Navigating around Melbourne

After a week of maneuvering around the city I think I know my way around pretty well. My comfort zone is slowly expanding as I venture into new areas of the city. But since the city is on a grid it makes it pretty easy to know where you are at all times.

I've secured an apartment in Fairfield and I move in on Friday. Its actually a house as the apartments are actually more expensive especially when living downtown. But till then I've been doing the hostel thing which has worn me thin. I don't mind it for a short while (couple days) but sharing a room with anyone is not my thing, especially 4-7 other guys. And living out of my pack is hard enough as well.

The weather has been fairly seasonal as in any given day it can be sunny and 70 one moment and rainy and 55 the next. But I guess that's just their spring weather. The summer is right around the corner and I hear it gets fairly hot, but no where near as hot as it gets in Sydney, Brisbane and Cairns farther to the north.

I'm starting to plan some trips and see a bit of the city now that I am acclimated to the town. I went to the Yarra Wine Valley for a day and saw some amazing vineyards and tasted some great wines (as well as learned a few pointers on tasting). I went to the Eureka Skydeck which is the tallest viewing gallery in the southern hemisphere. The Melbourne Aquarium was not bad with the Arctic Penguins and the sharks.

But despite my growing knowledge of the city I still find myself in situations where I have absolutely no clue what to do. For example, I was on the train (different from the tram) the other day and when I went to get off the train the door would not open. So, for two more stops I am standing in front of the door trying to trip some imaginary sensor that I think will open the door at each stop. Finally, I figure out that you have to pull on the door to open it. How dare they make me actually exert myself to get off the train! I'm used to the doors opening up for me! But apart from looking like an idiot on the train I've been watching the World Series at the casino here. It's just about the only place that will show the game and on the corner TV at that. The Melbourne Cup was on yesterday which is a huge horse race here. It's slogan is "The race that stops a nation". And indeed it does. About two hundred people gathered round the TVs in the casino to watch the race. It's basically a version of the Kentucky Derby and just about everyone puts money on it. But at times during the coverage it was more a fashion show that a race as the pre-race festivities were kind of in the style of the Academy Awards ceremony as reporters go around to everyone and ask the Australian celebs who they are wearing. Olivia Newton John say the National Anthem before the race too. I can't imagine how many times she's been under the knife.