Sean Down Unda - Melbourne Day 1

I had a great flight over the Pacific. I actually slept much of the way so it seemed to go very quickly. The best part: the maps they show of the plains location. On this flight, they had several different GIS views including a very detailed local map so it was need to watch us approach Melbourne.

I arrived earlier than expected so surprised Sibylle, the person I was staying with. I met Sibylle in India three years ago on an Earthwatch study researching snow leopards, so was really looking forward to catching back up with her. She has a great little place near downtown. It reminded me a lot of the places you would find in New Orleans...one story, but lots of lattice work on the outside and very narrow but long living spaces. We had some coffee then I walked with her into the city as she had to work that day. We crossed the beautiful Fitzroy Gardens on the way and she told me the stories of how people pack into the park at night to feed the possums.

My first stop downtown was a bookstore that Sibylle said I'd find on Bourke St. I wanted to pick up a guide book for Melbourne. Well, in Melbourne they have Bourke St. and then Lt Bourke St. which stands for Little Bourke Street. Took me a while to figure out that Lt Bourke wasn't Bourke (they don't make it obviouse) bit I did make it. I walked all over downtown that day. One of the highlights was the Victoria Market. The "Vic" resemble any other open air market in the world, fruits and vegis, meats and of course all of the cheap leather, watches and other miscellanea that you find in places like this. What really made this market different was the overwhelming number of stuffed koalas and kangaroos at some of the booths, overwhelming...really.

After a quick visit back to the bookstore to pick up a book on good places to jog arond the world, I made my way to the Melbourne City Bathes which is really more like a gym in a very historic building. The building was quite beautiful. The swim felt great as well (Details in Pentathlon journal soon). One of the gals at the front desk notice my UW rowing shirt so I chatted with here for a while.

Fitzroy, a neighborhood in Melbourne, was next on the list. Sibylle said this is the Bohemian part of town. That it was. It reminded me a lot of Haight-Ashbury (sp?) in San Francisco. I sat and had cake for a while listening to an aborigine fellow play American standards on his guitar on a street corner. I can't remember his name at all, but I do recall it meant "little black kangaroo". He was a great singer, had a great smile and busted out quite a few jokes as well including "If Adam and Eve would have been aborigines, they would have just eaten the snake and we wouldn't have had any of these problems we do today".

Then had a great dinner with John and Sibylle at a Thai restaurant. John brought his own wine, an Australian red, it was fantastic. Then it was off to coffee (hot chocolate for me) along the Yarra River.

With jet lag, walking around all day, swim and a late night with dinner and coffee, I was really tired and slept really well that night.