Saturday, March 31, 2012

Attempting to Become a Local in Melbourne, Australia

Thursday, January 19
After our adventure on the Great Ocean Road, a stay-home day (mostly that is) was in order. One of the things I love about taking a two-week vacation is the opportunity it affords to get to know the community you live in, to begin to feel like a local. This was one of those days for us.

Lizard playing the Wii with Big Brother.

We found it absolutely necessary to do laundry. The washing machines are quite small in Australia. Small loads mean many loads, so doing laundry for eight is easily an all-day event. To save on the high cost of electricity, as well as to enjoy the lovely Melbourne weather, C usually opts to hang the wet laundry outside to dry in a narrow courtyard just off the laundry room. I learned to enjoy this practice as well and hope to have a similar set-up some day at home.

In between loads of laundry, C needed to do some grocery shopping, so off we headed to Malvern Central, a small shopping mall within walking distance of the W's home. While C shopped for groceries, Lizard, S and I toured this mini-mall in search of souvenirs. A couple of things about Malvern Central: we were enchanted by the escalators which are more accurately described as ascending and descending moving sidewalks. The shopping carts from the grocery store had special grips on the wheels so that a runaway one couldn't go careening down the decline knocking over everyone in its path. Rather, they grip the treads of the moving sidewalk floor and stay put.





Also, each of the two malls we visited offered car wash service in the garage. C's vehicle sorely needed attention after our road trip and it was wonderfully convenient to have the car washed outside and vacuumed inside while picking up groceries.
not C's car

The girls and I were drawn to a store called Typo that sold inexpensive notebooks, gel pens and the like. We also shopped in Target. It was smaller than what we find in the U.S. and the clothing selection (at least in the girls department) seemed to me to be more fashionable yet more cheaply made. We bought some sushi from a mall vendor and took it home to enjoy for lunch.
For some reason, I didn't take a photo of the sushi,
but I did took a photo of these cute fish-shaped soy sauce containers.

After unloading groceries and enjoying our sushi lunch at home, we set back out, on foot this time, to shop on Glenferrie Road. Glenferrie Rd. is the main shopping street in Malvern. It is filled with small locally owned shops, including cafes, sweet shops, clothing boutiques, pharmacies, consignment shops and housewares stores. After purchasing a few souvenirs, and Icees for the girls, we headed home.

I managed to squeeze in a good bit of reading that evening. Perhaps I will always associate The Count of Monte Cristo with its hefty 1200-plus pages, along with a humorous book about Australia by Bill Bryson, with our trip to Australia, as these two Kindle tomes consumed my time for leisure reading .

Friday, January 20
On Friday, we took a trip on the tram to the Central Business District of Melbourne. The tram stop is located just a few blocks from the W's home. (K, at 13, often takes the tram to and from school.) We disembarked at the train station, a massive and bustling dijon-colored edifice.


After safely navigating the crowds (no small task for two adults and five kids, ages 5 to 13), we found ourselves in the quaintest of alleyways, reminiscent of those found in the oldest European cities, pleasantly jammed with sidewalk cafes, coffee shops and patisseries.

Despite its looking as if it was more than a century old, C informed me that the converted alleyways were quite new, and had been designed to increase tourism. Based on the number of people filling the alleyway in the middle of a workday, I think the strategy worked. Our choice was Little Cupcakes. A small cupcake each for moms and kids alike as well as a coffee for each mom was in order. Up to this point, I had not been overly impressed with the cupcake craze, expecting $4 cupcakes to be a surreal experience but always seemed just ho-hum. However, Melbourne's Little Cupcakes perfected the formula. Their cupcakes were divine and the coffee was delicious too.




The alleyway led to the exquisitely lovely Block Arcade. The floor's mosaic tiles were of museum quality and we found ourselves enchanted by what was under our feet.



Capping the arcade's expensive clothing stores and chocolate shops, was its crowning jewel: the Hopetoun Tea Room, the most sublimely beautiful tea room with a truly masterful pastry selection. It's true that we had just had cupcakes and the price of the items in this particular pastry case would have been shocking, but I do regret not throwing caution to the wind and sampling at least one of these truly lovely-to-look-at delicacies.


After making our way out of the arcade, we headed to the Queen Victoria (Queen Vic) Market. The market consists of open-air, city-block-size building after building selling meats, fish, fruits and vegetables and souvenirs. Being the tourists, we were especially interested in the souvenir stalls which offered items not only priced well for Australia, but priced well for anywhere. Many of these cheap treasures proudly advertised that they were "Designed in Australia" or were of "Australian Design." Of course, they were all actually made in India or China. No worries. We picked up a good many of these goodies to take home with us.



