4/21/10 - 4/25/10 (melbourne)
Annie Lin
Melbourne - Clayton
Over the last few days we have been hanging out in a suburb of Melbourne called Clayton with our friends Dennise and Wakaba. Dennise and I worked at the same branch teaching English at Nova in Japan and have kept in touch over the years. It had been five years since I have seen both of them and now they have three beautiful kids. They were very generous in inviting us to stay at their house, which they just moved into over a month ago. The last couple days we have lived more like Aussies than tourists. And it felt really good just to relax and not have to plan our days. We didn’t rent a car so we have taken the bus and train to get around, which has been pretty convenient. We have cooked at home and a few nights Dennise made a delicious Korean meal for dinner. They are big fans of Korean food and Jon tried kimchi for the first time when we visited a Korean restaurant on another night. I don’t think he’ll be ordering kimchi next time he’s in a Korean restaurant but the bbq meat was very tasty. It has been fun playing with the kids. Zach is almost five and is a very skilled player on video games. He loves chatting with anyone about Mario games. Fifi is two years old and always entertaining with her endless energy. We had hoped to see Kalista walk before we left. She has gotten very good at climbing on Jon and using him as a guidepost to hoist herself up.
As some of you know one of the challenges we have had is not having a cell phone or reliable internet. We have even resorted to going to McDonald’s to use their free wifi but they limit it to 50MB, which is nothing for Jon. We finally cracked and bought a cell phone so we can call our family/friends and will be able to make reservations for hotel and rental cars. We also got a wireless USB modem so we have internet wherever we go. It was pretty expensive but we figured it will be worth it to not be driving around looking for McDonalds.
We also spent a day in the city of Melbourne checking out the sights. Melbourne is slightly smaller than Sydney but it was still pretty big. We got our exercise for the day by walking the entire city. It was time for some refreshments. We read about a place called Madame Brussels, which had faux grass to look like a tennis court and the servers wore tennis outfits. It was on a rooftop of a building and since it was a sunny day we decided to stop in for a drink. They had a drink with Pimms with lots of fruit, which was very refreshing.
On another day we went to the movies and watched The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo, which is based on a book by Stieg Larsson. Jon’s mom, Mary, introduced me to the book trilogy, which I just finished reading a few weeks ago.
All in all it was great to catch up with Dennise and Wakaba and spend some time in Melbourne. Thank you to them both for their hospitality and generosity. We hope to see you guys again soon.
Reader Comments (5)
Sounds like a big city with new exploring to do. Seems you both like to do that.
Sorry Annie and Mary: I know this is really nerdy of me, but I have one comment about "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" in the begining of the book the author says that the Statute of Limitations on murder had just ran out, there is NO Statute of Limitation on murder. Therefore, I cannot bring myself to read it.
We have two more places to visit in Australia before we leave: Brisbane and the Great Barrier Reef so I imagine we'll be here another two weeks. Then not sure where we are headed next.