Melbourne Odyssey: Day 7 Delay of my life

 

By the numbers

Bag 15 kilos

1 plane

 

This journey has really been very interesting as it has stretched my patience pretty far especially with having a flight cancelled and then the delays on top of that to even begin the holiday. The plan just didn’t go very far and had to change pretty quickly especially through rebooking. The having the room that was booked cancelled as the money somehow didn’t clear. Still I could work around everything.

 

Today I was actually returning home to the Gold Coast from Melbourne and I was up early to get the bus to the airport, which is a good thing. The hotel was really good about me checking out, although I am confused over one thing. The info says to leave the towel on the floor if you want a new one. It was hanging up and I got new ones anyway. Not that I would call that a problem. The hotel held $100 as a deposit that you would receive back on checkout, although that wouldn’t happen on a weekend.. The bus to the airport was running how it was supposed to be and once I jumped off I soon realised that I was a little lost after coming out of the toilets. I found I was walking through International arrivals and knew I had gone the wrong way when I seen the words Qantas link. Back the way I walked to find I went in the wrong direction from the bus terminal.

 

The best part of walking in the wrong direction until I found my way back to Terminal 4 was that I still had 10 mins before the bag drop opened so an aimless wandering didn’t hurt me too badly. Once my bag was on its way, I went through security and onto the worlds slowest Maccas. Maybe they are normal speed, but the airport sends the system into overdrive. The food arrived quickly, but it was a little bit of a wait for the coffee to arrive as I think it was 10 to 15 min wait with the crowd growing. My number was 170 and the numbers they were calling out was 128. I took my time with the coffee and by the time I ended up at the departure gate the line was beginning to grow as we were told to go to our gate. When the gate closing time approached, we were told they were waiting for the pilot and crew to arrive. During this time there were flights they were being delayed and even had gate changes within the Jetstar boarding area. Some of it was interesting to watch, but I would hate to be the guy in the background trying to sort out the many issues that appear. The flight crew eventually arrived though they had to prep the plane, and then we were boarding, when we were meant to be departing. Being around half hour late wasnt as bad as arriving late at night. One seat directly in front of me I seen a baby and I was getting worried. Quietest baby ever. I was happy so long as the plane wasn’t canned and had to go look for another one. I think we arrived around an hour late, though that is Queensland so we probably arrived early.

 

The Gold Coast terminal was walked into was the old immigration area of the old international section that was now extra domestic terminal for us. That meant we had to walk through the entire terminal to reach the baggage collection. Domestic was actually really busy for a Sunday. I made it to the Bag collection only to see my bag on the other side travel out the back, so my bag came home before I did and wait for its return I did.

 

Melbourne Odyssey: Day 6 Last day in Melbourne

By the numbers

 14.53kms

19,223 steps

My last day in Melbourne and I had to do something that would always come around. The washing, which means less to do when I get home. It was something I didn’t see when I booked the hotel in Melbourne and was kinda cheaper than the YHA around the corner, although that is open 24/7. I had to wait until 9am to be able to use the laundry and I was there bang on time as I wanted to be before anyone else even thought about doing theirs. Luckily I did as there was only one washer and dryer available the other two were out of order. I was lucky as the machine finished a guy was right on my heels wanting to do the same thing. I always make sure I am there for when it finishes as I know others would want to do theirs too. My voice is croaky from sneezing and you don’t want that when going on a flight the next day

 

I was ready to leave once I folded my clothes and got my bag ready to leave for tomorrow morning as there is nothing like wanting to rush once I return from watching the band. I like to be organised as I will be getting up early enough to catch a bus to the airport for one of my morning flights that I love so much. I had limited time in what I wanted to do as I wanted to have a rest before I went out later that night. The last few nights I have been worn out and partially due to having the sniffles. I jumped onto a tram that would take me to Flinders street station where I knew I would be seeing the band next to Hosier Lane at the venue known as Forum, which used to be the State Theatre. I was a little head achy as I think it was due to the sun from the day before so I would see how I go before heading back to the room for a lie down. What I was looking for was a laneway with the name ACDC Lane. It was dedicated to ACDC obviously and there were some dedication to Malcolm Young and Bon Scott though I thought there would be more. I headed further on to another lane that was to another artist, but there wasn’t anything there apart from the name of the lane and a little art.

