The Home Run

I really wish there had been a better time for me to land in Sydney as my coming coincided with the APEC summit which meant that Sydney was (supposedly) locked down tighter than a nut. I found that I really hated Sydney airport. I've been in a lot of airports this trip and I really didn't like it that much. Might have been because I was tired as hell and it was early in the morning, but I just didn't like it one bit. Anyway, I got into town, ditched my bag at a coach stop and went exploring. Haven't been to Sydney for a few years and sure enough, while the main bits where the same, things had changed. The biggest change being scores of Kilometres of fencing blocking off streets and paths to prevent happless tourists from crossing the city... The picture of the Opera House (left) was snapped on the other side of the harbour... as close to it as I could get! But it was ok, it felt weird being there and I had to force myself to take pictures of the Bridge and the Opera House because they just didn't feel as exotic anymore. It was a really strange feeling. If this was a year ago, I would be running the flash and memory card into oblivion!

 

While I was in the 'on alert' zone, I went and checked out the Modern Art Gallery on the Quay. It was interesting to see some Australian art and have a comparison point to that of Europe. After that I went and found myself lost in a maze of metal, concrete and police officers. SOME were nice enough to escort me across the road inside the barriers so I could get through, others told me I had to walk the 6 blocks to go around... whatever... Meh, Sydney.

It had a really eerie feel to it because there was just no one around and after travelling from London to Sydney, expecting at least some comparison in people numbers, it felt like Adelaide on some idle Tuesday night :P

Anyway. Made the most of my day there by going to the Musuem, checking out the ANZAC memorial and getting up close and personal with the damn hippies in the Sydney protests. It was a bit far fetched to call the war on Iraq "genocide" but alot of the people there seemed to believe that was what was taking place. I do agree it has reached a point now where they were found to be frauds going in on those terms but the APEC summit was about reducing green house gas emmissions, which on a side note, South Australia is the first Australian state and one of the few in the world, to legislate targets to reduce Greenhouse gases. GO US!!

Another interesting tid bit of information, as I know you guys all love them! South Australia also has just shy of 50% of the country's wind AND solar grid connected power. Again, hats off to us. Media Rann isn't so bad after all is he?

After checking out the cops vs protesters and there where hundreds of each, I'd hazard a guess at one stage the cops were in equal numbers to the protesters in the afternoon gatherings I wandered the empty streets looking for something to do. In all honesty, because the city was so dead and all, I got my backpack early and went to the airport to check in like three hours ahead of schedule due to bordeom. Best part about that was though, the Crows vs Hawthorne match was on in the departure lounge and although we lost...in the last 30 seconds... it was an awesome game. To the calibre I'm told all of the finals footy has been so far.

Final stop: Melbourne, city of arts, culture and sports. My love child of a city. It rivals my love for Adelaide let me tell you!

Staying with my uncle and cousin meant that accomodation costs were down and being broke at the end of the trip, this was a huge bonus, let me tell you! That and Uncle Don is just so passionate about Melbourne and it rubs off on you making the trip just awesome! I checked out the sights of Melbourne because in all the times I have been there, I have really never been a tourist, rather sticking to the suburbs with family.

 

Big ticks for Melbourne:

*The Tram/train system - in non peak hour - fantastic

*Free Newspapers like European cities

*The Shrine of Rememberance - One of the best memorials in the world according to some and it's easy to see why. Not going with the traditional Obelisk or mounted statue, the designers decided to go with what you see in the pic. Somewhere people could come inside and pay their respects. The actual Shrine is in 3 main parts; The Crypt underneath which houses the father and son statue representing the First and Second World Wars. They stand back to back on a pedestal in the centre of the room surrounded by battalion flags to signify what families in the past have had to endure.

The main shrine is  directly above the crypt and contains a stone in the centre of the floor which says: "Greater love hath no man" and on Rememberance Day (11th of November) at exactly 11am, natural light from a strategically positioned hole in the cieling rests on the word 'love' for a minute. This is the minute of silence observed by Australians on that day. Quite moving really. They have a demonstration of it with artificial light to simulate the effect and it's really quite cool.

The other part of the shrine is the balcony up the top which affords a great view of Melbourne, and the new Eureka tower. The tower was opened in May this year and has an observation deck on level 88 (which you get to in 40 seconds). It's the new 'must see' for Melbourne whereas the Rialto Towers previously helpd that spot at over 40 floors high.

Through good fortune, I managed to meet up with the last Boltie of the trip, Jacob, making the total of meets: 8

Top effort I say! Jacob is a really cool guy! It was nice to get in and meet someone so laid back and who's willing to try new beer. Ahhh Amber Ale, I love thee. Spent the afternoon only chatting in a pub but it was still cool all the same.

Met some other mates in Melbourne too, Leandra being one and it was great to see her too. So good to see familiar faces again!!

So with the week in Melbourne under my belt, it was finally time to make that last flight home, real home, to Adelaide. And whether it was rose coloured glasses or genuine observation, but there isn't many cities as beautiful as Adelaide when flying into them. The lights were all twinkling and calling me home.

And what better way to enter Adelaide terminal to your best mate waiting for you! There just is no better way I tell you!

So that officially concludes the re-capping part of this mighty adventure! If you have managed to read through all of it, I commend you immensely and will be quizzing you later. For those that just looked at the pictures, well, that's what they are there for right? The final entry will just be a recap about everything, ie: the map, the favourites and all just incase you were wondering!