And now, the end is near…

… And so I face the final curtain. Well, not quite, but a return to the “real world” of slush, darkness and cold is fast approaching.
My friend, I’ll say it clear. I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain:

My trip is nearing its end. In a matter of hours I will be on a plane, bound for the north, then west. From there another plane will take me northeast, back home. Home, a funny concept, you may have noticed tat I have used home to mean Teo’s place, because that is what if feels like to me, even more so than my real home in Finland. This place has been wonderful, beautiful and welcoming.

My trip has been nothing like I planned. Originally I was meant to spend most of my time traveling, to Adelaide, to Tasmania. Spending my time diving and with friends. Instead, I have only traveled within Victoria and the only water I have been in has been Teo’s pool. But I am happy, happier than if I had forced myself to travel and dive in the 14 degree water that is the ocean here.

… And more, much more than this, I did it My way.

Thanks Frank!

Brands

I haven’t spent much money here, and because I feel that buying quality is always important, I decided to splash out a bit more on the final purchases. As I mentioned earlier, a new suitcase was required, bigger and sturdier than the bag I came here with. Also, I decided that I did not want to leave Australia without an Akubra hat. For both I decided that the premier brand would be a good idea, so the bag would be Samsonite and the hat an Akubra.

Just like Stetson is the generic term for cowboy hats in America, so is Akubra here. But both are also the premier makes. Akubras come in many different looks, with varying crown, brim and trim designs. After rather extensive pondering, I decided upon a Coober Pedy Akubra in Fawn colour. It has a triple pinched crown, a medium brim with bound edge, but most importantly, the hat trim is Kangaroo tail with an opal set into it.

The suitcase had to be 29″ tall, apart from that I was open to suggestions. The reason I wanted Samsonite was that it is one of the few brands that come with a proper international guarantee and repair service. I find that investing in their bags is a safe option, and probably cheaper in the long run. The bag I finally decided on was the 2006 Christmas model, so a year old, and thus on discount.

Both took a while to find, suitcases being easier. The hat took some hunting, but that was probably just down to the fact that none of us knew the right place to start looking. The hat ended up being $169.95 and the case $199.95. Funnily enough, I had left just enough for both on my bank account, leaving a mere 0.80€. This was cutting it close, and at the suitcase place when the eftpos machine malfunctioned, I nearly had a heart attack, thinking I was short by a dollar due to conversion rates.

Luckily it was not the case, and it saved me a surely embarrassing trip back home to move money back into the use-account and then back to the store. I haven’t been as nervous about anything in a long time, let me tell you. But after it was done I was quite, quite happy. I now had everything sorted. Which meant I was ready to go back… Wish I wasn’t.

Locomotion

The ride on  the train was rather slow going, it felt as though we were gong no faster than walking speed. In truth we topped out a around the 20km/h mark, so not all too speedy. The track winds itself through the hills, along cliff sides and over rickety little bridges. There are some beautifully serene views of the hillsides and f the sun playing in the trees and grass. It was surprisingly green along the whole area.

The volunteers who staff the train are all wonderful people, who clearly do it for the love of steam. They are kind, helpful and keen. This became apparent when just after departure, the Head Conductor, who was in the same car as myself, came up to me and asked me if I had been on before. On my answer of “no”, he invited me to the front lip of the car, from where there was great, over 180 degree views of the train crossing the first and grandest of the bridges.

The car I was in was at first filled mostly by a group of train enhusiasts with a wide range of SLR cameras around their necks. They got off at a station that was not marked as a stop, which just goes to show that the staff are willing to accommodate requests. After that the car was empty, apart from myself, the conductor and a Filipino couple. The air up in the hills is refreshing and it was nice to just bask in it (and the soot of the train, seeing as I was so close to the engines).

Halfway through the trip, most people got off. The station is called Lakeside, and used to be the terminus for the line until 1998, when the line to Gembrook was reopened. The front locomotive also left us at this time, as did most of the back carriages. In fact, only 8 passengers continued for the last 11km of the trip. According to the train crew, it was a sad thing, and I am inclined to agree.