After lunch in the food court, we walked to the historic Melbourne Jail. This is where the notorious Ned Kelly was imprisoned and ultimately hung. Australians are fascinated with their own prisoner-populated past and proudly celebrate it.  Why the story of Ned Kelly has endeared him to the Aussie people is beyond my understanding. His story seems somewhat ordinary (as far as criminals go), except that during one particular gun fight with the police (the one at the end of which he didn't get away), he donned "armor" he had fashioned out of shovels and other metal tools he could get his hands on. A Ned Kelly doll decked out in this armor, as well as many other Ned Kelly-related items were passed up at the gift shop (perhaps another regret of mine).




There were several busts of prisoners' heads on display, as well as a signboard on the science of phrenology, a pseudo-science, very popular in the 19th century, that asserted that by studying the shape of a person's skull, a phrenologist could determine a person's character. It stands to reason, then, that phrenologists were very interested in the heads of prisoners. These outlaws, it was assumed, had extremely bad character and would therefore exhibit pronounced differences in their skulls from those of the average population. For the purpose of proving this theory (they didn't, of course), phrenologists would have casts of prisoners' skulls taken after they were executed for "scientific" study.

Outside of the Melbourne Jail

The prison operated from the 1850s to 1924, briefly reopening its doors during WWII to house military detainees, mostly AWOL Australian soldiers. All of the first-floor cells were small and windowless, designed to hold one prisoner only. The thought at the time was that the isolation would be more likely to rehabilitate prisoners, although this theory was later rejected. Today within each cell, the tourist will find sign-boards telling the stories, many heartbreaking, of various prisoners (male and female), as well as the executioners (almost all of whom had stories that evoked such pity that they rivaled those of the prisoners).

Thoroughly exhausted and overheated we were thankful to catch an air-conditioned tram for the ride home.




Saturday, January 21
On Saturday morning, C and I enjoyed breakfast together at a lovely cafe on Glenferrie Road called Willem. We both ordered multi-grain toast with a poached egg and smashed avocado. That, coupled with a perfectly made latte and time alone with one of my favorite people was heavenly.

Later that morning, C and S and Lizard and I got in the car and headed to Frankston Beach to see the Sand Sculpture exhibit: Toytopia. The larger-than-life sculptures featured dolls and teddy bears, Legos and Hot Wheels, board games and Mr. Potato Head, to name a few. 




I know... freaky, right?
The girls enjoyed completing a scavenger hunt and having their faces painted.



They girls were also treated to a demonstration on how to sculpt sand with an opportunity to practice what the learned. Lizard made a cat face.




Then we went to Arthur's Seat, a mountain-top vista with sweeping and breathtaking views of Port Philip. Need I mention, we enjoyed another coffee here?


Next, we drove to Cape Shanck and were immediately greeted by the lighthouse. It was beautiful, but we were about to be blown away by what awaited us on the other side.

From the lighthouse, C guided us to a boardwalk that rests along the top of the winding and dipping hillside like the spines on an iguana's back. Walking the nearly deserted boardwalk, we were captivated by an awesome view of the ocean, as well as the giant black boulders that formed the coastline and the waves crashing into them. Signs (and C) warned us of the possibility of being swept away by an unexpectedly large wave, so we respectfully kept back from where the waves met the craggy shore. We sat there for a long time admiring the ferocious beauty of this place, marvelling that the Wilkins lived just a short drive from this magnificent spot.










Sunday, January 22
Our second Sunday in Australia started with going to "our" church, during which C read from the book of Jonah. At home, C's sweet friend Jillian cam to visit. Jillian is smart and funny, a perfect friend for C. In the early afternoon, Lizard and I went to Malvern Central, in search of some gelato to eat while having our mother/daughter devotional.

During the Sunday evening church service, C, who had been called upon earlier in the week to fill in as pianist, played brilliantly. We enjoyed another church supper during which we celebrated yet another birthday of a church member.

Sunday evening, we went to Brighton Beach to admire the colorful bathing boxes and then to St. Kilda to see the fairy penguins. At Brighton Beach, C explained that it was quite difficult to own a bathing box since they were often passed down from one generation to the next and rarely came on the market. Offering mainly storage for your bathing items (they have no plumbing or electricity) these colorful clapboard structures cost a pretty penny at upwards of $200,000 as well as an annual fee.

