Times have been tumultuous since I last wrote. I stormed through
Melbourne for four festive days over the New Year weekend to catch up
with the Graves and McLennans, respectively British and Melbournian
couples I met on the over-landing truck in Africa. We bonded on the
Masa Mara trip and it's been love ever since. Since then I've been
back to Brisbane, then Hong Kong (through Port Moresby) and now
Shanghai.
First Melbourne.
On one of my previous posts, I described the McLennans as the
quintessentially modern Bohemian couple and I now realise what a
product of their environment they were. Though they didn't grow up in
the areas they showed us in the central city, I felt it captured their
modern Bohemianity almost perfectly. Backstreets covered with graffiti
from the walls to the pavements...even to the bins...were never far
away from a modern street of cafes and bars. Some areas really
reminded me of what I saw of Sydney several years ago, wide clean
streets, tall new buildings, modern architecture and plenty of
shopping malls.
Their apartment, though homely and well kept, in size couldn't be
distinguished from the birdcage that their pet cockatiel Gareth slept
in. Most of the time however, he was out and about, wandering around
my swag (a roll-out bed used for camping that was delightfully
comfortable) or the Graves' blow up bed. He would listen intently as
we whistled various tunes for him to learn or tried to make him say
"ello" or "shivver me timbers". It was endless fun joking about what
we could teach him. By the end of the four days, Gareth had already
mastered a new whistle. For a young cockatiel, he's bloody clever.
We had a great four days of pure hedonism: drinking, eating cold rock
(Australian mix of any chocolate topping chopped and mixed into any
ice cream of your choice), home-made stir-fry, playing glow in the
dark mini-golf and a day on the beach....on a swelteringly hot 40
degree day, described by our New Year's party resident DJake as "a
good ol' fashioned stinkAH!", with the wind whipping sand in our faces
like a cat-o-nine-tails and the Antarctically cold ocean washing up on the
shore...made for a surprisingly pleasant day.
One event occurred when returning from the New Year's party. We found
ourselves stranded in the suburbs unsure of whether a train would
come. Luck shone its illuminating torch on us and an empty train
arrived...which duly packed out with people when it made to the centre
of Melbourne. Unusually, the train didn't stop at the usual stops so
we ended up walking back from, what felt like, not too far from where
we started. Carrying the eski (Australian for coolbox) the entire way;
the police stopped to comment "hope that eski's full boys". Luke,
attempting to take a stealthy leak behind a car, zipped up and dove
down for fear of being done for public indecency. Mark and I however
endeavoured to use our subtle British wit to outmaneouvre them by
replying almost simultaneously "Yeh. Today was a good ol' fashioned
stinkAH!". To which they reply "right on ya". Whatever that meant, we
were in the clear.
Unfortunately, I've been quite ill the last few days with numerous
ailments. Gareth's cage only inches from my face meant my allergies
flared up. My nose ran like a tap for three days. That, the lack of
sleep and poor diet of chocolate and KFC for three days finally did me
when I made it to Hong Kong...
