Stephen and Therese's voyage to redemption
together we must fight this false reality!
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0730 up.
0830 taxi.
0915 at airport.
0930 through passport control.
0940 in lounge (despite stolen frequent flyer card).
It’s sunny outside. The emergency alarm goes off … but it’s just a test.
Thankfully the weather for Auckland is still good, if a little cooler – so it won’t be a complete shock.
Bye Australia.
Tags: air new zealand, auckland, australia, long haul 2009, melbourne, new zealand, victoria
Our replacement cards are due this morning from UPS. We’ve been religiously monitoring their progress for nearly a week … with a minor panic when they seemed to arrive in Melbourne Saturday morning then go to Sydney. Irrespective, a check this morning shows they are in transit in Melbourne at around 0530. Cool.
Not so cool is that I have to go back to the Claremont guest house. Since it was our planned address in Melbourne, it’s also the delivery address UPS had (which couldn’t be changed … I checked). The kind folks at Claremont would be happy to receive the package – but would refuse to sign for it. Come 0730 I’ve left the Seasons Heritage Melbourne (grabbing a couple of complimentary papers) and take the 2km walk back to the Claremont.
I’ve still got 30 minutes internet time there … so kill some time logging on for a couple of minutes, pulling down lots of wikipedia items, then logging off again. I am now an expert on Ricardo Montalbán, the main characters of Star Trek movies, found out that Leonard Nimoy decided to stay on for more movies after Star Trek II since he enjoyed it so much, Scotty stopped someone committing suicide and they were later inspired to undertake and engineering degree and in real life Walter Koenig (Chekov) was best man at George Takei (Sulu’s) wedding. Awww.
Anyhow … Therese arrives around 0930, reads the papers, gets bored and is dispatched to find some coffee. Time passes slowly. There’s only so much Star Trek trivia I can do in one go. Just as I start leafing through obscure background to The Empire Strikes Back, Mr UPS appears. A signature later and we have the package. Woohoo.
Back at the hotel our wallets almost feel normal again. There’s quite a lot of relief since we need our newly issued drivers licences in a couple of days for New Zealand. We also don’t need to rely on the one Amex card (that’ll do nicely, but we’ll charge another 3% due to the huge mark up) we had and can return to the real world with Visa and Mastercard.
With the temperature in the mid 30’s, we jump the tram down to St. Kilda. It’s full of school kids on their last week of holidays, along with a few loud tourist kids who take great pleasure in blowing and popping the loudest chewing gum bubbles imaginable. My best telekinetic efforts to transport them to Kuala Lumpur (where gum is banned) fail.
We stop off at a “Lentil as anything” Near Acland Street. It works on the principle that you pay what you think it was worth. Any profits go to charity. The food is good and it’s worth a visit. No nut roasts in sight.
A little fried by the sun, we pop back late afternoon for a little packing. There’s be an early-ish flight tomorrow – then out for a couple of drinks. This will probably be the last decent sun we have until May.
Tags: american express, amex, australia, claremont guest house melbourne, lentil as anything, long haul 2009, melbourne, st kilda, ups, vegetarian melbourne, victoria
A little change of scenery today. Brandishing our metcard, it’s the tram then train to Williamstown on the West side of the Bay.
The weather is pretty toasty as we arrive there just after midday. The seafront is packed with day visitors, locals and people just cruising around.
With an hours walk under our belt, it’s time to add something else to it as Therese cannot resist the advert for the wood fired pizza.
Fortunately, the other advert could be resisted …
It’s then a lazy trip back to Melbourne followed by a walk through Albert park. We need to appreciate the next couple of days weather before we depart for Auckland.
Tags: albert park, australia, long haul 2009, melbourne, victoria, williamstown
Sleep is much better in this place. Refreshed, and with a day metcard at the ready, we walk up St Kilda Road and into the Botanic Gardens, stopping off at the war memorial.
It’s then off along the South of the Yarra where we marvel at the masses playing the pokies in the Crown Casino. We blow a whole dollar before leaving with extreme boredom. I’m afraid I have no picture of the casino, since it’s the sort of thing that would get someone into trouble.
At Federation Square it’s a bit like Game for a Laugh. Watching us watching you watching us … yawn…
The visual excitement continues with a visit to the Australian Centre for Moving Image, which is running an exhibition on film sets (with several plugs for Baz Luhrmann’s Australia)
The only way to cope with this is … food. Gopal’s Vegetarian Restaurant presents itself, just across the road, where we suffer the torment of being able to choose from anything on the menu.
By now we’ve walked around 10km. There’s only around 30 minutes back to the hotel, so rather than blow the day ticket on one journey, we decide to walk. It’ll do the next day.
In the evening we’re indulged with more home made cooking … well, left over spaghetti and tomato sauce but some new white onion soup. Thankfully, it’s an alcohol free night.
Tags: australia, crown casino, gopals vegetarian restaurant, long haul 2009, melbourne, vegetarian melbourne, victoria
We have our own washing machine and dryer! After five months of using other machines, control of mechanised washing is ours for the next four days. Our clothes will have a new lease of life. People will sit a little closer to us. Those bereft of such technological marvels surely cannot appreciate the excitement we continue to feel.
And we get to cook. A break from eating out almost every night. It might sounds great to not cook – but we really like our own food. Especially when it’s simple. Tonight – spaghetti and fresh tomato sauce and …
Cake
The pictures (from Acland Street) explain it all …
Dark Chocolate Mousse and Chocolate Chip Fig Cake contribute to the smile.
After a walk around St Kilda, we find Therese’s vocal match …
Then back to our wonderful hotel, with our superb home made food (courtesy of Therese) and a little wine.
Tags: australia, long haul 2009, melbourne
Our flight to Melbourne isn’t until mid-afternoon, so much of the morning is spent wandering Adelaide. Well as much of the morning as it takes – being such a compact centre. Here’s the Oval and a view across the river.
Mid afternoon we’re on the Virgin Blue flight, then shuttle bus, then train from Southern Cross station to South Yarra. We’re staying at Claremont Guest House. I have an image of a traditional UK guest house being run by a quaint old couple, a handful of rooms and bespoke breakfast.
It turns out to have the smallest room we’ve stayed in yet. Overlooking a noisy side street. No air conditioning and worst still – no en suite.
The room … there are lots of cat marks on the walls.
The air con… which buzzes when the light is on.
We’re not happy and escape the room in search of food. Some of that and a little wine later we’re back. There’s not much sleep, thanks to the noisy of the lively people passing by outside, the blind doesn’t really close, so there’s a lot of light coming in, the TV doesn’t have a remote control and the temperature doesn’t drop below the mid 20’s. We’re still not happy and don’t get much sleep.
Next morning we’re awake at 6AM. Since there’ll be an imminent queue, we go and sort ourselves our in the communal bathrooms and showers. By 0700 we’ve had our free breakfast and by 0730 alternative accommodation is booked by internet. 0900 sees us walking to it, with expectations low. Thanks to the internet, they already have our booking and the room is available. All hail the seasons heritage hotel Melbourne (below)
Tags: australia, claremont guest house melbourne, long haul 2009, melbourne, seasons heritage melbourne, victoria
Michael Foot: A Life by Kenneth O. Morgan