 

I walked back to Flinders Street station, and just jumped on the first tram (I mean it was sitting there) heading towards the Shrine of Remembrance as I wanted to have a look at the Botanic garden. Crossing the road I had a quick look at the Victoria Barracks as I thought there might be something interesting. There were two guns from WW1 that were captured and another two that had been captured around 1854 from the Battle of Crimea.  I was chatting to some people online and it was suggested there was a good coffee shop nearby at the observatory. That was right on the back of the Botanic gardens. I headed for coffee and chips. The funny thing about the coffee was that I ended up feeling quite a bit better. Maybe I cant really drink instant coffee and get away with it for too long. I had chips as well and sat for half hour reading before moving off. I had to check if the Botanic gardens shop had any books that might be of interest. I had noticed that the day was warmer than it had been throughout the week as it was meant to be pretty hot on the Sunday when I leave. I planned to wander part of the gardens before returning to the hotel. Once I wandered in I came across something interesting and that was the Herbarium building, which was where you go to identify plants and fungi. I found there is a cost involved and they even use DNA on plants to make sure they are what they think they are especially rare plants that hadn’t been seen in nearly 100 or so years. I had a quick wander around the gardens and noticed a sign near the Bamboo saying they are looking into doing something with the space as the plant can live from 3 to 150 years, flower and then they die.

 

Wandering out of the Botanic gardens there was more people streaming in as it had to be popular on sunny days. I had seen people picnicking and even sunbathing on the grass. I walked across the grass and it was mushy. I wanted to walk along the waterfront to Crown casino before returning to my destination. I found the floral clock at Queen Victoria park and a boar war memorial. I found the area was busy with people walking to the Flinders train station, and I headed to the stairs at the bridge for a view of the Yarra river. The restaurants and everything else all the way along to Spence Street was crowded with people and some riding their scooters along without a care in the world. It was a nice walk and I came across a car accident with the firies already there taking care of the person. I was back at the room by mid afternoon and made sure I had most of my packing sorted as there would only be a few things to organise before going to bed for the night. I don’t want to get caught out with something missed on the rush out the door.

 

The time came that I had to leave for the show and I was wanting to be there for when the doors opened, although it didn’t really matter since it was standing only. I wasn’t even sure what to expect when I arrived. What I found was the line went from the front of the theatre through a laneway and back around to to the side of the building it was impressive, although at least it started moving quickly once the doors opened. There were people dressed like Vikings and other such people and with dark eye shadow, in kilts, some people as I found out were Re-enactors of the medieval fair types where they went into battles. I have nothing against them as it was impressive and people had to be in the 60s that were doing that sort of stuff. The music started pretty much on time and as the group, Heilung call it, their ritual. The whole crowd was silent when it began as the people on stage were being blessed and whatnot. That is the most unusual part about the group as no one uttered a sound until they finished. They never really introduced themselves either. The other thing was everyone was standing there not really dancing apart from swaying to the music. The vocals were totally different to what I was used to as it was chanting to basically a Viking type theme using vocals, drums and other instruments. They played right until it was time for them to finish and it was very energetic.

 

Leaving the concert hall afterwards was pretty easy, although I managed to jump on a tram, but it terminated right as soon as we got to Flinders street station. Some charged up people were getting silly until they got off and the tram was getting steamy. I ended up walking the rest of the way back to where I am staying though it wasn’t that bad really as it wasn’t a hot night and there were people everywhere. At least it wasn’t raining and I was able to get back to where I was staying without any problems and I was staying pretty close.

 

Melbourne Odyssey: Day 5 Flying through the day

By the numbers

11.7kms

15,764 steps

 

I decided that I would sleep in as I had somehow come down with a little bit of a cold. Instead ofg getting up around 7 to go wandering, I ended up getting out of bed around 9am although I had a fitful sleep due to sneezing and runny nose. Its one of those things that happens when you are run down especially when you had a long day at the start of the week with getting from the airport to the city in the early hours. I took my time in doing anything at all, which was good for the morning. As the day wore on I seemed to be feeling quite a bit better than I had earlier.

