MELBOURNE:-
Melbourne is beautiful. It is a relaxed, picturesque and vibrant city, small enough to become familiar after a few attempts at navigating and with a healthy transport system of buses, trams, riverboats and trains. I fell in love with it upon arrival.
Better still, I was going to have company. Karene, who I met diving in Phu Quoc, had promised to meet me upon arrival for brunch and I was going to be staying with friends of a friend and had been assured a very warm welcome.
I arrived tired, after a night flight from Singapore, but with clear directions to catch the skybus to the city and then take a tram from Southern Cross Station to Lunar Park, I was soon eating a hearty breakfast with Karene and watching a slightly alien world go by. Many things looked British and familiar you see, but the differences resonated everywhere I looked - I knew I was going to like Australia.
Now when it was time for me to make my way back to the centre of Melbourne to catch a train to my accommodation for the next few days, Karene gave me simple directions up the road to catch the tram - she did not realise that a Gay Pride march would see me wandering the streets for the next two hours, attempting to find alternative transport, as the area tram system was closed until 5.00pm! I ended up in the thick of the march, surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of rather colourful and good natured people of every possible sexual persuasion in the most remarkable of outfits. I'm sure my bemused and tired face was captured by a number of film crews as I battled against the flow, and I imagined the reaction of those at home should any of the reporters be from the UK - "Mum, that looks like Mr Burke walking with those rainbow coloured people in Australia!" My ego is pleased to announce that I did receive a number of interesting proposals, but none that I can share here!
I eventually made it back to Melbourne Central and found my train. It transpired that my accommodation for the next few days was going to be an hour out of Melbourne in the town of Berwick. I sat on the train and imagined what my hosts would be like. Anxiously, I walked the 10 minutes from the train station to their front door, took a deep breath and rang the bell.
I needn't have worried. Paul and Jen were lovely. They showed me to my 'wing' of the house and insisted I made myself at home. Within the hour, we felt we had known each other for years and I was making cups of tea in the kitchen. My planned two day stay turned into six days (that'll teach them to be so nice to a stranger in the future!)
I cannot tell you how good it was to be 'at home'. Tea, a washing machine, home cooked food, TV, conversation, company, working wi-fi - I even had the chance to cook a meal and buy gluten free food to put in their cupboard. The last time I had this was with Ronald and Nicole back in Shanghai, and I felt very blessed.
I spent the days touring Melbourne and Berwick and the evenings chatting with Paul and Jen, though we occasionally managed to go out together. Melbourne itself was wonderful. I visited the theatre, the parliament, the cultural centre, the botanical gardens, the river side, galleries and museums. A highlight was the tour Paul and I took of the MCG - the home of Aussie cricket. With just days to go before the start of the Cricket World Cup, the ground could not have looked better and our guide was a septuagenarian life member whose knowledge was only exceeded by his passion for the game. Sadly, I am confident that England will not be playing here in two months time when Melbourne hosts the final!
My post match interview went well! Melbourne Cricket Ground
One day I decided to take a boat trip out to William's Town and it was my first taste of the extremes of the Australian sun, as I walked the peninsula, paddled in the sea and ate and drank at the Lido bar and restaurant. By the time I returned to Paul and Jen's that night, I was rather red all over and my skin felt one size too small for my body!
On my penultimate day, the three of us decided to have an evening stroll in the rain-forests of the Dandelong Ranges. We drove North and readied ourselves to admire the native birds and wildlife. What a mistake! Our hour long stroll turned into a bush-tucker trial of epic proportions. Surrounded by the echoes of laughing kookaburras and the increasingly loud thumps of kangaroos becoming active in the twilight, we walked further and further, getting more and more anxious as the light faded. Having gone too far to turn around we plowed on, but as the sun began to set, our lack of preparedness hit home. Paul was in flip-flops (thongs), my phone was at home, Jen's phone was dead and Paul had 6% charge left on his. After 9 o'clock the path became so hard to pick out that we were forced to hold hands. I used the green focus finding light from my camera to illuminate the way ahead every so often and we fell into sweaty, exhausted and agitated silence as the path climbed and fell relentlessly. I imagined the three of us having to spend the night in the forest and the thought of billions of insects kept me moving. When we passed a sign saying 2 more kilometres to our start point I nearly cried! I started to think of ways of using Jen and Paul as physical barriers between me and the ground which was alive with insect life! As it turned fully black we started to walk carefully side-by-side, desperate not to step off the path. I started to throw out trivia questions to keep our spirits up. Naming James Bond movies, actors and singers kept us going for at least 30 minutes and helped us all to keep calm. Finally - at 10pm we arrived back at the car park. The relief was palpable and we babbled loudly all the way to the nearest 24 hour McDonalds to stock up on carbohydrates, calories and sugar.
