Saturday, June 12th
Even though I had stayed up late last night watching the festivities in South Africa, I still had to check out at 10am today. Due to some finagling with the friendly people at the front desk, I was allowed to sleep in until 10:30, and then I proceeded to check out at 11:00. It wasn't that difficult to wake up, as it turned out, due to the large number of Maori performers getting themselves ready for a show right outside my door on the 2nd floor of the hostel. Why they needed to get ready there, and do so as loudly as they did, will forever remain a mystery to me. After checking out I still ha some time to kill before heading to the airport, so I went to the cafe next door and did some surfing of the interwebs. For brekky I had what is called a full English breakfast, as well as the obligatory side of coronary disease. The meal was great, with eggs, toast, bacon, suasage, ham, baked beans, and tomatoes.
Eventually I gathered my things and walked over to the bus stop, where I got on the Airport Link. It took about 20 minutes to get from the city centre to the airport, which would be a pretty nice commute to the airport back in Jax. The bus stopped only once before getting to the airport, at a giant outlet mall, which struck me as a little odd, but what are you gonna do? The airport was fairly small for a national capital airport, but when you consider the size of Canberra, I suppose it wasn't too surprising. In any event, it was certainly much larger than Gisborne's airport. I got my boarding pass and hesitantly wandered over to the security line, wondering how my didgeridoo would play out (no pun intended). It turned out I needn't have been worried, as carrying a didgeridoo through security is a common enough sight in this country that narry an eye was blinked. As I was the only person at security, or in the whole terminal from the looks of it (I was there a little early, admittedly) they decided I would be a good guinea pig for all of their fancy testing devices for explosive powder residue and various other threats to aviation.
Having gotten through the gauntlet, I sat down in the waiting area and hijacked some wifi from the QANTAS first class lounge. Thus content to bide my time, I sat in wait for my plane to arrive. I flew Virgin Blue Airlines, Richard Branson's Australian toy, and it was a nice airline, in my opinion, with free satellite TV before takeoff. The flight was somehow pretty full, although I have no idea where my fellow passengers came from, as they certainly hadn't been in the terminal, and in 40 minutes we had arrived in Melbourne.
Having landed at around 7pm, I got my luggage and boarded a bus headed toward Southern Cross Railway Station, in the CBD. The bus ride took 20 minutes, and a tourism video played during the journey, advertising various parts of the city. The rail station was very new, and had an unusual design featuring a large section of astroturf by an open air entrance as well as a wavy roof. On my way out I was bombarded with hundreds of Australians dressed up in the colors of their favorite Aussie Rules Football team. One of the many stadiums in Melbourne is right behind the Rail station, so the fans of the Essendon Bombers and the Richmond Tigers (both of which are suburbs of Melbourne) were getting ready to cheer on their team from the stands. It was pretty cool to see sporting culture from a completely different side of th ocean's perspective. Exiting the station got me to Spencer Street, which I walked down to its intersection with Flinders Street, where I found the hostel I would be staying at. On the walk I passed a place called Batman's Hill, no doubt named after a former resident of Melbourne, but all I could think of was a combination of Bruce Wayne and George from UM. Gave me some laughs, that's for sure.
The hostel was nice, with new furnishings and kitchens on every floor. Downstairs was a bar, called Bertha Brown's, which was offering $5 pizzas to hostel guests. As you probably guessed, I took advantage of that one. I got myself an Athenian pizza, with lamb, tzatziki, olives, and feta. It was scrumptious. Afterward, I went to the supermarket nearby (at the train station actually) and picked up some milk, cereal, and FUIC, and then settled in at the hostel. I went to the TV lunge and watched some World Cup action with fellow hostelgoers.
Sunday, June 13th
Today began at 4:30 AM for me, at which time I awoke to watch the USA's first game at the World Cup, against England (where I will be going for one day of layover before I get to France, and will also be seeing Michael, who has been studying/working there this summer with Prof. Frohock). I was very pleased with the resulting draw, and was encouraged by the two guys who watched the game with me, Michael and Aiden, from Germany and Iraq, respectively. After the game Michael and I went to a 24hr McDonald's for some early breakfast, and then went back to bed.
