Friday, May 3, 2013

RTW Trip: Day 64-67 (4/28-5/1) - Melbourne & Cairns



Day 64-65: Water, the Good and the Bad


Because of the fact that most cities aren’t great for tourism on Sunday when you have the opportunity to go on a weekday, I decided against going into Melbourne central today, instead pushing that off for when I return in a week and a day. No, instead I relaxed along the fringe of Melbourne, its southern port, a both fast and slow growing posh suburb of Melbourne. We spent most of the day at home, but left for a long walk along the coast of the Port of Melbourne, preparing our appetites for a large dinner.

The Port of Melbourne, as my Uncle told it, used to be a low-class blue collar area, housing more than one illegal activity near its shores. Then, the government decided to do to it what Guiliani did to Times Square, and rid it of all its seedy inhabitants. They did this by inflating property taxes and rents in the area, essentially pricing out the unwanted, and turning the Port of Melbourne into a toney, fancy-apartment-lined suburb. Along the way, they apparently priced out a lot of commerce as well.

My family told me that many of their favorite old restaurants had to close because of the rent and taxes. Some were already empty. Some got progressively emptier as they raised prices to mitigate the effect of the higher taxes. And some just closed for no tangible reason. We crossed the ‘London Bar’ on our walk, with its windows covered with newspaper. My family told me that even a few months ago, this place was crowded and seemingly doing well. I wanted to tell them that I knew the feeling, that Robin and my favorite bar Sports Bar, had closed amidst a shroud of mystery, but I feel like I shouldn’t admit the length to which my attachment to a strange Mumbai bar goes.

The boardwalk and walking path (along with a jogging path – I don’t think there is a country anywhere that is in better shape) was still quite nice, with a cool breeze blowing in from the Southern Sea. We passed the ‘Spirit of Tasmania’ the boat that runs overnight cruises to Tasmania, just as it was calling the cars of the passengers to drive on board. We crossed many fancy, expensive, modern apartments that were mostly full, showing that the main focus of the City of Melbourne’s reclamation project (getting people of some standing into the area) was successful. But we also crossed a heap of new restaurants that were similarly empty. Admittedly, it was 6:30 pm on a Sunday evening, but these waterfront restaurants were jarringly barren. My Aunt and Uncle admitted some sadness that this area was well populated, but the people who lived near the Port were rich enough to flock to the restaurants in Melbourne proper. I was happy that even problems that affix so many cities in the US are also affecting other countries as well.

Our dinner was on Fitzbury Street at a restaurant named ‘One Fitzbury Street’, which was not creative, but very descriptive. The restaurant was located at the corner of Fitzbury Street and the road running parallel to the waterfront. We arrived a bit early for our reservation, so we took a walk down Fitzbury Street, past a score of other nice restaurants, spots that my family uses often in the past for Birthdays and other celebrations. It was a fun street, with many open-face restaurants that, unlike those lining the waterfront, actually had some semblance of a crowd. Our restaurant was the most crowded, and deservedly so after tasting their food.

We arrived for a 3-course meal where we could all choose and appetizer, entrée and desert. Of course, in Australia (and a few other countries I’ve visited), they call appetizers ‘entrees’, and entrees ‘mains’, which still confuses me. Their choices were all quite attractive on paper. I went with garlic fried shrimp, and while they only gave four shrimp, they were fried about as well as any I’ve had. Their European-styled menu lent itself to some interesting main courses, and my cousin and I split their Seafood Paella, which needed two be shared for two. At least, sharing for two was what they required. When we got it, it was clear that they were envisioning two large people with hefty appetites. It easily could have been shared by three quite comfortably. Now, most of the giant size was because of the rice that was added, but they had more than enough seafood to satiate Lisa and myself. Their mussels and scallops were particularly good. We had a good showing for ourselves, finishing all the seafood and I would guess about 60% of the rice. Considering that the rice is just rice, and we still had brownies to come, we had no reason to attempt to do the impossible and finish it all.

