From Scotland to Australia

Hello from Melbourne!!!

As the perceptive amongst you will have noticed, I am no longer in the UK and I'm currently enjoying an Antipodean winter down under. I hear that you're all basking in a heatwave in the UK which must be very nice for you but please spare a thought for me all wrapped up in my fleece and stuff because it's a little bit chilly here. Having said that, it's nothing like a UK winter since I'm enjoying nice blue skies instead of biting wind and rain and it's about 12 degrees or so rather than hovering around freezing.

So, I know you've been religiously checking my blog desperately searching for updates and so I am happy to furnish you with my activities of the last week.

I first flew into Sydney and being the organised chap that I am, I had a hostel all organised and even had a bus waiting to take me there. The jet lag so far has been dreadful - even after a week I'm currently going to bed around 2am and waking up anywhere between 8am and 12pm. To be frank, Frank, my body clock is just completely screwed up and I don't know whether I'm coming or going. It's a bit strange because when I went to Hong Kong I had one uncomfortable night of staring at the ceiling and then I was fine, but for some reason coming to Oz has been much more difficult even though the time difference is only an extra hour. Oh well, I think I'm starting to adjust but it's not helped by people snoring and talking and stuff in my dorm room. I've managed to stop myself yelling at them though so I'm rather proud of my new found restrait.

I'm enjoying being a tourist in a country where they speak English (or a variant thereof) and that makes life much easier than trying to communicate through hand signals or whatever else I had to resort to when I was in China. It's just much easier being here since everything is pretty familiar and the place is totally set up for brain-dead tourists much like myself.

So, I had 4 days in Sydney and did all the tourist stuff - looked at the opera house and the harbour bridge and went for a poke around the city. I had a nice walk down the coast from Bondi Beach to a place called Coogee - the waves were amazing, and I also brushed off my cultural side and went to a museum and stuff. I wouldn't say I was bowled over by Sydney but it was nice to see it and to spend some time there.

After that, it was off to Melbourne on the train. I thought I'd get the train because you get to see the scenery pass you by but it was very repetitive after about an hour so I just slept most of the 11 hours. I was stuck in a carriage with a bunch of very smelly students and their tragic dress sense so sleeping was a form of escape for me. The Australians have a bit of a penchant for skin-tight jeans circa 1984 which didn't even look good then so throw in a few dodgy mullets and it's a bit of a laugh people-watching in town. Anyway, I drew into Melbourne at 6pm and in another triumph of organisation on my part I only had a brief 5 minute walk to the hostel (or in fact it could have been a long 5 minute walk - it was 5 minutes regardless and so the addition of the word 'brief' or 'long' is totally unnecessary). Anyway, I had a walk that lasted 5 minutes and depending on your viewpoint, that may be considered brief, long or average. The fact of the matter is that I didn't really have to walk that far to get to the hostel because my planning had been exquisite.

Melbourne seems a little bit more laid back than Sydney and it's a bit more diverse as well since there's a large Chinatown area and a big Greek area too. It doesn't have the memorable view that Sydney has but it seems to be a better town for shopping (my selection of clothes was limited and getting a bit tired after being dragged around China so I had a cull and bought a load of new stuff) and there seems to be a bit more to do as well. I visited the Melbourne museum which was very cool and also included a set from Neighbours which was a very moving experience for me...

Hmm, reading back it doesn't sound like I've done very much at all, but I promise you that I have! I've just spent most of my time walking around and taking the place in. There are lots of different little streets and things to go off an explore and you totally fill your day just poking around.

Anyway, I'm off to Adelaide tomorrow evening on the overnight bus which will be a bundle of laughs. I'll have a few days there and then head off to Uluru (or Ayres Rock). I have to be back in Sydney at the start of August to meet Cath who's coming out to enjoy the trip with me (and she will naturally enjoy it very much since she gets to spend all of her time with yours truly - as will I enjoy it very much since I get to spend all my time with yours truly too...) and then we head off to New Zealand which is somewhere that we think is very close to Australia but is actually 10 billion miles away from it or something as every New Zealander will be quick to tell you...

Right, this is a quick one because internet access is much more expensive in Australia compared to China - dreadfully unfair if you ask me!

I'll try and get some more pictures up soon.

All the best,
Gregor