Arriving at Gembrook I discovered that I had misread the schedule of the train, and instead of departing within an hour, I had well over three to spend in the little town. I spent the time wondering around, trying to find anything of interest. I failed, because about the most interesting thing I found was a beer bottle buried in the track I was walking along. I tried my best to kick it out, but that sucker was in good and firm.

I had lunch at the local fish & chip shop, opting for a burger and two Dim Sim, seeing as seafood is not the type of thing to get from a shop where I may well be the days only customer. I was extremely disappointed, so much in fact, that I am willing to declare that the plastic bag wrapped, store bought, microwaveable hamburgers sold in Finland are better than the burger I had. The Dim Sim were alright, but I shared half of one with a local dog.

After eating I went back to the station and had a talk with some of the crew. The fireman of the engine was from England, who spent Summers here, and Summers there (note the hemispherical difference) driving steam locos at both ends. The others were all local, and especially the station staff were extremely friendly once more. I bought a rather nice shirt for a discounted $19.90, which is nothing.

When the handful of passengers, including myself, were boarding the train back to Belgrave, the train Guard came up to me and said that I was invited the cab, to drive the train. I was extremely taken by the offer, and obviously couldn’t refuse. So, from Cockatoo to Lakeside, over bridges and along cliff faces, in the heat of the fire and the clanks and jolts of metal on metal, I was fireman’s mate. Apparently it is not something they do all too often. I got myself a hat and a mug for it, lest I forget.

Narrow Gauge

Narrow Gauge Railways used to be the preferred type of rail to build in Australia, since it was far more economical. If you are like me, and immediately realized that nothing changes with rail width that should cause it to be cheaper, you still need as much track, as many wheels and so on, including the fact that narrower rails would probably also lead to narrower carriages and cars, and thus less cargo capacity. However, one should realize that narrower gauge means less land has to be flattened, turning diameters can be smaller (remember that train wheels do not corner) and so on.

Anyway, without further ado, we come to the end of this enlightening lecture on rail economics, and to the point. The Puffing Billy Railway, called the Spirit of the Dandenongs, Australia’s favourite train, and so on; is a narrow gauge steam based railway running from Belgrave on the outskirts of Melbourne to Gembrook, up in the hills. No, not Belgrade, despite what it sounds like when said by the Metlink announcers.

To get to Belgrave from Kew, I had to get a train from Camberwell station, not far from here. Luckily the trains go direct and often, despite taking a while because of frequent stops along the way. Trains here operate on the same ticket system as the trams, but I needed zone 2 ticket (well, 1 and 2) seeing as I was going so far. Not a bad price for it though, a full day Zone 1 and 2 will cost an adult $9.90, about 6€.

The train ride was rather uneventful, and quite long. However, the following observations were made. The train was quite full of Pakistanis, playing loud, obnoxious music from a cheap stereo, trying to overshout their own music in conversations. At some minor stop along the way, two young girls boarded, and came to sit quite close to my position. Both had their asses showing quite a ways, the other’s mercifully still clad in underwear. It was not a pretty sight, but then neither was the boy who came to meet them on the next stop.

The ethereal voice, also called the announcer, or the woman who says what station it is, on these trains is quite frightening. She seems far too happy, with a strange inflection and wavy intonation. I would love to get on tape (preferrably an audio file though) the voice saying “I’m not insane!” It is honestly quite unnerving sitting on a train with a psychotic voice.

Arriving at Belgrave, I followed the signs to Puffing Billy, and was rather terrified to witness a large group of school children waiting for tickets. I had been told specifically to avoid going on the weekends, because the schoolchildren tend to be noisy. Luckily it quickly turned out that they had a separate line, and were going to be riding in a car of their own. There were quite a few cars, many more than I would have thought.

I got my ticket, a facsimile of the original train tickets, and took the opportunity to get some pictures of the fine tank engine locomotives that were going to be pulling us along the track. There were two for our train, and another in the yard being warmed up. Thomas, I noted, was not there. Probably in the engine shed, I would imagine.

