If there is one quintessential moment in a trip to
Australia, it is probably the one when you see your first kangaroo. And today was mine.
We had spent yesterday
going slow; most of the time had been spent in between the hostel and the mall where we had food. There had also
been a walk up to the new parliament buildings and a tour of the chambers, but wet weather had left us a bit soggy
around the edges. Our dorm in the hostel was a ten-man job, despite the early promise of a four man room. It was
still a nice setup, and after slowly easing our way through the day and making the most of the accidental but
unlimited web-access we had a quick drink at the hostel bar and a Mexican dinner before bed at 9pm. Not the most
exhilaratingly of days, but we were still feeling shoddy from the coach journey.
This morning we were up and
out by ten. Corrine, James' cousin once removed (we think) picked us up and we dumped our bags over at her house
before going on a road trip around Canberra. Firstly we took a trip up the Telstar tower (for free; Corrine's
daughter Tess works there) and absorbed the fantastic vantage over the city. We then drove further out, visiting the
sites of the burnt out space centre and the remaining working site (following the bush fires three years ago).
Afterwards we visited a local reservation (again fire damaged) but were able to get a close up look at the kangaroos
and wallabies. Unfortunately the koalas were a bit thin on the ground (in the trees) but no disappointment as we
have the wonders of Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo in Brisbane for that extra privilege.
Tonight we are going to
watch the Ireland/Australia match (Heather is pining) and then have food when we get back. It's been pretty cool,
as it's the first day where we have really felt like this is 'true' Aus, and hopefully as we move up to Sydney
we'll continue getting the good weather.
After being joined by Andrew the day before last, we spent
the evening wondering the city for some food and drink, ending up in an English-themed pub in a large mall where the
they had enclosed an entire building (some Victorian factory) under a huge domed glass roof. Impressive. We then
moved on to find some bar or nightspot, and ended up in a small jazz bar under a restaurant. Impressive d�cor and
some quality cocktails took us up to bedtime when we wandered home to catch some sleep before the drive the next
day.
Andrew hired out a car and after sorting out our Greyhound tickets for the evening we took off for the
Great Ocean Road. The world's biggest war memorial, it goes on for miles and miles, but in the eight hours we had
we managed to get as far as the 12 Apostles, a coastal rock formation with a spectacular view at sunset. I've got
some really nice photos, but once again, can't get them online here. On the way out we stopped for fish and chips,
and on the way back (which was speedy) we had to grab incredibly fast Subs and rush over to catch our eight hour
coach (saying bye to Andrew who we will be trying to meet up with again in Brisbane). It wasn't comfortable or
warm, but it leaves us here in Canberra at 9am. We can't check in yet, but James has been planning our itinerary and
I think it looks like we're not going to get much of a chance to sit down today...
There is nothing quite as touristy as driving through the
suburbs of Melbourne in a bus with Harold Bishop painted on the side in the search of all things Ramsay St. James,
Heather and myself got ourselves up early this morning (despite a slightly drunken evening) in order to catch the
official Neighbours tour and do a bit of celebrity stalking. Despite the early promise of a sighting of one of the
stars, sitting outside the studios for half an hour failed to yield any results, so we were driven to Erinsbrugh
(Sp?) High School for the obligatory photos before moving onto the famous but surprisingly short street. Plenty of
photos, plenty of plot spoilers. All good fun, although a little disappointed we didn't get a photo with
Steph.
The afternoon brought the arrival of Andrew who flew in from Brisbane. We took lunch at some street
cafe that reminded me of Italy more than eastern Australia before jumping on a free shuttle and browsing around the
town. Heather headed back to send some critical emails and do some shopping, while James, Andrew and I took a long
(long, long) walk to a beach on the far side of the city. After working up a considerable thirst, we thought it was
only appropriate to have a few refreshments and to sample some of the local cuisine (at a very nice restaurant)
before heading back via tram.
Tonight we're back in the bar under the hostel. It's impressive considering
the usual state of hostel bars, although we have become somewhat sceptical of anything that is advertised as
'free' here, finding that all the offers in the bar, hostel and in fact most of Melbourne are a little misleading.
Tomorrow we take the great coastal drive, but for now it's another night sampling the local brews...
So after being asked on several occasions
yesterday "Do you need a youth hostel mate?" (apparently falling asleep on the chairs in an
airport arrivals terminal for more than six hours makes you look like you are one of the homeless), James and
Heather arrived with copious amounts of luggage.
We grabbed a fast drink and decided that we needed to get
from Sydney to Melbourne that night. The original plan had been to catch the 12hr coach, but this was less than
appealing, so instead we booked ourselves onto an internal flight, and after stuffing ourselves with noodles we
boarded and cut the travel time down by ten hours. It was the third time I had landed in Australia in a day, and I
still hadn't been outside.
We booked into a hostel downtown (where we are now) and are awaiting the arrival
of Andrew (a friend/fellow placementer of James and Heather). Looks like there might be an impromptu visit to the
Neighbours set during the delay, as despite James' initial estimations, he might not be here until
tomorrow.
Got to dash, but we need food and to explore Melbourne...
I've found a computer with Firefox on! Internet cafe with
taste...