 

I had a ticket that was specific to getting the train from Southern Cross to Lara, the station where I would then get a bus to Avalon airport. I had never been to Avalon before and I don’t think I really want to fly there as its pretty far out of the city. It takes around an hour of travel by train to get to Lara and then there is nothing really there. You have to walk across the rails and are held until the train has gone before you are allowed to cross. Not everyone got a ticket combo, so they had to pay to get onto the back to and from Avalon. I could have used Skybus, but that would have been the more expensive route. It was pretty easy getting into the event too. Though the glare from the sun had to be shielded on my phone so they could scan the code, and then there was the bag search, which was open my bag and that was it. They did a body scan too, which they just let me in. It didn’t sound like the scanner scanned me sound as it would have picked up my belt. At least it didn’t wipe my door card for my room.

 

I could see aircraft for days. There were big ones in the distance and little ones too. I felt like I was trying to be recruited to join the armed forces, or even one of the many other companies like Boeing that were on the ground. Maybe that was the purpose of the airshow? I did see several drones and they were pretty big and not small, but the Navy did have a small one that held no weaponry. I came across an electric plane that had a range of 40 mins. I thought that was interesting. A few Australian designed armoured personnel carriers were on display too that were only prototypes from the looks were sitting before the aircraft. As I made my way towards the stationary aircraft, Qantas did a flyby with two jets either side, though I should say it was all part of the program. What I did notice however was the airport was still running as Jetstar still flew in and out during the day. I wanted to see the Japanese defence aircraft flying as it was a cargo plane. It was sitting on the tarmac with all the other planes. While there were stunts like the parachutes with flags and a helicopter flying the Australian flag, everyone started running to the runway as soon as they knew the F22 Raptor was going to take off. I decided to follow them as I thought it would be cool to watch. They had to play ACDC during the show, although they played them pretty much throughout the day including Dangerzone several times. The aircraft did stunts to prove how maneuverable they were. Throughout the day one after the other there were flying displays especially the bigger planes like the Japanese Kawasaki C-2 cargo plane and the one that does the refuelling as it showed that off with two jets. The Republic of South Korea did acrobatics with their aircraft. The biggest problem I had was getting my reflection on the phone screen and not being able to see the view. It was enjoyable to see so many aircraft and it was popular too. I did walk through the entire length of an American cargo plane that could hold quite a few people walking through. Germany had a cargo plane as well, while I would have liked to line up and wander through several of the aircraft, I thought it would be just like getting on a plane to fly out. Many other countries had their machines there and that included Black Hawks, Chinooks and so on. I never knew Australia had Apache helicopters.

I ended up wandering the whole area to see what there were. There were definitely businesses that were selling their wares and nearly every Australian state was represented in some way or for through military contractors. I wandered past some of them in the tents and while they were interesting, no one was many any of the booths so they couldn’t tell you what they were selling. Some did look like they were for space observation like a radio telescope that was near Melbourne somewhere. There were plenty of civilian owned light aircraft away from the main action areas. I did spot a Mad Max 2 prop gyrocopter thing. Its always interesting when you see radar equipment used by the military and some that they have on display purposes for everyone to look at and people around to answer questions.

 

After spending most of the day wandering around the showgrounds looking at aircraft and being blasted away as well by the noise, I decided that I should leave around 7pm. It was funny being on the bus to Lara as the road was lined with spectators who were sitting by the side of the road watching the airshow, or had big cameras to watch the aircraft flying.  By the time I returned to Southern Cross it would end up being 830pm and no one checked to see if I had a ticket like they had that morning on my way in. If I had left towards the end of the show then I might not be home until around 12am. I don’t really want that long a day. I think I had enough sun for one day and my eyes were sore especially when the planes would fly into the sun or near it. I would say the glare from my phone screen too as I literally could see my face reflected back at me, but not the sky. I was glad it was a reasonably warm day even if I got a touch sunburnt.

