melbourne identity

I'm having some trouble getting pictures to upload, and not wanting to delay this post any longer, I present to you the first half of my Melbourne adventure without photographic aide. As soon as I win this most recent battle with the wifi, I'll be editing this post to include the relevant pictures.

...and the photos are up!

It's been a busy few days here in Australia, and I'm only now, at 1:23 in the morning, getting the chance to write it all down. Starting from where I left off, I left the hostel to take a walk around in the cool spring air, and before long found myself strolling down the quite main street of St. Kilda. I stopped at Danny's Diner, by all accounts a local institution, to give their "best burgers in Melbourne" a try. The burger came with lettuce, tomato, Canadian bacon, egg, and some kind of secret sauce, and it was just the kind of reintroduction to Western food that I was looking for. Washing the Aussie burger down with a vanilla coke, I was soon back on the mean streets of St. Kilda, making my way toward the beach. The access road that led me to the coast brought me to a small pier, and walking out to the far end, I enjoyed the feeling of being a little bit cold for the first time in months. Sitting at the end of the pier, I realized that this was the farthest south I had ever been. A small scattering of beach goers populated the St. Kilda coast that Monday afternoon, and just like back home, with winter behind them the locals were a little overanxious to dawn the warm weather clothes despite the lingering chill in the air.

Flowering trees, sea-side roller coasters, and palm trees: welcome to Melbourne.

Another, longer pier attracted my attention, and walking down it I found that the end had become a sanctuary for Little Penguins, the smallest penguin species in the world. A few years back, some of these tiny penguins showed up on the pier, and the citizens of Melbourne have made a concerted effort to make them feel at home. Restricting access to much of the pier, visitors are still allowed along a short boardwalk that gives them some access to the friendlier penguins. I didn't see any that afternoon, twilight is the best time, and so I slowly made my way off the beach and back to the hostel. Taking a survey of the kitchen, I figured it would be worth while to do some grocery shopping, and so I made a late afternoon run through of one of the local chains. Peanut butter & jelly rounded out a pasta, salad, and ice cream-influenced shopping list, and I was back to the hostel in time to prepare a late dinner.

An unnerving discovery in the grocery store.

Eating in the kitchen, I chatted with some of my fellow hostel goers, running into a reasonable sampling of the world's population, most notably a guy named Adam from England, and a Canadian girl named Seka. After a short diversion involving the hostel's second showing of "Braveheart" in as many days, Seka offered to show me around St. Kilda, and the two of us walked along the boardwalk enruite to the penguins. Seka had been down to the pier the night before to see researchers catching and tagging the penguins, so she was able to warn me about the unearthly shrieks that can occasionally emanate from the rocks around the pier. Having only seen penguins at the aquarium, having the chance to see these little guys in the wild was really cool.

Seka and I walked through St. Kilda for a little while after leaving the pier, but things were pretty quite on the Monday night, so the two of us headed back to the hostel. We rejoined Adam, who, on my insistence, taught Seka and I how to play Wist. Wist is a card game, similar to yulker, that I was especially keen to learn because it was a favorite of Phileas Fogg, the circumnavigating protagonist of Jules Vern's Around the World in 80 Days. The game was fun, and not just because I staged a dramatic come-from-behind win.

The next morning, Seka and I headed into the city to take advantage of the free tourist bus. Following a circuit around the city, the tourist bus offers a basic introduction to Melbourne, and allows its passengers to disembark at any of the 18 stops it makes. We got off at the Victoria Market, a large outdoor venue which had pretty much everything Australian one could ever hope for: crocodile hats, boomerangs, diggery-doos, and the ever popular giant stuffed kangaroos with boxing gloves. The only purchases of the day were some blood oranges and a banana, the later of which went to my on-going effort to educate people about the proper way of eating a banana. Feel free to skip the next paragraph if you already know this...

Most people, myself included until recently, eat a banana by pulling back on the "tab" that connects the fruit to the bunch. This usually works, but often not without some struggle and squishing of the top. Monkeys, who I feel are reasonably experienced banana-eaters, approach the fruit from the other side. It turns out that if you simply pinch on the other side of a banana, the peel splits apart easily, allow pain-free access to the fruit. Give it a try.

After leaving the market, which closed rather early that day, we made our way to the Royal Botanical Gardens, which showed off the impressive array of strange and exotic flora that Australia can support. Stopping at a cafe at the entrance, I gave Melbourne's coffee a try (not bad, though Seka's milkshake was much more impressive) then plunged into the well-manicured jungle depths of the botanical garden.

