I left Canberra just before 22:00 last Wednesday, only 2 days after getting back from Newcastle. I wanted to get as much of Melbourne in as I could while still giving me enough time to catch up on some readings for law school. I also chose such a late time because it was far cheaper than anytime else. The flight was short, less than 1 hour, and even though we left late, we arrived a little early. I waited for a while and was picked up by Maria and her daughter Katia, the people with whom I would be spending my time in Melbourne. They're both very generous and I have stayed with them before on other trips to Melbourne. This time around, because I got in so late, around 23:00, we just drove home and after some introductions went to sleep.
The next day I used to explore the inner city of Melbourne, but particularly St. Kilda. I had been told by the Motykas in Newcastle that Acland Street in St. Kilda contained several cake shops with lovely cakes in their front windows. Getting off the train at Flinders Street Station, after some walking about I took the tram (Melbourne boasts the world's most extensive tram network) down to St. Kilda, passed a Salvador Dali exhibit and the famous clown's head entrance of Luna Park, a small theme park. I walked along Acland Street and then happened upon the stores I had been told about. The cakes were made and decorated with such care, it was almost a shame that they'd be eaten. All along the street each cake shop's inventions seemed more daring and inviting than the last. Eventually, I got up the courage to try out a marvellous looking chocolate torte and it was fantastic.
I stayed a good long while in that cake shop, taking in the atmosphere and reading the newspaper, but then I took a long walk along St. Kilda's shoreline, out along St. Kilda pier with its old pavilion that has been welcoming important guests for over 100 years; actually, it's a reconstruction, the original having been destroyed in a 2003 fire. Although I didn't see any, there is a colony of little Blue Penguins along the breakwater.
Before returning to Maria and Katia's I spent some time in Federation Square, the beating heart of Melbourne. It's right across from Flinders Street Station and sits where there were once rather unimpressive buildings. Now, on the large screen, you can see various visual artworks. That day it was a slightly disturbing animated film of various bicycling accidents the director and her friends had had over the years. After watching it for a little while, I was approached to partake in a survey about Fed Square, which I agreed to. The survey was conducted by a rather friendly man and after the survey we talked about the history of the square, its layout and its various components. While heading to the train station, I found an interactive display of "musical" bouncing balls that I just had to try out and record. It was very amusing.
The day after my little city exploration, Katia, Maria and I decided to drive down to the Mornington Peninsula, a strip of land to the south of the city, rather in manner like Cape Cod, or so I'm told. Our destination was Portsea, the town on the Mornington's edge and from there we could walk to Cheviot Beach where an Australian Prime Minister, Harold Holt, drowned in 1967 I believe; his body was never recovered. Portsea is only about 100km from Melbourne so I figured it would only take about 1.5 hours to get to; how wrong I turned out to be.
It turns out that there is no good direct way to get to the Mornington Peninsula as the "highways" are all city roads. We drove through the CBD, then through St. Kilda and through a myriad other suburbs and it was about an hour before we reached Frankston, a suburb only about 40 km from Melbourne's center. However, after Frankston, the driving became much easier as the road became a coastal highway. We passed through many picturesque towns but it soon became readily apparent that Portsea was slightly too far for us on this trip. The being so, we decided that it might be best to stop in Dromana, a small town on the southern edge of Port Phillip Bay, and after about 2.5 hours driving. Dromana is reasonably picturesque, nestled between bay and mountain, and in the distant cloudy haze, you could even make out Melbourne's skyscrapers. Anyway, the 3 of us got out and walked the town to see what there was, which wasn't much. I expect the town really only thrives on the summer tourism industry from Melbourne as the beach was lined with several multi-coloured huts. After a fairly brief jaunt around Dromana, we returned to Melbourne agreeing that next time we would make this into a 2-day trip.
The day wasn't quite over as Katia invited me out with some of her friends. We first went to the aptly named Noise Bar where a friend's friend's band was playing. The music wasn't bad but the volume was dreadful. After a suitably discreet interval we went to Provincial Bar where we talked and laughed until closing.
On Saturday, the 3 of us went to the Turkish Festival being held not far from Maria and Katia's house; Katia's nephew, Josh, joined us a little later. The Turkish Festival was exactly what it sounds like, lots of stalls selling jewelry, kebabs, music and there were even some carnival rides. That night, Katia and I again went out with her friends, although this time, the night got considerably more wild. The place we went was a converted Chinese restaurant now called Deluxe Bar. It is separated to 2 floors, the bottom being a sort of cocktail lounge and the upper a dance club. After some time, one of our party, Josh (not Katia's nephew) was asked to vacate the premises as, in the opinion of the bouncers, he'd had a little too much alcohol. He wasn't causing any trouble or anything but he was was slurring his words. He strenuously objected but other than the use of some colourful metaphors, didn't cause any problems.
While waiting for Katia on the sidewalk outside Deluxe, I suddenly noticed the door bouncer rush back into the club and I immediately had a sense of foreboding. Within a short span of time, a young man emerged, very livid and combative, at what I can only assume was his objection to being asked to leave. His friends tried to hold him back but his verbal tirades continued and even some physical ones. The young man and his friends crossed the street but the bouncers followed in a group. I was worried what was going to happen so I followed at a respectable distance. However, I became worried that this might come to blows so I called the police, who were there very quickly, in fact I was still on the phone with the 000 operator. That seemed to calm the situation but the young man was arrested. Although a little scary, it was still exciting and capped off a rather fun evening. Maria picked Katia and myself up and I had to get some sleep as I was getting on a plane in less than 12 hours.
Sunday was rather interesting as daylight savings kicked in; I had to be sure to remember this so I wouldn't miss my plane. Before I left, though, we went to visit Tania and Nadia Stasyshyn at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. They are distantly related to me by marriage but have always been kind and I stayed with them the first time I visited Melbourne in 2005. It turned out the church society was having its AGM that day and we stayed for a little bit, though I later learned that it was good we left when we did because the meeting dissolved into petty factional squabbling afterwards; this seems to be characteristic of Ukrainian communities unfortunately. It was quite soon after we left the AGM that I had to be on my way back to Canberra. Maria and Katia dropped me off at the airport and I thanked them for their warmth and hospitality; I had given them a 2010 calendar as a thank you gift the night before. I look forward to another journey to the cultural mecca of Australia again as soon as I can. Hopefully, this time in in warmer weather.
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