Anyway, they've allowed me to use a media card reader to put some photos online. Unfortunately
its too slow to upload more than two, so scroll down to see the appropriate images. I'll try and upload more as I
go along, but it's a bit of a nightmare.
So, I'm in Sydney. I'm not entirely convinced when
yesterday ended and today started; even though I didn't have to cross any date lines or move more than an hour out
of a timezone, the two flights still took nine hours combined, and despite it being ten o'clock in the morning, it
feels like mid afternoon. I have a nasty feeling the jetlag is really likely to bite today.
James, apparently,
is somewhere in New Zealand and will be boarding his flight in the next few hours to meet me here at 2.30pm. That
leaves me doing some waiting. I mean, a lot of waiting. In fact, the past 24hrs have been mostly waiting. After I
got back from the war memorial yesterday, I have spent most of my existence wandering around subway stations,
'skyliner' stations and in airports. For example, five hours of last night was spent reading, then re-reading The
Weekly Telegraph. Unfortunately as someone with daily access to BBC News, the content is somewhat dated
already.
Arriving in Sydney, I was a little surprised at the extent of the building works outside of
international arrivals. On closer inspection (as I tucked into what I would consider half a baguette for the
reasonable extortion of six quid) it is not works at all, instead a series of large arty, rusty iron meshes that act
like screens, but have the unfortunate appearance of a crumbling construction site.
Not all is bad though. In
fact you might get the wrong impression. Sydney is nice and cool, I can blow my nose in public, don't have to
remember how to say thank you in Japanese and am enjoying comfortable surroundings on the sofas. With free internet
access. Why are they still charging for it in the UK; every other airport seems to be offering it gratis
apart from in the ones back home.
There was mediocre excitement on the flight in between the film and finishing
of Clarkson's book. I was dosing in the middle of the night, when one of the passengers waiting for the toilet next
to my seat did a full on stunt-passout and landed flat on his back. This has happened before, and it might be
advisable that anyone considering flying doesn't sit near me, except unlike when it happened last time and the
ever-camp air host(ess) screamed like a baby, this time the very casual Aussie air host(ess) waved a magazine in the
guy's general direction and told him to get on his way. It's this type of ruthless efficiency that drives this
nation.
I am guessing we are going to be hearing some dose of moanage today. Apparently Australia are waking
up to the news that Brazil won yesterday night. Well, that's another 10p on the free accumulative bet I got with
Skybet... I'm going to have millions by the end of the World Cup.
[Apparently comments aren't working (I
have heard). If you need to get a message to me it's going to have to be via email...]
Today started a bit disastrously. Despite my setting
of my alarm clock, I was woken at 11.15am by reception saying that I had 15 minutes to leave my room before I was
charged an extra fee. Turns out that in my tiredness last night, I didn't check that the setting was AM or PM;
turns out it was PM. This isn't really a problem, except that I missed breakfast and I couldn't grab a morning
shower (sorry Davies, I'm going to stink when I get to Sydney). I hurried out of bed, three hours after I was meant
to, pushed my kit into my bags and headed down to reception. Thankfully they store backpacks for free, and so
that's where I left my stuff as I trundled next door to the cafe. After glancing at myself in a mirror, I realised
that a coffee was essential, so I had two. An a pastry thing.
After that caffeine kick-start I felt a lot more
awake and decided to make one last tourist-visit before making my way to the airport. Apparently the National War
Shrine at Yasukuni was only three or four stops away on the subway, so I made my way there. This morning I needed an
umbrella. When I arrived I noticed every single person appears to carry one at all time, and after making my
purchase (¥500 from a vending machine) I was rather annoyed that I hadn't managed to use it after carrying it
around all day, and it had proved to be a bit of an inconvenience. In fact, the humidity had totally held in two
days until last night when I got to Shinjunku (skyscraper town) and suddenly it got all drizzly. I had hoped there
would be an almighty downpour, which might lift the stuffiness, but instead it just steadily has been raining since
then. It's been a bit difficult with the camera, but I think I've finally mastered holding the umbrella and taking
photos at the same time now. After not very long in the damp, bustling youth-and-neon-crammed Shinjunku and Shibuya
districts, I decided to head back and get some much needed sleep, which I did.
The shrine is a little bit
controversial, in that it holds a number of 'Class A' war criminals, which were secretly interred there after the
war (it became common knowledge in the 80s). The people who run it are also damning of the way they were regarded,
and say that the term of war criminal is a 'western construct' and that Shinto religion doesn't recognise this. I
know certain people who won't be too happy that I made the visit, but the historian in me was too curious to omit
the opportunity. The shrine was originally built to memorialise earlier wars, and if I hadn't known it contained
the dead of later times, I wouldn't have realised as I didn't have the time to visit the museum (which apparently
makes some fairly different statements to those in western textbooks, especially regarding the 'unprovoked' nature
of Pearl Harbour - and bringing attention to trade embargoes that don't often get mentioned).
My flight is a
ten tonight, and I will be making my way over to the airport fairly soon as I'm not sure how long it is going to
take. Last time I had some guidance how to navigate the non-subway sections of the train lines, but this time is
going a bit more open to experiment. Japan has been cool; I'm glad I decided to come here, although I wish I'd
given a little more thought to learning some of the language before I got here.