Melbourne

Written about a month after my trip, the details are not too fresh. What struck me first about this city was how it felt: good. I could imagine living there from the moment we entered it, and again the thought crossed my mind that it is funny that you can get a fel for a place or person almost at first glance.
With tramlines, buses and many cars, Melbourne is quite a city to drive in . Luckily we didn't have far to go to reach the hotel (Josh might argue otherwise). The boat of a car just fit in the parking space, and before too long we were off to explore Melbourne.

A huge park along the Yarra River was the starting point, and it was impressive. Cricket pitches, observatory, war memorial (with great views) and the botanical gardens. As with Christchurch and Sydney, entry is free and the space it covered was quite large. Lorikeets (small parrots with very bright plumage) cawed and chirped over some prime fruit or nuts of one tree, presenting their beautiful feathers. Just a short distance away were skyscrapers but here we were among the wildlife.

Melbourne stretches out along the Yarra and outward further with various neighbourhoods to explore. It is a gorgeous city, full of little lanes that reveal anything from a dead-end to great grafitti, hole-in-the-wall cafes and eateries or a mass of tables and chairs belonging to numerous establishments serving a wide range of dishes. These laneways lend a magical air to the city - so many possibilities for discovery, like a hundred rabbit holes to fall down or secret gardens to unearth.

The people here seem so much friendlier than Sydneysiders. They smile more and even move slightly out of your way on the pavements. Melbourne is Montreal to Sydney's Toronto. There are so many funky places and independent bars and pubs and shops and artwork and really I would love to have had more time here. Maybe they need creative people in Melbourne...maybe my sister and I can live in the same country again!

One night was spent at the Telstra Dome, enjoying an AFL match. There are many different football games here. Rubgy (union & league), soccer (or football football as I like to call it) and then Aussie Rules. This fast-paced game takes place on an oval shaped pitch and can be rather frenetic, or one-sided depending on the skill of each team. The aim of the game is to kick the ball through the 4 poles at either end (preferably through the middle two for more points). You can run with the ball for a certain distance without bouncing it on the ground and can seemingly be tackled nearly any time. Other than that the rules are a complete mystery to me - all I know is that I like the game.

With Melbourne now holding a place in my heart but departure imminent, it was all too soon off to the airport. This is where one big culture shock occurred. On domestic flights it appears that not only can you bring food/drinks of varying sizes through security, but you could quite easily use someone else's ticket as no ID is asked for at any point along the way (though this may only be if you book online). This freedom seemed so odd and naive after the rigmarole of Canadian and U.S. domestic services, not to mention international ones.

Back to Sydney - and carrying bags once again. This return meant visits to some other regions - the Blue Mountains (which were impressive but it would have been nice to have some time to walk around properly rather than be ferried from photo-stop to photo-stop) and the Hunter Valley. This latter trip was to the verdant wine region, and was well worth it! We visited several vineyards, and tasted a lot of wine - all 100 times better than the wine in Maine. Some real gems were discovered, along with the fact that very few are available outside the country (unless you import them yourself) and the Australian wines generally available abroad - Penfolds, Rosemont, Yellow Tail etc. - are blends from all over Australia and controlled by the Rupert Murdoch of alcohol: Fosters.

So, although the beer here is generally rather lacking in taste and potency, the wine more than makes up for it. Just need to get a grasp on the very weird alcohol laws (no getting drunk, no serving those who are intoxicated, 10 minute periods every hour after something like 11 or 12 pm where you can only buy non-alcoholic beverages etc.) and all will be tickety-boo.