Waking back up, I went out into Melbourne for my traditional first day exploration, as well as to get a feel for what the city looked like during daytime. I started by walking down Flinders Street toward the gathering point/hub of the city, Federation Square. The square is a modern approximation on the older squares found in other cities, such as Trafalgar or the many piazzas of Rome. It is a nice place to relax and watch the crowds go by. The square is lined on two sides by roads, on a third by the Yarra River, and on the fourth by a group of very modern looking buildings which house the Institute for the Moving Image, a museum of cinematography. Across one of its two border streets is the Flinders Street Rail Station, which is a gorgeous red and yellow sandstone neoclassical building, which could not be more in contrast with its cousin on Collins Street. Across Flinders Street from the square is St. Paul's Cathedral, an Anglican cathedral of typical design, which is to say, fairly grandiose. I spent a few minutes inside having a look around, as I do enjoy religious buildings. It was, as I said, very average, although that is no bad thing, since an average cathedral is still an impressive structure. To its credit, it did have a very large pipe organ and some very large and loud bells in its tower. On the fourth corner of this intersection was a bar called Young and Jackson's, one of the oldest pubs in Melbourne, and in Australia for that matter.
I then walked into the middle of Flinders Street, to the tram station, where I waited for a red, antique tram. This particular tram, and its similarly crafted cousins, was a free "tourist" tram that ran around the borders of the Melbourne CBD, and thus to almost all of the major tourist attractions in the city. Melbourne is, I was discovering, a very compact city which sprawls on forever into the horizon. You can enjoy yourself staying only in the center, but there is a lot to do on the periphery as well. I took the magical free tram through two sides of its square route to the north end of the CBD, where I walked a few blocks away from the station to the QVM, or Queen Victoria Market. This is one of the Southern Hemisphere's great indoor markets. It's an open air affair, with a giant roof overhead. There are about 20 to 30 rows of shop after shop, each selling different things, from souvenirs to crockery. Some of the places are little hole in the wall restaurants as well, and there is a secondary market almost as large which only sells fresh food, from produce to meat. I spent several hours there, going down every aisle and making a few purchases. Overall, I was reminded of the Paddy Market from Sydney, but this whole experience was just better for some reason. It may have been the open air versus closed environment, or the fact that I had some excellent patatas bravas, which are one of my favorite dishes ever, or it may have been the Portuguese festival going on just outside, with stalls, live music, and food samplings. Even though I still don't really like the Portuguese language in comparison to its other Romance brethren, the festival had such a...festive feel to it. The patatas bravas really helped too, as they brought me right back to my time spent in Barcelona during my 3rd summer of high school.
After the market I took the tram back to Flinders Street, seeing more of this wonderful city on the way over. Back near the banks of the Yarra River, I visited the Melbourne Immigration Museum, which documents the various reasons for immigrating to Australia, the experiences of those who did, and some special exhibits on subjects such as the Muslim cameleers who allowed for the settlement of the Western cities of Australia. The museum itself is housed in the old customs building, which would have seen a lot of activity during the heyday of Melbourne immigration (during the Victorian gold rush). After the museum I went for dinner at Bertha Brown's, where I had a Lebanese pizza and some FUIC. I then watched some more soccer with about 20 people in the small TV lounge on the second floor, which was designed for about 7 people, maximum.
Monday, June 14th
Woke up earlier today and had some cereal and milk before setting off into the city. It was a really glorious day out, if a bit brisk, with people everywhere the eye turned celebrating the public holiday. Oddly enough, though the Queen's Birthday is celebrated in most of the Commonwealth nations, it is not a public holiday in the United Kingdom, where the Queen actually lives and reigns. First off I went to the Rialto Business Tower, where there is a observation deck near the top for observing Melbourne. I had wanted to do this because similar experiences in Auckland and Sydney had been so much fun. Alas, it was closed for the holiday, so I went on to my next stop.Next, I walked to Bourke Street, which is in the middle of the CBD and runs across its entire length. It has, through part of it, a large pedestrian mall. I spent some time window shopping and got some coffee to get me properly going for the day. By the way, for any of you Starbucks aficionados out there, try the Almond and Hazelnut Latte, quite tasty when you need a blast of sugar along with your caffeine.
