Arrive Melbun - Dec 20

This morning’s breakfast was not what I expected.  After arriving at two AM into Melbourne (our flight was rerouted to Sydney due to storms) I woke up at 8 am to meet the tourist agency downstairs to see if I could join any tours for the day.  I arranged a walking tour for 1030am and a sunset view of “great ocean road” which looked neat for the following day at 11am.  With 2hours 30min to spare before the walking tour, I decided to try to make it to the beach and get some drone footage.  When I asked directions how best to get to the beach, a random guy walking by said he was going and he would show me.  Along the way this well spoken fifty something guest disclosed that he was a recovering addict, and had been an addict in this area, offering to show me some of the other sides of the city along the way where he “used” but I would probably walk by without knowing what was really going on.  Also along the way he was going to stop and get breakfast and offered me a free breakfast stating that it was pretty good and I’d like it.  I decided that this path had crossed my journey and I don’t really like to avoid realities of life simply because they are less comfortable, so I went for the free breakfast.  What an experience, it was as bad as food in Africa, canned beans and oats with milk.  As if they ran out of food and had to break into the storages in the back that lasted years.  I always wonder why people can’t afford to invest in some darned chickens and have free eggs…  Why does eating eggs have to make me feel so “privileged” when they are practically free?  Even if you buy them from a store you can get perfectly good eggs for relatively nothing…  Yet there I was subjected to canned beans and oats with milk for breakfast at a shelter run by Catholics (bless their hearts for doing it, but see chickens statement earlier).  What a morning.  I got some drone footage and then made it to my walking tour as it was starting.  It took a lot longer due to traffic than two miles seemed like it would take – and taxi fairs are expensive.  I saw an uber driver dropping someone off so I decided to try and hire one but for some reason it gave me a driver 3 miles away instead.  He took forever to make it to me so I just jumped in a taxi.  About the time I arrived to the walking tour, the uber driver finally made it to my marked location – terrible.  The $10 cancellation fee was refunded which was nice, and my taxi was $12 AUD for record.

The walking tour was quite nice, I really enjoyed walking through the city and could easily imagine myself living in Melbun.  As I haven’t eaten anything but oats and beans I was starving, but we didn’t have time to stop and eat anything.  While the tour guide was telling stories he asked if anyone was from this country or that country, and then asked if anyone was from USA but no one raised their hand except me – again the only American.  I actually haven’t seen an American yet on my trip in either Fiji or Australia.  After I raised my hand a Canadian police officer asked me where in America I was from and we got along quite nicely the entire tour.  I really enjoyed conversing with him and learning about his story as well as sharing mine.  I flew the drone at the end of the tour and got some nice videos.  

After the tour, Zac, the police officer and I walked a good distance back together and talked more about life, he told me he met his girlfriend on a pub crawl in Portugal and she was a flight attendant, how they have traveled many places together and how they make it work.  We shared a lot of similar views on things and I enjoyed the talk.  We split ways and I went to the Eureka tower.  Though there were plenty of places to eat, I wanted to get eureka tower done as fast as possible in case there were any hiccups, since I would not have another chance.  There was an hour queue but I was able to knock it off the list.  “The edge” as they call it, was quite neat.  A group of us got into a glass box with steel columns holding the glass together and the entire box was mechanically extended out from the building.  The glass was extremely clouded, so we couldn’t see through it and I was a bit confused until the movement ceased, a loud noise scared us and the glass became clear all at once.  The girls next to me told me they were sisters from Kentucky; the eldest was studying abroad in Townsville Queensland, and the youngest sister went to Clemson (one of my favorite schools as far as people I’ve met that went there) and I think we had a bit of a moment where we were happy to see fellow a fellow American.

After Eureka tower I went back to the room, showered and changed to make it in time for dinner with Joel and Jesse (I had met them on a previous trip in Berlin). They took me to a rooftop bar and another place Joel used to go to often.  It was an after work crowd, they had a couple beers and we chatted the evening away.  I told them about my breakfast, which they teased me quite a bit for, and we caught up on life.  It was really good to talk to them and see a familiar face on the road. 

The walk home from dinner was another great walk.  I really enjoy walking around this city.  It has a small city feel to it, but it is definitely a massive city with around 4 million people.  I’m not sure how they do such a great job of making it seem so small and seemingly safe.  If I ever get a job offer in Melbun (Melbourne is pronounced melbun and cairns is pronounced cans – I’ve been taught) there is a good chance I’d accept based off location at least.  Excited for the great ocean road trip tomorrow.

Once I got home I threw some laundry in and met two ladies from Finland who were also doing laundry, had a nice chat with them, heard their stories which were quite unique and exchanged facebook information should I ever need ideas if / when I visit finland and vice versa.  They new each other back in finland but didn’t know they would meet traveling.  One of the girls met another friend from finland in Australia and rented a camper for 50 days going up the east coast with her childhood friend that she didn’t even know was going to be in Australia.  That is unbelievable to me… how random it is to have a friend from your childhood visiting another continent and then deciding to do a 50 day trip once you meet up together?  Interesting. 

Getting to bed early after a great day touring a great city.  It started off rather weird, but as I expected, it finished strong.  My stomach is not happy with the breakfast I fed it, but the steak for dinner should eventually calm it down.