Melbourne, Australia, Australia

I arrived into Melbourne on Wednesday morning at about 10am, and was very happy to see that Southwest had somehow managed to get my bag over to the Qantas flight before we took off. So that meant I wasn’t going to have to spend my first couple of days walking around in the same pair of jeans that I’d just worn for 36 hours on my way to Oz. Good for me, and great for everyone around me!

I grabbed the shuttle from the airport to the hotel, checked in and then set straight out to see what the city had to offer. Well, actually, I only looked around for about an hour before finding a bar (Welcome Stranger) that shows all American sports. So I settled in for a couple of hours there and watched Leo’s Ohio State beat Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. I left there when it looked like Ohio State had the game well under control and had a look around the city.

The first thing I noticed about the city when I was driving in was the smell. From the airport on the way in, there was a very strong smell of fresh cut grass. Then the city center didn’t actually smell like a city center. It smelled nice, and it was very clean. And it is one of those cities that is strangely clean considering how few trash cans you see around. I guess it just comes down to the respect these people have for the places they live in. I like that.

So I checked out Federation Square, sat in the sun, watched people walk by, watched some cricket that was on the big screen (blah!), and then headed off to get my cell phone sorted out. I found the best deal, got the sim card and was sorted on day 1, jackpot! I grabbed a small dinner and headed back to the hotel as I was about to hit the wall and I figured I should be near my bed when it happened. For the record, it happened at 8:38pm.

Thursday was more of the same. I wandered around the city finding a few more scenic spots and checking out what kinds of touristy things I’d be able to do in the city. So I sat in Fed Square for a bit and just wandered around town for my last day alone in the city. Lisa showed up that night at about 4am, so that meant that I would now have a travelling buddy. Hooray!

Friday started out with breakfast and then straight out to view our first apartment. It wasn’t all we had hoped for, but at least it was a start. We now had a benchmark of what to expect. We wandered around for a while and found the best satay bar I’ve ever been to, it was called Sataybar. Very clever, I know.

From there we went over to the Melbourne Aquarium for a couple of hours and got to see all kinds of wildlife that I am hoping to encounter when I’m diving in the Great Barrier Reef. I wouldn’t mind avoiding some though. We walked back toward our hotel along the south side of the river and tried to stay in whatever shade was available. It was hitting 93 degrees today, so shade was worth its weight in gold. I know that doesn’t make sense, but I said it okay?

Tomorrow is going to be a big apartment hunting day, so we made it an early night. I hope we find something tomorrow! I can’t wait to get settled in to a place and not have to live out of my backpack!