August 27 – September 9, 2007—Okay, I can hardly include this in the road trip (seeing as how my car at this point is 10,000 miles across the ocean), but those of you who have actually checked this chronicle once or twice would kill me if I completely left out the endpoint and reason behind my grand adventures to this point….
Australia.
I embarked on the 15 hour flight from LA on the night of the 27th and arrived in Melbourne the morning of the 29th. Yes, it is very weird to completely lose a day. The flight really wasn’t that bad—there’s plenty of movies to watch, free alcohol, and I had a couple sleeping pills stashed away. So really it was like a lazy day at home, just confined to a smaller seat.
I excitedly started off by ordering an Australian beer that I had been looking forward to tasting again… Victoria Bitter (VB). I admit it wasn’t quite as good as I remember, but I’m fully aware my memories from study abroad might be slightly skewed.
My company put me up for two weeks as I settled in to the city in this very nice apartment right in the center of it all.
My first day back in the city was gorgeous, making me immediately fall back in love with this place. Here is a view across the river to the CBD.
And from another vantage point
And a view back across to Southbank from the City.
I immediately had to get some of the Aussie treats I’ve missed most: babies (gummy bears), Jaffas (orange-flavored chocolate), Milo (a chocolate energy drink), and asian-influenced instant noodles.
On the following day, I sought out the office building where I would be working. I knew it was on Southbank, the somewhat recent spillover of the CBD across the river, filled with office buildings, high-priced high-rise apartments, and tons of food and shopping. But I was stunned to see the actual location, right in the center of it all, right on the river’s edge. It’s the shorter building, right in the center of this picture from the CBD.
And here’s another view… that tall building behind it is Eureka Tower, only the tallest apartment building in the southern hemisphere.
This is skipping ahead a tiny bit, but I just have to brag—this is the view from the windows near my desk inside:
I spent most of the week (when I wasn’t searching for an apartment or doing other important errands), re-acquainting myself with and exploring the nooks and crannies of the city. And that really is an accurate description—though Melbourne was originally laid out on a grid with very wide streets to accommodate horse-drawn traffic and bullock carts, a later governor wanted to break up the very large blocks to squeeze more real estate out of them and added laneways and alleys cutting through each. Many of them don’t even have names, but there are treasures found in every one from the stencil graffiti Melbourne is famous for to posh boutiques and quaint coffeehouses. Melbourne is known as a café culture because they are everywhere and Melbournians love sitting down for a cappuccino or café latte with mates to take a break from an exhausting shopping spree in the city. Here are several examples of the tiny alleyways packed with cute cafés.
Some other cool landmarks—the artful Arts Centre and a massive mall hidden inside one city block with a glass dome built around this historic shot tower.
And the Webb Bridge in the Docklands, made to look like a fishing trap used by the Aborigines, and Docklands kids park, with this crazy sculpture with moving parts caught by the wind.
Everywhere you go in the city, there are street performers. They range from dangerous stunts to stupid costumes and antics to really awesome musicians. Here is some video of one band, Bonjah Bango (I did buy their cd... they're pretty darn good), busking on the streetcorner:
My company put me up for two weeks as I settled in to the city in this very nice apartment right in the center of it all. 
And here’s another view… that tall building behind it is 
