Rest of the Weekend

For all of you waiting on pins and needles for our next post (judging by the number of comments, that means Danny and Nancy), here’s a run down of what we’ve been up to.

When we last posted your intrepid travelers had safely arrived in the Paris of the South. After leaving the South Melbourne Market, we wandered back to our apartment via Federation Square, which is the sort of Times Square of the city, and also home to the main tourist bureau. After loading up with maps and other freebies for our visitors to use (hint, hint) we got on the Circle Tram.

[NOTICE: the following is original work and not written by Metlink] Melbourne has a fantastic public transit system. It is served by a huge network of trams and trains as well as busses. The tram network is the largest in the southern hemisphere and you have to get pretty far out to outrun the tram network. Of course, that’s where the regional train network still has service, and it costs the same to ride a train or tram, and you can switch from one to another on your trip at no cost. Very civilized. The Circle Tram is a free tram that circles the CBD (downtown to us Yanks), running in each direction and arriving every 10 minutes. It goes by almost all the major tourist draws. It rocks.

A quick trip on the Circle Tram took us back fairly close to our apartment, where we had a bite to eat and went to bed. At 6PM.

A bit about our temporary apartment. It is a one bedroom place and is a bit tight because we did bring six suitcases. But it is clean, has a big kitchen, is serviced 6 times a week, is close to work, and has windows on two sides for plenty of light. One real piece of bad news is the location: we are at what must be the highest point in Melbourne. That means we are always walking up hill to get home. Tiring, especially if you’re carrying something like groceries, suitcases, FedEx deliveries, coffee pots, etc. And because we are surrounded by office towers, there is no view like you’d normally have in such elevated circumstances. But all in all – a minor annoyance.

Sunday we were up at 4 AM, bright eyed and ready to go. Matt went for a run at 6 or so, dodging club goers who were definitely NOT on the way home yet. We did a little shopping (Matt’s riff on Australian retail to come) and decided to explore our temporary neighborhood that day. We found the nearest supermarket (Coles) for supplies. Just like a Lunds, except you can buy alcohol any day of the week (Score one, Melbourne), even if said alcohol is more expensive (Score one, Minnesota). Prices on food are about the same, although bananas are much more expensive for some reason.

At about 4 PM, already fading, we repaired to our pied a terre to rest for our first day of work. While resting, we learned about Australian TV. Let’s see: there was Aussie Rules Football (“footie” in Victoria), cricket, track and field, another footie match, rugby, a third footie match (this one took place yesterday but, hey, some people may have been in a coma so it’s new to them), soccer, and the news. If only there was some footie!

We made it until 7 PM - then it was lights out.

That’s the weekend. More to come….