The slightly misanthropic tone of my last blog entry is now replaced by a warm & fuzzy feeling of goodwill towards all of humanity. I am now in Melbourne and have been touring the delights of this most beautiful city with my good old friends (and emigrants to Australia) Sarah, Sean & John. I'm sleeping on Sarah & Sean's very nice L-shaped sofa, which is a very positive change from hostel dorms, and indeed on Friday I had my first bath in literally about four months. (Don't get me wrong, I've been having showers in the meantime).
Got a plane from Sydney to Melbourne on Thursday, and then a shuttle bus into central Melbourne. Sarah met me at Southern Cross station and I dropped my bags off at their place and then we went back into town and she went back to work and I had a wander around town. On Friday night we went out for a few jars in Prahran. It turned into quite a late night so Saturday took a while to start, but when it finally did me & Sean toddled off out into the city and met John for a few beers. (Sarah was comatose in bed and didn't get up until 5pm). The first bar we went to, we'd barely sat down before we were joined by one then two and then three local weirdos, all regaling us with their life stories and generally annoying us. I guess that's why John never drinks there! Live and learn. We moved on and wound up in a beer garden on Fitzroy Street, where the three of us spent all afternoon sharing jugs of beer and big piles of crisps and generally relaxing.
When Sarah eventually levered her lazy ass out of bed (hi Sarah!) we went back into town and tried to find a decent curry house but it was in vain, so we settled for an Italian instead and then came back here to watch 'Death Proof', Quentin Tarantino's most recent movie, and frankly it was complete and utter toss. However that in no way detracted from the quality of the day as a whole.
Today (Sunday) was another late start. Me and Sean went out to play tennis, and he caned me 6-1 6-2, and then we went out to watch some Aussie Rules Football, St Kilda vs Port Adelaide at the Telstra dome. The attendance was 22,878 and the score was 101-93. Before the game, I was already mentally preparing a blog entry which fulminated and polemicised about how Aussie Rules was the naffest sport I'd ever seen, worse even than baseball (see previous entry from Chicago), but in the end I must admit that it was watchable enough. I wouldn't go as far as John and get a season ticket, but I did enjoy myself.
As I write, Sarah is doing a fine job of cooking chilli & rice, and then we're going to watch a DVD, and generally enjoy lots of home comforts, of which I have been cruelly deprived over the past couple of months. I must take this opportunity to broadcast to the world, or at least the 0.000000001% of it which reads my blog, how appreciative I am to Sarah and Sean for their kind hospitality. Muchos obligados compadres, etc.
I'm 32 tomorrow you know!