The selection of our next destination, Melbourne's St. Kilda Beach at bedtime, was for one particular reason: to spot baby penguins whose parents have built nests along the man made rocky outlay of St. Kilda's pier. During the day, the babies are rarely seen as their nests are hidden deep in the rocks. At night, however, the parents swim in to feed their babies to the delight of chicks and tourists alike.

As we descended the steps to the viewing area already crowded with tourists a good hour before the parents were expected, C spotted a baby penguin tucked in the rocks. As soon as we started oohing and ahhing and taking photos, a crowd of at least 50 people gathered. While waiting to see the penguins, we spotted a few rakalis (water rats), which delighted the tourists, including us, nearly as much as the penguins did.



Once again, C proved to be a wonderful tour guide as she immediately
spotted a baby penguin that dozens of tourists had missed.

By the time the parents arrived, it was very dark. Still, we could see the parents quite well, now that our eyes had adjusted, and it was great fun to watch them scurry up the beach and directly underneath the boardwalk on which we sat, so close we could have reached out and touched them. Since flash photos were strictly prohibited, my efforts to get a photo of this scene were in vain. In this case, the memory of the event and a snapshot or two of St. Kilda and the baby penguin, before darkness took over, will have to suffice.




Monday, January 23
On Monday, we were very excited to experience a W Family must-do: The Puffing Billy. On this steam locomotive, riders are invited to sit on the side with feet dangling while traversing the bush and countryside of the area, passing the occasional farm and darling town on the way. Along the route, I marvelled at the hundreds of white butterflies flittering in the vegetation along the track, with now-and-then one or two seeming to attempt to "race" the train.






We stopped in Lakeside for a picnic, snapping a few photos of various birds that were new to Lizard and me. Billy then carried us to the end of the line, and a one-hour layover, in a quiet but picturesque town called Gembrooke. Wondering how to spend our time, we found the Gembrooke Craft Cottage, which featured crafts all made by local ladies. C noticed me admiring an intricately made green scarf and purchased it for me for my birthday (which is months away). C also treated each child to a "lucky dip." Lucky dips are surprise bags, labelled "boy" or "girl." You buy one, not knowing what is inside, for about $1 and see what you get. Lizard was delighted to get a bag full of marbles (a "boy" bag). She was pretty sure that was what was in the bag as she and all the kids had attempted to guess by feel what was in each bag before selecting one.

From there, we went on to a local gift shop/cafe called Charlotte's where C and I shared a vanilla slice, while the kids enjoyed milkshakes, muffins and lemonade. After a quick stop at a playground, we boarded Billy for the return trip to Emerald where we had parked our car. On the way home, I nearly flipped out when I saw an echidna walking along the side of the road. One moment, I was sitting quietly and the next I bellowed as I slapped my leg, "I just saw an echidna!" You really shouldn't do that to a driver, but I couldn't help myself. (Sorry C.)

Tuesday, January 24 (Brian's Birthday)
On Tuesday, K, S, Lizard and I caught the tram back to downtown Melbourne. We started our adventure at the Eureka Tower an 88-story office and residential building, gold plated at its peak, and the tallest residential building in the Southern Hemispehre. The elevator ride was startlingly fast and smooth. The observation level afforded sweeping views of Melbourne.
Image Detail

We wandered around a bit looking for a place to have lunch and ended up at Kenny's which happened to be on the ground floor of R's office building. Katie texted her dad with this information and he was pleased to pop down for a quick visit. For myself, I ordered Vietnamese pork sandwich. Boy was it ever spicy, but I think I liked it. We caught another tram for another visit to the Queen Vic Market. We bought a few more scarves and souvenir bags in which to carry souvenirs. At K's suggestion, we also bought hot churros sprinkled with powdered sugar. Yum! By the time we headed home, we were all hot, sweaty and filled with churros. It was a good day indeed.

That evening, in anticipation of our next multi-day adventure, which was to include a choppy boat ride, Lizard and I walked to Glenferrie Road to buy anti-nausea medicine and a few other items for our trip. We all spent the evening packing so that we would be able to get an early start the next morning.

As Lizard and I walked to the pharmacy on our own, with plans to buy mundane items (rather than souvenirs), keeping on the left side of the sidewalk without even thinking about it, I reflected on our trip earlier that day to the Central Business District. Of course I had 13-year-old K, who perhaps was really in charge of our adventure, but I liked to think as the only adult on the excursion, I had safely navigated three girls through several tram rides, a lunch outing and a shopping trip in downtown Melbourne. Yes, at this moment we felt truly Melbournian... and it felt fine.