2006/06 Australia trip - Melbourne |
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We were staying with family in Melbourne while we got ready for our trip.
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Our first task was a trip into Melbourne on the train to pick up our debit cards from the Commonwealth Bank. I’d called from the US to arrange this and heard “No, we don’t mail cards overseas. But, yes they will be there at the bank waiting for you.” I was dubious as that hadn’t worked last time and sure enough, at the bank we heard “We aren’t allowed to have the cards at the bank. They must be mailed to you.” After much muttering we agreed to wait the five days for the cards to be made and sent to us at John’s address. This would delay us a little but we hoped to be out of their way by the time John went in for surgery.
The trip wasn’t a total waste, as Melbourne is a nice city to walk around in, with lots of lanes and small cafes, 
and good wool shops, Sandie says. She will be knitting her way around Australia. In the afternoon we crossed the Yarra River to the Botanical Gardens, and were amazed by the number of plants that were still showing flowers, including a beautiful walk through the camellias. We met an American couple at the café and took them to look at the eels. They couldn’t believe that the eels and the black swans could coexist in the same pond. “Simple physics. The eels aren’t big enough to swallow a swan!”
We quickly found that Australia had become more expensive to US residents, mainly because of the decline of the US Dollar. The Australia dollar was worth less than 50c a few years back, but now was pushing above 75c, a big difference. Unlike New Zealand, which has cheap diesel, Australia’s is slightly more expensive than gasoline, and costs from $4 for a US gallon in the cities up to $5 in the boonies. Australia, of course, is into kilometres and litres, and drives on the left and loves its English-style roundabouts. One shock was the price of bananas. Cyclone Larry had wiped out the Queensland crop, and bananas cost about ten times the price in Minnesota
For winter time, we thought the weather in Melbourne was pretty good: 50s and 60s during the day, and dropping to around 40 overnight. We had some shopping to do: Sandie was looking for a pattern for her woolen sock project, and I needed a disconnect switch for the camper’s batteries. We ended up visiting two shopping malls, The Glen and Chadstone. In a country that has so much space, it seems odd that the big cities like Sydney and Melbourne have narrow roads and a shortage of parking space. Both malls had parking spaces limited to two or four hours, and a team of enforcers to make sure we didn’t overstay.
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