Blood on the Southern Cross

Pretty impressive title, no? Too bad its not metaphorical, but what I am actually going to blog about. The light and sound show presented nightly at Sovereign Hill, that is. If you still don’t follow, the show is called Blood on the Southern Cross. With me so far? Good.  The show tells of the Eureka Rebellion. For more details on the rebellion, please feel free to consult wikipedia.

Just briefly though, the rebellion happened in the spring and early summer of 1854, that is to say October-December of said year. It started with what the Ballarat miners saw as an unjust system, firstly of having to pay for gold digging licenses, secondly for being fined and beaten by police for not having said licenses, and so on. Many other grievances were added,the most important of which was the lack of political representation and the demand for manhood suffrage.

The demand for these escalated into an armed conflict against the Crown’s soldiers, which lead to the death of many. The leaders of the Rebellion were put on trial for High Treason, but all were acquitted by a jury of all charges. The Eureka Rebellion, and their rallying point, the Flag of the Southern Cross is one of the symbols of Australian spirit.

The show was quite magnificent, and something definitely worth seeing. I will not go into much detail about it, because I do not wish to ruin it, and because it would do it no justice, whatsoever. If you are planning to visit Ballarat/Sovereign Hill,  make sure you check out the show. Oh, and get a t-shirt. I missed my chance.

Ballarat

After many days of indecisiveness about what I really want to do and see in Melbourne, after a realization that I am nearing the end of my visit, I finally got a break. Andrew was going up to Ballarat to clear out his old house. That meant that I could get not only a ride up there, but also a place to spend the night.

Now, the reason I wanted to go to Ballarat in the first place is twofold, firstly the city is old and sleepy, and quite different to the other places I have seen here. Secondly, and by far more importantly, the place was created during the local gold rush, and they have recreated the old town in a place known as Sovereign Hill. It is not only the buildings, but the place is full of people in period dress, making and selling the crafts of the era.

There are a number of activities to witness and take part in, both educational and fun. These include panning for gold, touring the mines, candlemaking, witnessing a gold pour, and so on. The place is full of tourists though, which does take away from the feeling a bit. However, I must say I did enjoy the feeling of stepping into the past quite a bit.

The mine tour, which is probably the biggest single experience at Sovereign Hill was extremely interesting, and not only because I enjoy myself underground. The guide was a very humorous man and the whole exhibit has been well planned and created. And best of all, I struck gold in that mine! Walking out I noticed a $50 bill on the ground, and since no one else wanted it, I pocketed it

With the cost of entrance ($35) and the mine tour (£5) I was now still a full $10 up. I decided to celebrate by buying a few small things to take home as well a have lunch at the local bakery. I had been told to try the pies there, as I have not yet had the pleasure of trying an Australian pie. I had the lamb stew pie which came with tomato sauce, and boy was it amazing. The pie that is, not the ketchup.

After eating I walked around Sovereign Hill once more, taking the time to witness the musket firing demonstration, after which I left for the Gold Museum adjacent to Sovereign Hill, which is accessible with the same ticket. At this point I had already spent quite a few hours at Sovereign Hill and felt I had seen and done everything I found interesting. The gold museum proved to be quite a dry, but I would imagine it to be very educational as well.

Andrew picked me up, after he called me and asked when. The reason I could not call him was that my prepaid phone had to be activated online, at an address not provided on the instruction sheet provided. The phone was fine for receiving calls, but I could not access any outgoing services. This would prove to be quite an issue later.

We went back to Andrew’s, where I helped him and Nicole pack up their belongings in anticipation of the moving truck arriving the next morning. After this we met up with two of their friends for dinner at a place called Da Vinci’s. To be honest, I was slightly disappointed at the place, but it was still good food for a reasonable price. Also the first proper meal I have paid for here.