Following that I strolled over to Little Bourke Street, which is home to Melbourne’s Chinatown. This Chinese enclave is fairly renowned in Australia, so I wanted to see what it was all about. Marked by big red Torii gates on either side (which was, on reflection, my first warning that the area was actually more of an Eastern Asia-town than a Chinatown) of its length, it was bustling with all kinds of shops, stalls, booths, restaurants, and stores, some selling authentic merchandise/cuisine, others completely faking it to rake in the tourist dollar. I noticed a lot of restaurants specializing in Shark Fin Soup, and I felt the pain of a thousand MSC students in my heart, thanks to lectures I had taken last year in China on the subject. Unfortunately, most of the shops were closed, due to the holiday, so I didn’t spend too much time there. I soon got on a tram back to Federation Square.
From there I took the tram to one of the next closest stops and crossed the Yarra River to Southbank, a neighboring area to my own. It was a nice place, with lots of upscale shops and places to eat. A highlight of the area, though, was a street performer who was living within a large scale replica of the Jabulani ball for the entire World Cup, not coming out, but rather only spending time inside to watch every single match. Another cool things in Southbank is the Crown Complex, which is home to a luxury mall, many restaurants, a hotel, and a casino. It was like being in Las Vegas, although I didn’t gamble.
I then used a combination of the tram and walking paths to get to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the MCG, or the “G” as it’s known locally. As it was going to be impossible to get any productive work done on such a festive day, I decided to experience some Aussie culture first hand and witness a game of Australian Rules Football, which is undoubtedly the most popular sport in the states of Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia. More than half of the teams in the AFL are from Melbourne or the surrounding suburbs, so the sport is still very much centralized on the city, and the best place to see a game in the world is the MCG. The stadium is historic, having been built more than a century ago as a cricket ground, which it still functions as (since the fields for AFL and Cricket are the same, it can function as a stadium for both without all of the complications that places like SunLife Stadium run into). The field is a strange thing to see, as it’s a giant circle, unlike the fields for other sports.
For lunch I had some chicken and chips, which was basic but tasty, and not overpriced, as I was expecting since I was in a stadium. The game itself was great fun, a kind of mix between soccer and rugby, with lots of punting. I really enjoyed it, and, as I was sitting in a majority Collingwood Magpies section, decided to cheer for that team against their rivals, the Melbourne Demons. The game was an annual rivalry game, and these two always play on Queen’s Birthday, so there was a very large crowd in attendance. Even though the game ended in a draw, at 76 all, which is very unusual for one of these, I still really enjoyed myself.
After the game I walked to Southbank with tens of thousands of confused and/or depressed Aussies, who were unable to cope with a draw in a rivalry match. I went to the Crown Complex for a walk around. I stopped in an Irish pub for dinner, since Bertha Brown’s was closed for the holiday. Back at the hostel I fell into my routine of watching soccer and drinking some FUIC.
Tuesday, June 15th
I spent this morning calling my various Melbourne contacts in order to establish definite meeting times for tomorrow. As had not expected the public holiday (the thought just never crossed my mind) I was now one day down in Melbourne for meetings. Fortunately there was really only two groups I needed to speak with, and I got them both to agree to meetings tomorrow, one in person and one over the phone. I will be having a phone conversation with Dr. Ian Anderson, and a meeting with the CEO and his advisors of VAHS, the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service. After a quick bite of lunch at BB's, I set out to find a few sites to see in the city.
I hopped on the little red tram and was on my way. My first stop was the Victorian Parliament Building, which is a large, classical style building equally evoking Greek and Roman architecture. Unfortunately, the building was closed, as the Victorian Parliament was sitting today, so I just ambled around on th massive set of steps for a little while, soaking up the view of the building. I then got back on the tram for a few more stops. I jumped back off at the northeast corner of the square route, where it bumps against the border of one of Melbourne's oldest suburbs, Fitzroy. I got sidetracked for a short time by a small synagogue I spotted about 200 meters to the left. I walked over to investigate it, and it was nothing special, but in my new position I spotted a real find, a gigantic cathedral made of black stone. This juxtaposition of a cathedral with the color of mourning and sin was an odd thing to behold, and made the already very large building even more intimidating and menacing. The cathedral is the home of the Melbourne archdiocese of the Catholic Church, and accordingly, there is a flag of the Vatican City flying on church grounds. The inside was a bit mundane, disappointingly.
