple, it is a commanding structure in the city. Around it are an eternal flame, the nation and state flags and dozens of memorials to various battalions, commanders, police officers killed in the line of duty, and also a specific one to the men who died building the Thai-Burma railway. That had special significance for me - having seen the places many died.

I wandered around the arts centre and then walked to Collins Street and the Rialto tower - the tallest office building in the southern hemisphere. I went to the top of the observation deck to watch sunset over the city and stayed until it was dark and the lights of the city were winking and blinking away up to the mountains in the distance.




I then bumped into a couple from Churchdown in Gloucester. Which was weird.

Other than that, I have been working a lot of hours - 13 hour shifts again at the weekend which is great money wise but bad for the energy levels. The bunch I work with are great and I am sad in a way that I'm not staying longer to work here. But Autumn is truly rolling in now - today was miserable and rainy - and the restaurant is quiet on those days. Tonight I went in for an hour and a half. Hardly worth getting out of bed for.

Two people - Alisa and Matt - who I work with have moved into Jenny and my apartment for the next week and we're all planning a road trip to see the Penguins at Philip Island on Friday. Right now, I'm off to watch Flubber with them...


Sunrise after an all-nighter on Tuesday