Arrival in Australia: Melbourne

Hong Kong was a great and satasfying trip and, to be honest, I felt like a left a large piece of something that I needed to discover behind me when taking the 8 hour flight to Melbourne. But once again I found myself on a plane heading towards a strange new place, and I suppose I could feel nothing other than excitement as I was edging closer to the place I was finally bound for. Melbourne, in many ways, reminded me exactly of Vancouver before I left. The lay-out of the city was much more sparse and it seemed much lot smaller because of that, but predominately the buildings and history and time-frame were all too similar for me to actually get excited about being in the city. Add on top of that, the terribly cold weather in comparison to Hong Kong and a Victorian summer before I left, and a complete lack of the sunnie Australia I'd first imagined. Upon arriving in the early morning, we caught a taxi to take us towards the University College campus that was awaiting us near the university of melbourne. There we would find out that us Canadian gaps were first to arrive, with the Brits expected later in the day and the Germans to be coming the following afternoon. I was also much relieved to find a kingly sized room that would completely contrast my lodging in Hong Kong, and was eager to unpack all the gear that was starting to smell of mould, like clothes often do being packed too tightly for too long. Settling into the campus, we began meeting some of the other travellers that happened to be staying there, such as the pool-enthusiast americans, and then went to check out the nightlife of this new city. After going to a couple quiet bars, we finally opted just to drink and talk in our own rooms since it was cheaper and we got to choose our own music. We ended up staying there a couple more days, since we were waiting for the Germans, and the whole point of Melbourne was to have an orientation allowing us to recover from jet lag and to hear more advice about how to handle life down-under. It was soon that I would hear my destination of Charters Towers was a pretty good haven for some of the deadliest snakes and spiders in the country, and you could be sure that I was not smiling about that...however I did get off lucky since some of the poor gap chaps ended up a lot more in the boonies than myself. Moving on... in Melbourne I forgot my camera every time I went out, so I apologise for the lack of pictures of the city, but I did manage to at least get out and see the aquarium as well as the house of famous explorer Captain James Cook after undergoing a fairly dull tour. (At least compared to the entertaining ones of Hong Kong). It was sad to leave Melbourne because I had to say goodbye to some of the good Canadian pals that I got acquainted with in Hong Kong, but in the end it's all about meeting different people and seeing what else is out there.