We returned home where we found Gavan, returned after a long day working on a competition for University. I hadn’t yet met anyone still currently studying during my tour, so it definitely created an odd feeling. On the one hand, slightly nostalgic for what I left behind last December. On the other, mostly grateful for what I left behind last December was left behind. Anyway, because everyone but Gavan, who has evening classes on Mondays (now that made me feel nostalgic, as someone who never had an AM class after Sophomore year), had to be an adult and get up early the next day, it was an early night, and a casual evening to end my first stint in Melbourne, a period of time dominated by reconnecting with family that I had barely seen and only partially knew.

I was not tired, of course, so I stayed up to finally watch the tape of Bayern Munich hammering Barcelona (oh, the joy). Because of this, I only got up around 10:45. Gavan was up, still in his nightclothes he told me he got up at 10:30. I was happy to hear this, but I’m half convinced he was telling me this just to make me feel better. We had loose plans to see some of the other suburbs on the way to the airport (I was flying out to Cairns), but those plans were quickly forgotten when he asked if I wanted to play FIFA. Being an avid FIFA player, I quickly agreed, and we played three matches, Manchester United vs. FC Bayern Munich. I wasn’t nearly as dominant as the real life Bayern, but I did win two of the three matches (all were one-goal-margin affairs). He was upset, I was slightly as well, as FIFA is one of the few games I consider myself to be somewhat proficient at. I have a feeling he considers himself the same, which led to his being disgruntled at his efforts.

When we sat down to have lunch before we left, I was given a shock of bad news: my Great Barrier Reef diving cruise was cancelled for tomorrow (Tuesday), due to some wind and tide issues. In all honestly, the only reason I was going to Cairns was to go to the Great Barrier Reef. I decided to spend two full days (three nights) there, but the only real attraction was the reef cruise. When I called up the company, they were noncommittal regarding the possibility of the cruise being able to go on Wednesday (my only other full day in Cairns), and I took their uneasy response of ’50/50’ and the fact that the weather forecast was almost exactly the same on the two days as a sign that the cruise probably wasn’t going to happen on Wednesday either.

Confronted with the option of spending two days in an area with little to do (outside of the Great Barrier Reef) or adjusting the tickets to spend the extra two days in Melbourne instead, the mental accounting I did pointed to going to Cairns anyway being the better option. Of course, this whole process to decide what to do made our departure for the airport late. Luckily, Jetstar is the one low-cost airline that is fine with you coming any time 30 minutes before departure. Of course, they also happened to be the one airline that made me weigh my backpack as part of my carry-on amount. I was not expecting this, so I was given the option to either check in my normal handbag for $70 (the lady gleefully told me that for my two future flights, it would only be a $25 charge), or leaving tons of stuff behind to waste away in the Melbourne airport.

Factoring this in to the mental math, I would have been better off staying in Melbourne, however I likely would have had the same thing happen two days later. Anyway, I reached Cairns after an uneventful flight. The only thing I would like to comment on is the recent trend of airlines, both low-cost and normal, making you switch off your electronic equipment far before the time of arrival. We had barely begun our descent into Cairns when I was told to turn off my electronic device.  And this isn’t just a low-cost thing either, as Singapore Airlines and South African Airways told me the same thing. Anyway, Jetstar is probably better than Air Asia, but that might be my opinion of Kuala Lumpur’s ridiculous Low Cost Carrier Terminal talking.

I didn’t do anything on my first day in Cairns. Really, I did nothing. I did have a nice dinner at a Greek Restaurant, but with the ridiculous prices that are omnipresent in Australia, I wasn’t too excited with what was admittedly nice food. Anyway, my 2nd day in Cairns was more eventful. I will say that considering there was barely any rain during the time when I was up, I find it harder to believe my terrible misfortune of having my tour cancelled. There really was no rain and barely any wind. How do those companies make any money?

About Me

I am a man who will go by the moniker dmstorm22, or StormyD, but not really StormyD. I'll talk about sports, mainly football, sometimes TV, sometimes other random things, sometimes even bring out some lists (a lot, lot, lot of lists). Enjoy.