Earthquakes, microbrews, and mini-penguins

Wednesday March 18th - Friday March 20th

I spent the morning having a smoothie (I ate a LOT of fruit in Australia as it is a much safer option here than back in Mumbai) and walking around Bay Street, looking at all the little shops before catching a bus a short distance to the South Melbourne Market, where I picked up some tools to fix some broken jewelry and met S& G for lunch where I indulged in a treat reminiscent of my time in Spain in 2001, chocolate y churros.

That afternoon I decided to take a ferry trip to the small town of Williamstown. I bypassed the portion of the tour that involved sitting inside the boat and spent the two hour trip on the back of the boat with the wind in my hair, chatting with a couple from Germany who has lived in Melbourne for 3 years working for GM but is slated to go back soon to Germany as their contracts are ending.

Unfortunately, the last two river cruises of the day were cancelled, so I did not get a chance to walk around Williamstown but I did get some great water pix, even though I did not garner any historical information from the tour.

Pic of one of the many bridges in Melbourne.

After I got off the boat, I had a call from Sarah telling me there had been an earthquake--I had not noticed because I was on the water, but apparently this is not an uncommon occurrence. I can now say I have experienced my first earthquake, though I am not sure it REALLY counts if I didn’t feel it.

Before meeting Sarah I headed over to the Eureka SkyDeck, which is a deck on the 88th floor of a building and the elevator shoots you up in 40 seconds (I videotaped it on the way down; it’s true). I really just wanted some aerial shots of Melbourne. However, while I was there Gareth phoned and I then realized it was probably not the smartest idea to go to the tallest building in the city directly following earth tremors. I soon descended and met Sarah and we trammed it over to the Mountain Goat Brewery.

View from the Eureka SkyDeck.

The Mountain Goat is only open on Wednesdays and Fridays, and a woman is the head brewer and two women were working behind the bar. After being in India for two months and finding almost 0% of women working in any public service industries, it was an interesting change. Plus the space was beautiful, lots of brick and high ceilings, and we got a short tour where we were highly encouraged to bring our beers along with us.

Sarah with her sampler.

I would not be a good friend if I let her drink alone.

Following pizza and some gazing at some handsome Australian men at the brewery (yes, for Patti and others wondering, one of them was even red-haired and bearded) we trammed it to try and make it to St. Kilda Pier to see the Little Penguins in the wild. This turned out to be more of an adventure than first planned, as the tram was broken and we had to bus it over and then re-tram it. I was very grateful that S&G were willing to put up with my desire to see the penguins--they come out at night only, and it is no guarantee we see them, but we saw three! No photos allowed, but it was awesome and totally made me happy.

After we walked over to the Esplanade AKA Espy Bar, where we watched some live rock music but more interestingly, a woman dancing who was some peculiar combination of ballerina/Broadway dancer. I also had my first and most likely last Alcopop--pre-mixed Jim Beam and Coke.

Senor and I were not fans of the Alcopop.

The next morning I had an adventure today trying to find a post office to send off a few postcards, and by the time I got them mailed off, it was almost time for me to meet Sarah for lunch one last time and grab a coffee. After a great lunch we said goodbye, and I headed back to the Queen Victoria Market to get some pix of some of the meat market. Perhaps also it was some sort of subconscious telling me to hang out with meat as much as I could now, before returning to my mostly veg diet, but I also wore my hot dog shirt, so I was a big hit at the market.

I then headed over to the Australian Center for the Moving Image, but most of their exhibits were closed for renovation, so I then headed to the Ian Cooper Australian Art Museum, where I was able to take in some interesting art regarding space and stars and some great Aboriginal Art. I then trammed it over to St. Kilda again to go to a small art gallery that has an exhibit every February-March called the postcard exhibit, which is over 2,200 works of art that are small-ish. Since I did not know if I will return to Melbourne again in these two months, I took the opportunity to see it and was not disappointed.

Gareth gave me a ride to the airport around 6:30 that night, and thus ended this chapter of my time in Australia. Though I spent all my in Melbourne, it is a beautiful city with many friendly Aussies and I could see myself returning here or living here, or in a city like it. It was so great to see Sarah and Gareth too and have the Colorado connection back.

Whilst (as the Aussies say) in the airport, I was asked to complete a 15 minute survey about Australian tourism. Being a researcher, I can never turn down when people ask me to do a survey, and I happily complied, only to realize that I definitely do want to return to the Land Down Under. I also realized that Australian chicken flavored potato chips don’t, indeed, taste that much like chicken.

Once on the plane to Singapore-Dubai-Mumbai, I tuned into the Nicole Kidman/Hugh Jackman flick “Australia.” As corny as that sounds, the movie was even cornier, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

I finally arrived back in Mumbai around 3 p.m. on Friday, and instead of taking a cab was determined to find a Rik--not such an easy task walking with my pack and having some blisters on my heels from my new lavendar shoes. But I was able to locate one, and the minute I stepped off the plane I welcomed back the Smells of Mumbai; very distinct and always, always there.

I spent the rest of the day unpacking and repacking and organizing, as my friend Jessie from Denver was to fly in the next night (Saturday March 21st) for a week stay here! Reports of adventures to come…