Melbourne and Melvin

On December 15th Jack and flew from New Zealand, where the temperature was cool and balmy at times, to Melbourne, where the Australian summer hit us like a ton of bricks as we stepped off the plane. We were there for a few reasons but our main one was to see our friends Jackie (nee Melvin) and Josh. I had gone to school with Jackie in Boston and, as she's now married to an Aussie and lives here with him, I rarely see her.

Our plan was to meet them in Melbourne on the 16th and stay for a few days before heading to Sydney for Christmas. Although they live in Townsville, they were headed to Josh's family in Tasmania for the holidays, so Melbourne was the perfect spot to meet. We took a really late flight into Melbourne, got in a cab and headed to the hostel I booked online for the first night when just Jack and I were there. The "plan" which quickly turned into a failed plan!

We got to the hostel around 1 am. Drunken 20-somethings packed the streets on their way out to clubs and bars to find soul mates, or maybe just a mate for the night. Among the crowded street was the hostel, completely postered up and geered for the young, hip crowd. We were just looking foward to sleep. But that was not in the cards. We finally managed our way inside when the night attendant told us that our room had been double-booked and proceeded to give us $10 for a cab to another, far away, hotel. We tiredly walked outside, made our way with our large backpacks and travel ware to the corner, hailed a cab just to be told that it was only a few blocks away and we could walk. Not what you want to do at 1:30 am. But we did it anyway, until I was tooo tired to face the 20 some-odd blocks it turned out to be! So we finally got into a cab and made it to our new hotel. Whew. The rest of the trip was far more enjoyable than our early morning stroll amongst the puke and hussy filled streets.

We met up with Jackie and Josh the next afternoon and headed out in search of a belt for Jack and a dress for me. Obviously with so little packing room we had not planned for a nice night out with friends. That night we were going to a fancy dinner on a train that toured the city, called "Meals on Wheels." Our attire of fast drying clothes and Keen sandals would not have done. So we went to Target! I couldn't believe they had Targets here, but thanks to globalization, they did. After a successful shopping trip, we headed to the Melbourne Gaol (that's Jail in the USA).

The gaol was fascinating. I learned about Ned Kelley and all the unfortunate people who had to spend time there, any amount of time. Unfortunately none of the four of us remembered to bring a camera; so as they treated us all like convicts, making us form lines and putting us in the holding cells that they used until the 1990s, we have no proof of it. In the beginning however, the police officer looked at us all and picked a person to role play who looked like he/she would never be in a jail. That person was me. I just look that innocent. (Don't laugh.) We each got a card with our crime on it, mine was larson with the intent to kill, Jack's was indecent exposure! It was all in good fun.

That night we got all dressed up and headed to dinner. And although my shoes garnered a "nice 'fancy' shoes Joyce" from Jackie, they had to do. It was great to spend time with Jackie and Josh, getting to know him better especially as the night wore on. We went to the casino afterwards, just to drink and watch the ridiculous Christmas show. It was a good night.

We got up fairly early the next morning. Thanks to Josh and Jackie, who went to pick up the rental car, we got to sleep in later. Then we all headed to the Great Ocean Road. We saw beautiful passages, like Route 1 in California, and the 12 Apostles, but most importantly we saw koalas in the eucalyptus trees. They were adorable. And its completely true that you want to hug them on site, but the ones that don't grow up in petting zoos really aren't friendly.

The next two days were spent visiting all the Melbourne sites: the skytower, the museum, the aquarium, an Anglican cathedral and walked all over. It was a lot of fun. On the 19th we said our goodbyes and were off to Sydney.

In retrospect, I think I liked Melbourne most out of our Aussie city adventures. It certainly was nice, with milder temps than the rest. Even though the Great Ocean Road was a fly haven (flies literally swarmed us as we got out of the car to see the sites) the city was quaint. I think Jackie and Josh's decision to move from the tropics down that way is a great one! Hopefully you'll get lots of visitors in a couple of years, Jacks.