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SYDNEY:-
Sydney has got to be the bucket list capital of the world. When you think of Australia, you think of Sydney and the classic iconic buildings clustered around the harbour. No wonder 9 out of 10 Britons still think it is the country's capital. Imagine my excitement as my Greyhound bus pulled into central Sydney at 7.30am after driving all night from Melbourne. Even though I'd barely slept, I was eager not to waste a moment and set off exploring. I checked my bags into the nearest left luggage and walked instinctively towards the harbour.
I decided that my first port of call should be the Sydney Sky Tower; a logical destination which would help me to get my geographical bearings. Arriving so early, I was the first person of the day to step into the elevator and speed up to the top. Now I have been high up before, and I've looked down over city landscapes in Colombo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore, but Sydney is something else. The natural features of islands, harbour, inlets, peninsulas and coast are accentuated and complimented by the stunning architecture. Stadiums, bridges, skyscrapers, parks, cathedrals and transport networks are on stunning 360 degree display from the floor to ceiling bowl which makes up the tower observation deck. My pulse raced at the sight of the places I would soon be visiting.
I had already booked a climb over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and having donned overalls, received basic climbing training and removed all objects which could feasibly be dropped, we set off on our 3 and a half hour climb to the summit. Over a kilometre in length, 134m high and 1,390 stairs make this a feat not to be taken lightly (yet eminently do-able for all but the most overweight - there are some tight spaces to squeeze through.) I loved it and laughed aloud many times, a mix of pleasure and awe as I kept picturing where I was and what I was doing. The views were wonderful and the breeze most welcome as we reached the centre. Our guide Jim had completed his 5,000 Harbour Bridge walk earlier in the day, yet he maintained a bubbly, encouraging and informative dialogue for the whole experience. Did you know the Bridge is a copy of the one at Runcorn over the Mersey? Did you know it has 6,000,000 rivets? Did you know that the huge tower pylons at either end are purely cosmetic, there to reassure nervous Sydney citizens that the bridge was safe when it opened in 1933? The Harbour Bridge climb is not cheap, but I can absolutely recommend it to everyone.
Runcorn Bridge Sydney Harbour Bridge circa 1933
Whilst in Sydney, I knew that a visit would not be complete without a boat trip to one of the beaches. After a little research I decided to head to Manly beach and witness some of the surfing world championships which were taking place there. I'd also been told to snorkel at the nearby Shelley Beach by a girl I had met at the Sea-life centre. 30 minutes sailing later and we docked at Manly and 1000 tourists stepped off the ferry and spilled onto the streets heading for the beach. I have never seen so many young, toned bodies. Teenagers and dreadlocked hippies with surfboards, running, jogging exercising. People paddling, cycling, skateboarding as far as the eye could see. Vibrant, tanned, bikini clad girls playing beach volleyball. Sunbathers, swimmers and lifeguards everywhere. It would have been rude not to stand, stare and take a few pictures! Of course, my new, improved slim, tanned and athletic self fitted right in! I headed to Shelley and tested the snorkelling and I was not disappointed, especially as the beach there was sheltered, secluded and relatively deserted compared to Manly. I saw tonnes of fish and ended up getting burnt as I stayed in the water for over an hour. (I found out the next day why the beach was so quiet when I picked up a local newspaper - 'Japanese surfer bleeds to death after shark attack off Shelley.')
My Sydney experience was further enriched by a visit to the Opera House, a tour of the Museum of Modern Art, a walk around both harbours the Botanical Gardens and Hyde Park, tickets to the Sydney Sea-life centre, Madame Tussaurds and the Wildlife Experience and a return to the Sky Tower. I had booked myself on a twilight Skywalk which would take me up and outside. Donning yet another jumpsuit and harness we were soon walking around the walkways which circle the summit of the Sydney Sky Tower. Glass platforms enabled us to look down on the world below, though several members of our small group were unable to stop themselves from screaming and nervously holding onto additional handrails when the walkway we were stood on suddenly extended further out! It was at this point that our guide pointed out that I, being the tallest member of the group, was actually the tallest human in Australia at that point. He said that only one building was physically higher, a tower up the coast at Goldcoast City, but as it's pinnacle was an inaccessible spire, I was officially higher than anyone else for that hour of the day. I must say, I had a particularly smug expression on my face as I looked down on Sydney 270 metres below. In the distance we could make out the noise and the lights of a One Direction concert at the sports stadium.
Excellent Paul, glad you are enjoying Aus!
ReplyDeleteGlad you ok and enjoying oz.xxx
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