After dinner we had probably the most surreal experience ever. Nathan, one of the friends brought is trailer to help Andrew and Nicole move their trash. Unfortunately, we didn’t really have a place to move it to. We loaded it all into the trailer and went looking for an unguarded skip to chuck the contents into. We drove along small side streets, hauling the lopsidedly packed trailer behind us.

We finally found a construction site in a back alley that had an open skip. There was a man there though, so we had to wait until he left. We were rather sure he was just a bum, but sometimes it is hard to tell, so we decided on caution. It was a mission in stealth, and hilarity.

Money = Violence

David C, two of his friends and I went out on the town. We went to a small bar for a while, then decided to change venues. As we were walking down Little Collins Street, a huge fight broke out. It was not more than ten meters in front of us to begin with, but we backed away a short distance so as not to be pulled in.

Unlike normal street fights, this particular one kept going and going. It lasted for many minutes, even longer than the emergency call. I think it says a lot about the police force here, that when calling 000 (911) they go into a long series of questions, starting from “What state are you in?” What sort of question is that, since they can see exactly where the call is originating anyway.

While waiting for the police to arrive, and as we started heading out of the street, two men broke from the fight, one supporting the other, and came past us. The one being supported was soaked in blood, with more pouring out of lacerations on his forehead, temple and cheeks. It did not look all too pleasant for either of them.

We moved on, after pointing the squad car in the right direction. We took some time finding the next haunt, but we did come up with quite a nice one. I do not recall seeing any names for these places, and since we walked back and forth along foreign streets, I am not able to provide addresses either. We made ourselves quite comfortable, shared in excellent conversation and so on.

From there, we moved on to the Casino. The Crown, that is. The others engaged in poker, I decided to refrain, having spent enough money that day on shoes. I did watch, and advise as well as make and share in plenty of humour. While the other two remained playing, David and myself went up to the food area for some chinese. It was alright, but nothing special, the drinks were absolutely laughably expensive.

While we were eating, two fights broke out in the Casino. This night people certainly were not acting very laid back, as the Australian norm would appear to be. The first was smaller, but the second required close to twenty members of the security staff to subdue. By this time it was getting rather late, so David and I decided to leave.

Getting a taxi was apparently going to be difficult, there was a line of probably over a hundred people at the Casino entrance, and all cabs were being diverted there. Somehow David managed to flag one down though, from the other side of the road, and we were on our way. First driving over to Richmond to drop David off home, then continuing on up to Kew for me.

Unfortunately, the cabby as even more ignorant of this part of the city than I am. We ended up driving all the way up to Balwyn, since he sped right through the intersection where we should have turned onto Edward and then Rowland streets.  Luckily I did manage to see it on the way back, and got home without further incident.

Shoes!

I woke up to a scratching and whining from behind my door. It was the first night I ha closed it all the way, instead of leaving it slightly ajar. I did some stretches, wrote down a few things, read the news and then had shower. After this I went downstairs to greetings of “good afternoon” despite it being five to ten.

John was there, and he had two presents for me, the first was a collective thank you from everyone who had received the invitations, especially from Maria’s father, who as considerably brightened by it. He has been quite ill of late, so it was quite a big thing really. The second was a Cowboy Surfer T-shirt, which are designed and produced by John’s son. Find his products on eBay under the name Cowboysurfertshirts.

After a breakfast of crumpets and honey (oh so very English, not as breakfast though) Teo came back and we took off for the Queen Victoria Market. It had been raining all morning, but the sun just came out for us again, making it yet another perfect top down drive across the city. I’ll say it now, if you are ever in Melbourne, you have to drive here in a convertible, the views are great. Also, visit Queen Vic market, do.

The market is large, yet quite easy to navigate and rather well organized. It felt rather less crowded than I imagined, and apparently it was abnormally quiet indeed for a Friday. We wondered around, looking at the Australiana, tourist stuff and other products on sale. Teo and I had a few good laughs about the Pakistanis selling “Aboriginal” art, especially the one great connoisseur who went into unending detail about the spiritual significance of the floral design on the side of a clearly mass produced  boomerang, to an American tourist who was soaking it all up, like a sponge.