From the cathedral I walked over to Fitzroy Park, which is one of Melbourne's numerous and expansive parks, most of which are located in the nearby suburbs, just like this one. The only real exception to this rule is the King's Domain, which is very close to the CBD. I walked down one of the main pathways, through the fallen leaves of autumn, past some children playing a pickup game of AFL, and just enjoyed the mild winter afternoon. In the middle of the park sat the Royal Exhibition Hall, a large white building constructed in that famous Victorian style. It was designed to impress around the beginning of Australian federation, and it surely must have succeeded in that goal. The hall was surrounded by little ponds and gardens and had a very large fountain in front of it. Beyond the hall was the Melbourne Museum.
This architecture is a bit too modern for my eye, but I can understand why most would find it appealing, with lots of steel beams and glass. The museum had proven contentious in Melbourne, I was told, due to the location (away from all of the other main tourist sites) and its style (which you either love or hate). The interior of the building housed some typical exhibits, as well as some very unique ones. I especially liked the multiple exhibits, housed in an entire wing of the museum, which centered on the Aboriginal experience in Australia, from the far past up until today. There were also exhibits on the human body (which were much more revealing than what would be allowed in the US), taxonomy, the oceans, the Torres Strait Islanders, Pacific Islanders, and even an indoor forest explaining the ecosystem. All in all, a very good museum in my opinion. That pretty much wrapped up the day for me, as I went back to BB's for dinner and then went to sleep.
Wednesday, June 16th
Today was my meeting day, and o I woke up early, freshened up, and, most importantly, shaved. After breakfast I got a cab ride from Flinders St Station to the suburb of Fitzroy, since I didn't have time to take the tram. There, within walking distance from the museum, down a residential street, were the offices and hospital of VAHS. A partner of both NACCHO, and its Victorian counterpart, VACCHO, VAHS is an entirely community run healthcare service designed to serve the needs of the local Koori, or Aboriginal population.
Once I arrived, I was led into the board room, just next to the main waiting area, which was full of people, mostly although not entirely Aboriginal, awaiting attention and treatment for their various ills and injuries. It got me in the perfect mindset for my research to be in a hospital again. Inside the board room, after a bit of searching around for the right people, I was welcomed by a group of representatives of VAHS, including the CEO, the the Head of Research, the Chief Policy Manager, and Chief of Diabetes Policy. This was quite the welcoming party, and I thanked them for giving me their time. We quickly got down to talking about my research, and how it lined up with their work. Each of the members present contributed something meaningful to the conversation, and it went very well. My main interest was in comparing Maori Health Providers with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, to see how they both operated, were funded, interacted with their community, had guidelines and goals set for them, were governed, etc. I learned a lot, especially from the CEO, who was a very energetic man named Rod Jackson, and they were even able to provide me with a copy of the as of yet unreleased Victorian "Close the Gap" plan, as well as a recent Ph.D. dissertation which lines up nicely with my work.
After the meeting I thanked my four hosts and found the exit. I walked from the headquarters/hospital to the edge of Fitzroy Park, from where I reconnected with the tram and rode back to the station just outside of my hostel. Back at the hostel I had some lunch and went upstairs for a brief nap. I then gathered all the papers, outlines, brochures, and various other things I had been given at all of my interviews and headed for the post office on Collins Street. The experience was less than enjoyable, with massive lines added to the trouble I had in understanding the Australian system for international mail. I eventually got through it, though, and sent the package home, since I simply wouldn't have been able to carry it all with me for the remainder of my travels.
After the post office I got to see another side of Melbourne by taking a pay tram out to the suburb of St. Kilda, which is a beach town. I arrived just outside of the grounds of Luna Park, which is an amusement park with the requisite frightening clown face posing as the entrance. I assure you, if you need fuel for your nightmares, this is the place to go. I also walked down the boardwalk, which was pretty empty during the winter season, and dipped my hands into the Pacific Ocean again. Back at the hostel I did my laundry and packed up for my travels tomorrow, during which time I would take four flights and more than 30 hours to get from Melbourne to Delhi, with stops in Sydney, Singapore, and Mumbai along the way.
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