|
|
|
|
35 Floors and 36 Degrees
Melbourne, 6th January 2002
 We
woke casually today after a really good night's sleep. I felt so
much better this morning. We got ready quickly then headed down town
after breakfast.
Today was one of those days where we all split up and did our own
things. But as we headed towards the town, the first thing we
noticed was that life in Australia seemed to continue on Sundays. In
New Zealand, everything shuts on Sundays and the towns just go dead,
but not here. The second thing we noticed, was how flipping hot it
was! The air was intensely warm and we were sweating more than we
ever have before. In fact, the temperature reached 36 C, that's
almost body temperature & VERY hot.
I posted a big box of things back home and after relieving myself of
the huge weight, Nat & I took a walk around town. We visited the
Victoria On Russell Art Gallery. It was free and definitely worth
seeing. It mostly had, what I call, traditional art. There were
fantastic paintings & portraits all over the walls, the 'modern' art
was kept to a minimum. I'm starting to enjoy these Art Galleries, I
think I'm becoming 'cultured'!
We also popped into a really posh hotel and took the lift up to the
35th floor. I'd read about the bathrooms on that floor which had
full wall sized glass panels & superb views over Melbourne. No one
seemed to mind us doing this, but I guess they get truckloads of
tourists coming up to do the same.
We spent most of the day window shopping, the streets were too hot
to stand around in and there were no beaches nearby. The most
interesting thing we did today, was to check out some 'backpacker
car dealers'. A month or so ago, a guy who was chatting up Emily and
sharing his big bag of Cheezels with Natalie, had told us something
interesting. If you want to HIRE a car in Australia, you need to be
21, but if you BUY a car, you only need to be 18. This meant we
might be able to drive around Australia instead of having to rely on
coaches. Hmmmm! Interesting! Ever since then, we'd been quietly
hoping to get a car and do a big road trip around Australia. Coaches
are fine, but having our own car would mean freedom, fun & more
freedom!
Everyone we'd spoken to in New Zealand said they weren't sure if
we'd be able to drive. But the people we'd met in Australia sounded
hopeful. We'd made some notes from cars advertised for sale on the
notice boards in our hostel. We also had a look at a couple of nice
looking vans in a small backpacker car dealer. One little beige van
took our interest, but we decided to leave further investigation
until tomorrow...
Next Diary Entry >>
|
|
To know the road ahead, ask those coming back
|
|
|
|
|