Just two more weeks now, don't want to go home except friends which stay in touch anyhow in this electronic age. Extra sim cards for both Australia and NZ has been an easy and good thing. Wifi has varied greatly, best one was in the Airbnb apartment in Sydney. Hotel Wifi is a study in frustration.
I've been in Melbourne a week, and would love to go back. We rented an apartment through Hotels.com which was spacious and central, but cleaning could be better and wifi was 0.8 Mbps download if any, also it faces the tracks of Flinders station. We managed to swap for one where at least the bedrooms were quiet. Tip: Bankid via mobile worked when the connection was just too slow for usual code generator usage of banknorwegian.com. Didn't need to do that for DnB. Views from the hotel room:
Melbourne is a very photogenic city. Many pictures will show the Iconic buildings of Flinders street station and the Eureka building. The tall one is named and designed in memory of the Eureka stockade rebellion in 1854 connected to the gold rush. 24 carat gold plated at the top, and a red stripe for the blood spilled. You'll find the picture in my large Melbourne photo album together with things I've not written about here. For perspetive - the station is on the north side of the Yarra river, the tower on the south side and 297 meter tall. It's residential, with 90 stories plus basement. There is a skydeck cube at floor 88. I did not enter any of these buildings 😯 but they sure look good!
Central Melbourne is a square grid with streets wide and narrow ☺ Wandering there is a pleasure, just mind the many traffic lights. The library is lovely, Hosier Lane quaint and Federation Square a must. I tried VR! Great fun! People are friendly and helpful, the tram centrally is free, and most of the coffee is awesome. City sponsored on-off bus is 10$ for two days, look for one-deck red bus, just remember last run is at 16:00. Shops of all kinds are much too tempting, including Victoria market. The alleys are nice, beware that all pavements are really crowded at lunchtime!
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| Hosier Lane |
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| Hosier Lane |
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| Centre Place (I think) |
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| Lindt chocolate! My new favourite(s) |
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| Federation Square |
One fun evening I was meeting a man from Melbourne that I've gamed with some years. We had a reminisce, and Korean barbecue 😀 That's thinly sliced meat of three kinds, a pot of red hot coals with grid, some veg and sauces, a delicious soy sauce and hot pot soup with vegetables and tofu. Fry meat as preferred. Soup spoon and chopsticks. Yummy and hot!
Property prices seem much like Wellington to me, but nothing available to buy downtown, rent if lucky. There is a lot of building going on - and up. Architecture is varied and exciting, think Oslo barcode, more of it and more varied. I loved the look of the Cancer hospital. Some older buildings like the library are lovingly restored and kept.
The last day I joined a Puffing Billy tour with AATKings. The narrow-track train was cute. Along the track, we saw trees, more trees and telephone lines. Been a lot of rain in Australia this winter and spring. The best drinkable on the tour was a delicious Pink Lady cider, and the passion of the presenters. Unready or mediocre wine did not tempt many purchases.
Friday evening saw a huge amount of repacking to get ready for the next stage of the journey 😊
Games: Seeker's Notes level 51 and 40. The PC is packed away a lot so it lags behind. Wordfeud moves maybe once a day. Want to play Diablo3 and WoW after talking about gaming.
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