Hello everybody. Yes its time for another installment of my adventures, much shorter this time than the previous 2. The reason for this is explained below.
At the end of 'Part 3' I promised that in this installment I would be detailing my time in Melbourne. Well as I sit here (once again in the hotel Spencer kitchen) I am struggling to think of things worthy enough of note to be included. It is perhaps ironic that the place I have stayed in for the longest I have the least to say about. There is of course a good reason for this and that reason is work. When I arrived in Melbourne my finances were looking decidedly unwell, the meter was running and without work I would only have lasted for a couple of weeks. So after a day of exploring the city to get my bearings the hunt for gainful employment was on.
I had been told by several adequately convincing people that apart from Sydney, Melbourne was the best place around for travelers to find work. Now this is all very well and good but the hunt for this type of work is something a bit new to me and I got off to a poor start. Initially my hopes to find decent well paid work were a handicap and once I had wasted a week looking for such work I was desperate enough to put aside such unwieldy requirements in favor of the 'anything at all' approach. My inquiries about the hostel pointed me to the Italian sector of the city; Lygon Street. This is basically one big street populated almost entirely with Italian restaurants, pizza places and coffee shops. I took a quick tour of the area before starting back at the beginning and walking in to the first one I saw. It is at this point that I came across an obstacle so unexpected that I abandoned my job search for the day to recover from a state of profound flabergastion. So what so peculiar a request was made of me to cause such a reaction? Well let me replay the events for you. I walk in. Approach the counter. Ask the waitress for the manager. Wait a minute or two. Meet the manager and explain my business. He asks if I have done this type of work before. I say that I have and then the oddity occurred as he asks if I have a CV! For washing up in a kitchen! Now I am not one to go out unprepared, but a CV for washing pots just never entered my mind. Anyhow I spent that day in an internet cafe typing up a basic CV for these weirdo's and resumed my search the next day. I returned to the same place and left the CV and was consequently asked to come back for a trial later that week. So to cut to the chase I get a job washing pots in Toto's pizza place and bistro which they claim is the oldest pizza place in Australia (which is a fact no one has disproved but few believe). Well it was a relief to have some work, no matter how naff it was, at least I would neither starve nor end my trip early.
Over the coming weeks I managed to get extra hours in order to save up some cash to continue my travels and it is for this reason as well as efforts to save rather than to spend money that I have few exciting tales to tell from Melbourne. One advantage of working at Toto's was all the free pizza I got, this not only saved money on food but also attracted the jealous gaze of my fellow travelers. Pizza is a rarely afforded luxury in traveler circles. Having said that, some weeks I was eating two a day and I did end up giving them away. My time at Toto's was predictably interesting, kitchens seem to attract a curious assortment of oddballs and these ranged from the amusing to the downright worrying.
Anyway it would be unfair of me to let you think that Melbourne has nothing to offer the visitor. The city itself is much more like a European city than any of the other Australian cities I have seen so far. It is bigger, taller, smellier and busier. There are enough cars to constitute traffic which is further compounded by a much loved (but poorly integrated) tram system. In my mind the fast versatile car and the slow clumsy tram were never meant to mix: Definitely a marriage made in purgatory. Crossing the city on foot is tedious as you have to stop so frequently to cross busy roads but it is generally worth it. Melbourne has some impressive buildings from a range of architectural eras and an impressive and diverse array of sculpture/street art. Some favorites of mine are the short line of spindly and rather run down looking brass business men queuing at one of the cities major crossings, and outside the city library there protrudes from the pavement what appears to be the corner of some long buried building. Aside from sculpture the city has a thriving after hours scene with many swanky pubs and clubs to suit all tastes, some of which are housed in the gargantuan 'Crown Casino Complex'. In addition to the clubs and bars the Crown Casino also houses a cinema complex, shopping arcade, food halls, five star hotel and of course an extensive casino. Another curious but delightful feature of the casino complex are a number of 'dancing water' type decorative fountains and a nightly display of fire in the form of huge columnar jets of flame shot in to the sky atop several tall columns along the river side. Apparently using for each performance as much gas as a Melbourne home uses in a month.
If a pleasant break from the city is required then the neighboring suburb of St.Kilda is a popular choice. It is however a duplicitous place for as dusk falls the day time pursuits of beach activities and sophisticates cafe culture fade away to reveal the dark underbelly of a seedy and volatile night time scene populated by oddly dressed substance abusers.
Back in the city center at this time of night there are another band of odd looking creatures gadding about in the park. They are possums of course and I would always hope to spot them on my walks home after an evening shift. I was rather puzzled when first I saw one as it was walking along the pavement rather appearing to be a drunk cat, and it wasn't 'till I got closer that it dawned on me what it actually was.
Speaking of park based creatures, my visit to Melbourne's botanical gardens surprised me with its thriving population of bats which can be clearly seen in great numbers hanging topsy-turvy from almost every tree.
And so this brief installment of my adventures (or lack of them) is drawing to a close. When I first arrived in Melbourne I was looking forward to spending a decent chunk of time in one place and I have been glad of the chance to step off of the rollercoaster of travel for a spell. The grass however is always greener elsewhere and having enjoyed the rest I am now itching to set off again to have new adventures (and maybe see the sun shine again; winter in Melbourne is all too English). My next stop is Tasmania, I set sail on the overnight ferry across the Bass Strait on the 15th (and not the 20th as some of you have been told, due to a sudden change in arrangements) for a few weeks exploration, bush walking and a degree of peace and quiet never found in a city. It will be a refreshing change and it is somewhere I have always wanted to visit even though I have never known why.
And so I leave you once more, dying to hit the road again and confident that my next installment will be chocka-block with the type of adventures I hope you have come to expect from me.
I hope all is well with each of you respectively.
Until part 5.
David.