I looked at some suitcases, since I am quite interested in trading my somewhat battered Trunk&Co. for a larger, more suiting model. Ideally I would like something that could house my diving gear, as well as clothes and other necessities. The market was full of Australian made cases, but I decided to see if I can find one of reasonable price, that has an international guarantee. I also looked briefly at hats.

What I bought thought, was  some chemical hot-packs, the type that produce heat over and over again through and exothermic reaction. I figured it would be a great way of keeping my neck issues to a minimum, but we shall see if it really solves anything. I also got two pairs of leather shoes, well a pair of “grazier” boots and dress shoes.

Both pairs are also leather soled, so to begin with, rather slippery on surfaces like parquet, carpets and smooth tiles. Considering that shoes tend to be worn here all day, inside and out, it is a slight hazard, but worth it. Leather soles are more me. Speaking of what is me, the boots are actually a red/brown color, very nice, but not something I would have pictured myself wearing before I tried them on. The other shoes are black, of course.

The shoes weren’t cheap, which is no surprise considering their quality, but still, I do not know if I could have gotten similar shoes in Finland for twice the price. Possibly, but who knows. The suitcases, as well as hats, belts and almost everything else that had visible price tags was considerably cheaper than in Finland. Next trip I am flying without luggage, buying a big suitcase and filling it all here.

We had lunch at the market also, Chinese soup. Teo had Tom Yum, I had prawn and pork dumpling soup. Very kosher. Afterwards we headed back over to the car, where someone had put a flyer under the wiper. The flyer told us that the car ha sustained collision damage, and the repair work was very obvious. It also warned us that there might be dangerous structural damage that has only been covered over.

Considering it is a new car, I can only come to the conclusion that whoever left the flyer has never seen a convertible before…

Going solo

Finally time to stretch my wings a bit! I took the tram from Kew into town, but got off a few stops earlier than one might have expected. I wished to visit St. Partick’s cathedral, which is in truth quite magnificent. The grounds were lovely, and the interior was quite humbling, as catholic churches tend to be.

From there I took a very round trip into town, through the Treasury and Fitzroy Gardens, although the latter was due to a bit of a wrong turn. It is quite amazing to see such natural beauty, and yet at the same time to see the high rise buildings peeking from behind the tree branches. And the weather was perfect as well, in the high 30s and perfectly sunny.

From the gardens I went into the hustle and bustle of the CBD, the crowded shopping streets, Chinatown, the whole lot. I walked and walked, and ended up walking for over three hours before I sat down to have the most expensive cup of juice I have ever had. $6.00 for a half liter cup. Then again, it was freshly squeezed from strawberries, oranges and a banana, with added guarana and vitamin-e powder.

While sitting there, at the corner of Flinders and Swanson street, in the shade of St. Paul’s Cathedral, a walking tour group of American tourists arrived there, stopped and wer told the following things:

“Across the street here you will notic a familiar symbol. Hungry Jack’s. Don’t know where you’ve seen that before? Well, you call it Burger King in America. You see, there was this family business registered with that name here, and they refused to sell to Burger King, so they had to rename it. Looking to your left from that, you will notice McDonald’s…”

At this point I zoned out. They were standing under the shadow of a cathedral, a stone’s throw from the Yarra river, with both Federation Square and Flinders Street Station in their field of view. And what they were told was stories about fast food places? I managed to keep my composure, but I could hear no more of this.

I continued my way to Fed. Square where I spent some time basking in the sun and wondering about the Finnish flags hoisted on every pole in front of the square. The square is quite like the area around Kiasma in the center of Helsinki, both made in a rather odd ultramodern style. Then I descended down o the river and walked along that for a while.

Coming back up, I walked around Flinders street station and up Degraves, from where I continued back up to Collins street. Deciding I had seen enough, I took the tram back home. It was a very good walk and I managed to loose quite a few kilos, back down one belt size, to what it was when I arrived. Teo and Barb were out, so Nicky and young David came over and we had dinner. After dinner we watched a Harry Potter movie, after which they departed.