We are off to the Great Ocean Road today. It is cold and grey outside, but at least it isn’t raining (yet). Melbourne does go through the 4 seasons in one day, no, make that one morning. Which is nice when it is raining, at least you know the sun will come out soon. Crap if it is the other way round.
Francine and her boyfriend Jackson kindly picked us up at Melbourne airport. So nice to see her again!
They live in St. Kilda, a really nice (“trendy”) part of town (or suburb; Melbourne is made up of suburbs as far as I can figure out). To celebrate our reunion we went down to the beach and enjoyed a glass of wine. At first we were lolling around in the sun, chuckling to ourselves that this weather wasn’t that bad after all. But then the clouds obscured the sun and a sharp wind reminded us that winter and the indicated 13°C were true fact. Brr!
I have taken to wearing at least 6 layers of clothing, without counting my coat. To add insult to injury, the houses here DO NOT have central heating. No wonder Francine bought those two little stoves!
Melbourne reminds me a lot of England. The street signs, the people, the reddish- brown brick,... if it were not for the accent (and the cold) I could believe I was 12 again, on my way to a Camp Beaumont summer camp. Architecturally it is really interesting: old buildings and brick churches stand side by side with glamorous new glass and concrete high-risers. With the abundance of English bakeries, quaint French cafés and traditional pubs I can best describe it as “cosy”.
Making an effort to be a good tourist (and get out of the house), we took a guided tour of the Rod Laver stadium, home to the Australian Open. The most interesting room was, as you can imagine, the Men’s locker room! All nice brown wood and cream leather sofas. As true Swiss, we took a picture of Roger Federer’s (and Nadal’s) locker. As soon as the guide’s back was turned, I took a dip in the Men’s Jacuzzi... (no water, of course!).
We went out to Rye for the weekend. Was nice to be out of the city and get a feel for the countryside. The views and beaches were amazing. The area (Mornington Peninsula) is also packed with wineries, so we enjoyed a very liquid Sunday lunch on our way back... bliss!
Met up with Jess, an Emergency Nurse I had met travelling in Hanoi and then again in Bangkok. After a tour of the ER (could never work there!) we went out for a (surprisingly) good pizza and then on to the Casino for some nightlife.