 

Melbourne Odyssey: Day 4 Pulling the wool over Geelong

By the numbers

 

I wasn’t feeling too crash hot this morning as it felt like I had some sort of head cold. Although no surprise since the weather down in Melbourne is cooler than what I flew out from. I didn’t even bring cold weather gear with me. My plan was to get the train to Geelong to explore that city for a couple of hours and hope it wouldn’t rain where I would be. I might have coffee, but I very nearly gave myself decafe, which might not go down too well. I should have moved quicker if I wanted to get into the city sooner as it was around an hour out of Melbourne. I left a touch later than I was supposed to, but I managed to get the next train that would get me to Geelong. We passed through some towns like Sunshine that didn’t look too great and needed TLC. The station of Lara that I was going to visit tomorrow wasn’t very big at all, it was more blink and you would miss the place.

 

It was relaxing on the train and I had a suggestion of checking out the library. When I got off there was something I realised it wasn’t hot at all. I was actually getting a touch cold from being outside and hoped walking around would keep me warm. I was actually heading towards the Wool Museum, but I was distracted by the buildings including the art gallery with King George statue outside. Though there were actually two statues of him. I headed through a random street with food places that were mostly not open yet and found there were a few street art along the way. The museum that I was heading towards was pretty easy to find as I had to head towards the water and throughout the city there were signs pointing you to where you needed to go. The museum also was part of the information centre too.

 

It was only $10 to enter the Wool museum and it was actually an old Wool store, where wool was brokered to buyers. Geelong has a history with sheep and wool in the area from the 1800s. Basically DJ Denny’s were not the only people involved with the wool industry in the city of Geelong. I did find quite a few buildings with the name near the waterfront that were now part of the university and even the ABC. The story of sheep and Wool in Australia was interesting as they covered the issues behind working the land. Issues that included the destruction of native grasses, fly strike and the specific fly that that causes the issue. There were the hand tool that soon were made way for the electric shearers. What I didn’t know was that there were people who went to the various farms on push bikes that carried all their gear including swags. It seemed Geelong was where the million dollar bale of wool had been sold and that went to Japan. The story had a very bored security guy wondering what he was doing, but he changed once the price went up and was sold. It was interesting when they included the machinery that was used in the textiles industries to make things like clothing and even rugs. They explained some of the machines roles. They even had the last bale of wool that was from the wool stockpile when the wool price crashed in the 1970s and was stockpiled to wait for the price to increase. The museum was pretty different to what I thought it would be and that the company who once owned the building that was now the museum owned quite a few buildings in the area. I didnt realise wool had a huge story to tell in Australia and that included the issues relating to the welfare of the sheep, which apparently improved over time. I am glad that I actually ended up in the museum.

 

After the museum, I took a walk down to the bay and found I was literally shivering as it had to be jumper weather. The pier I found was actually a restaurant at the end of it and outside one of the buildings people were sitting, which I wondered why at the time until I realised there was a speaker out front of the ABC radio studio that was live steaming. People were listening to the radio program, which I thought was very different unless they do that at other locations too. Nearby was a carousel that was under cover and you could go for rides on. Some of the horses had been restored as they must have been saved from being destroyed. I wasn’t too sure on the story. The water front had painted bollards that were of various characters like fireman, ship captain and lifesavers spread out so I guess you could always hunt them down. I ended up wandering towards the Botanical gardens, although there wasn’t any hope that I was walking up a hill just to visit that especially when the time had me worried that rush hour would begin and the train would be full. I followed the signs back to the train station and actually was able to catch a train back to Melbourne just after school had been let out. I had a seat to myself the entire way, so I guess that I had missed part of the rush, but not by much at all.

 

I arrived back in the city and I had charged my phone along the way. Deciding that I needed a meal so that I wouldn’t need to go back out, I found something to eat that would fill the tank and be satisfied. The pub wasn’t that far from where I was staying so that was a good thing and at first I thought it was chockas though it hadn’t gotten that busy yet. By the time I left people were walking in. Tomorrows plan is to visit the International Airshow, though I will take my time as I would likely need it.