alice to mel-bin

Crazy busy morning! Transport! Getting food for the flight! Saying goodbye to Marjolein :( !!! We all sort of race around to shower and do laundry and buy snacks and be packed in time for our airport shuttle, which drops us off with about ten minutes to spare in the airport. Aline and I write up our Uluru trip on the plane, all while stuffing our faces with TimTams and sandwiches. We talk a lot about our guide, fucking awesome Glenno. As we circle over Melbourne, we are mesmorized by the green and the water and the skyscrapers and the urban sprawl. It is gorgeous! I haven't been around green in a week, and I haven't been amongst buildings higher than two stories since Brisbane, almost a month ago.

It is sad to say goodbye to Aline, because I could see myself being real good friends with her. I want to keep traveling together, but she has booked a jillaroo (cowgirl) course in Sydney for the next two weeks. I do french braids on her in the airport.

The airport bus driver drops me off at a random hostel right next to Flinders Station, in the middle of the CBD, and it's heaven. The hostel has a huge kitchen, lots of couches, a TV room, thick duvees, and very tight security. There are huge lockers in my room, which means I can leave practically everything every day, which is awesome for my back.

I wander around Melbourne central for the whole afternoon, marveling at the crowds and at the architecture. Several buildings on every block are built in the Victorian style, with ornate window carvings and arched doorways. These churches and government buildings and shops sit right next to other buildings with modern cement and glass construction. There are tram wires suspended overhead, and traffic lights, and traffic. The combination of old and new is charming. It feels very European. And it is not even that cold! I would say that it's the same, if not warmer, than Alice. I was expecting below freezing, given the latitude and the season.

Since the city is so far south (look it up on a map, I am right above Antarctica), the sun starts to set at 5pm, and shops all close up. I find a discount bookstore which is open and almost buy a book about Mesopotamia for my class, but think better of it. There is no shopping for work on this vacation!

For dinner, I have hot chips from Lord of the Fries with Indian sauce of creamy mango chutney. Decent. I like ketchup better. Back at the hostel, I watch a little Secret Life of an American Teenager and then get to bed at 9ish. I am EXHAUSTED from the Uluru trip.

Australian thing of the day: Vanilla malt Brekka, marketed as breakfast on the go. Ingredients include and are limited to: milk, sugar, malt, vanilla. Not a terribly good breakfast, but a nice way to drink milk. Also: Tim Tams. These are like a gift from God. Emma, from the office, says they are, “impossible to resist.” I've never met Emma, or been in her office, but she is quoted on the front of the package. I will be filling my extra duffel with Tim Tams for everyone to eat at home, they are that good.