It had been suggested to me to check out the Great Ocean Road while I was in Melbourne, and so when we returned to the hostel, I began a little last-minute researching. Starting off with a few flyers provided by the hostel, Seka and I headed off to the library to see what kind of arrangements we could me. The local library was a bit of a disappointment for anyone hoping to find books - apparently it didn't even have Catcher in the Rye - but its one redeeming value was that free internet. We managed to find a few sites, though the library closed before we could settle on anything. Returning to the hostel, we made some tentative plans to wake up early and check the prices at the nearby rental agencies, then got ready for a night out.

Seka, Adam, and I, dressed in our Tuesday best, headed out for Melbourne's Crown Casino, located down by the river. We arrived in style, and surveyed the grounds before ordering drinks. I was lucky enough to find a bartender who knew how to make a proper Rob Roy, making the extra effort to chill the martini glass, and rotate, rather than shake, the mixer so as not to chip the ice. It made the $15 cost easier to swallow. Having consumed our respective beverages, we hit the floor.

Possibly the best beverage of my trip.

Seka had already tried her hand at $1 worth of credit on the slot machines, which she promptly lost, so I volunteered to go next. My game of choice, as baccarat was electronic at this particular casino, was roulette. Purchasing $50 worth of chips, I split $20 on marks for the 2nd and 3rd thirds of the board. When the ball landed on #17, I won a payout of 3:1 on the 2nd third, and lost the 3rd, for a net gain of $10. Now holding $60 worth of chips, I retired to give Adam a chance to have a go at the slots.

I'm not a big fan of slot machines, as Calvin once remarked to Hobbes, there may not be a rule that requires the machines to pay out. They certainly didn't for Adam. After feeding $20 into the machine, Adam made 40 plays, winning perhaps 4 times. There weren't even any flashing lights or wild sirens. With no big wins, he soon went completely bust, making me feel very happy about my decision to skip the slots.

Responsible gambling advertisement or dire warning of the robotic apocalypse?

Seka admitted an interest in trying roulette, so we returned to the table where I had already won $10 and I coached her through the procedure. She won on the bet I made, and we both decided to give it one more go together. Riding the 2nd and 3rd third one last time, we won again, and effectively doubled our $20 investment to walk away from the table with $40. Seka and I each kept a $2.50 chip as a memento of the evening, and I walked away from the casino with more money than I had walked in with.

Seka and I, showing off our winnings.

We stopped on our way back, first to explore a castle-cum-art project, and then to find out way to the ANZAC Shrine. Finding the shrine was a bit trickier than we expected, as we expected to see it just over the rise across the road from the casino, but it wasn't there. Instead we found an open air amphitheater, and climbed up onto stage to appreciate the acoustics. From there we half wandered, half bushwhacked our way through the public gardens until we finally found the shine. Our goal, the eternal flame, was blazing in solitude at the far side of the shine, and the three of us spent a good while gazing into the dancing fire.

In the end, we gazed for a bit too long, as we missed the last metro back to the hostel. This wasn't all bad, as it gave me an opportunity to interact with the local wildlife that I might otherwise have missed. Recrossing the street, my casino companions spotted some critter scurrying away from us, and offered, in excited shouts, suggestions as to what it might be. My impulse was not so much to identify it as to catch it, and so I went running after what I soon ascertained to be a wallaby. Were I anywhere other than Australia, I would have felt sure that I was pursuing a demon squirrel, as everything about this furry monster suggested its relation to an R.O.U.S. (alla Princess Bride). I finally came face to face with my prey when it leaped into a tree and stared back at me with eyes full of terror. Adam joined in the chase but the demon squirrel managed to evade us, and having interfered enough in the fauna down under, the three of us continued on our way.

Instead of a 20 minute ride, we walked for just over an hour through the deserted city streets of Melbourne, stopping only briefly to examine the selection at a 7 Eleven. When we returned to the hostel, Seka and I were rather hungry, and we were both rather bumbed out to find that the kitchen was closed for cleaning. So instead, we hoofed it to a local gas station, where we shared an edible chicken sandwich.

That about wrapped up the evening, and Seka and I agreed to get up early enough the next day to do some car rental shopping, and with that we went to bed. I'm about ready for bed at the moment, so the next day's wild adventure, as well as the story of how I got to Sydney and everything I've done since getting here, will have to wait for tomorrow. I promise to have another post up by this time tomorrow, so you can look for it then. Until then, goodnight and good luck.