Australia: A Wedding and Melbourne

Getting my visa to enter Australia was one of the easiest things I have ever done.  It took 20 minutes online, paid and received a reference number within 5 minutes.  You go Australia, doing visas the right way!  Now getting off the plane it was just as easy.  I got to go through the electronic visa line.  The only reason I got to go through this is because my passport has a chip in it, and I applied online.  If I had my old passport (the one I changed 6 months ago) I would have had to wait in line with all the Chinese, Malay and who knows who else was over there.  I was originally weary of having a chip in my passport, and actually contemplated cutting it out.  I don’t like the government knowing where I am all the time.  It’s none of their business what country I’m in.

So after all this convenience, they had a delay on getting out of the baggage claim.  The security guys must have been looking for something, I think half the people in line were being pulled aside to get their luggage checked. I went through just fine, but had to wait in line for a half an hour.  The plane being 20 minutes late plus the baggage line delay made me 15 minutes late for my train out to Berrigan.  When I got to the station the guy at the counter was nice.  He said he wasn’t technically supposed to give me a new ticket for free, because I didn’t contact them before the train left, but he understood late planes and whatnot.  So I got a new ticket that was a train and bus.  I had to wait for two hours, so what did I do?  Sit on my bum, ate a hotdog and read a book.  I also found a payphone and called Monique to let her know about the new plan.

I actually fell asleep on the train.  After being up for 48 hours I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was.  I can never sleep upright.  Getting off the train and onto to bus I was assaulted by a heat wave.  I’m not sure what the temperature was that day, but it was probably in the 40s (over 100).  I made another little alteration to my ticket when exiting the train to get on the adjoining bus.  I needed to go to Cobram and my ticket said I was going to Albry.  The bus drivers didn’t care where I was going, so I got on the Colbram bus instead of the Albry bus.  People are so laid back there.

 Monique and Amanda were waiting for me, as planned, at the bus stop.  They were worried, I had no way to contact them, so they thought maybe I had missed the bus too.  But I didn’t, thank goodness.  Then we had a 40 minute drive back to Amanda’s house.  I was so tired when I came in, but the girls gave me energy.  We talked about the wedding and what was happening in their lives, and my life.  It was fun.  When we got in we were rushed to dinner and I got to meet Amanda’s family and Monique’s parents.  It was a nice evening.  I had a few beers, that went straight to my head for being so tired, and fish and chips.  

The next day was all wedding prep.  We set up tables, and gates, and chairs and canopies.  We also went to town to get the flowers sorted, picked up a few rainbow pinwheels, some crate paper, visited the ATM, and lastly we got milk shakes (yum!).  The last thing we needed to do to get this wedding rolling for the next day was to set up the reception hall.  This was the most stressful thing for the girls and the most time consuming.  We left around midnight and everything still wasn’t finished.  The girls didn’t end up going to bed until 4am, and had to wake up before 9am.  No beauty rest for the brides, but in the morning they were lovely.

The day of the wedding everything went smoothly.  The wedding area was beautiful, the reception hall was finished and looked sparkly, the girls’ hair, dresses and everything looked great!  It was one of the most beautiful ceremonies I have seen.  Not very often to people get to find true love, and then be able to have it legally validated! Shit the US doesn't even have that all sorted out yet. I read the song from The Wedding Singer, “I Wanna Grow Old With You,” and Amanda’s friend Dan read a comic from Calvin and Hobbs.  

After the ceremony in the garden we headed over to the (cooler) reception hall and had Chinese food (the girls are living in China right now), beer and wine.  The girls danced and there were speeches made by the fathers and Amanda’s brother.  Everyone danced, drank a bit and had a good time.  I went to bed around 12:30 but I think the party went on till 3AM.

The next day we had breakfast on the grill and then I headed off to Melbourne with Amanda’s brother, Steve.  It was a lovely trip into town.  The countryside in this part of Australia is similar to the mid-west or the plain states in America.  There were lots of cows, wheat fields and sheep.  It looked very burnable too.  Steve said it was a problem every year.  

I wasn’t quite going into Melbourne city proper.  Katrina’s sister Tara lives outside the city, almost on the way to Steve’s place.  So he dropped me off right at her door step.  Perfect!

I know Tara through Katrina.  Katrina was my host sister when I was about 8 years old.  She was an exchange student through the rotary program, from Australia.  While I was traveling Europe I met up with her in Germany, where she lives now. We spent quite a bit of time together and she said I could probably spend with her sister or parents when I visited Australia.  Tara is Katrina's sister.

When I came in Glenn was out.  Tara had just gotten home and showed me around and I did get to meet Oscar, the giant orange tabby that is addicted to people.  I like cats a lot, but am a bit weary of them because I was allergic to them when I was younger.  For some reason, I haven’t had a problem with my cat allergies in years, so I could play with Oscar as much as I wanted.  Tara and I talked about all sorts of things before Glenn came, home.  Tara and Glenn are lovely.  They have married for about 2 years, so of course I got to see the wedding photos.  The wedding was a 1920s theme and beautiful. They had also just gone on a big trip around Europe and it sounded fabulous.  Glenn came home and made us dinner.  I thought it was so sweet.  Tara and I sitting on the couch talking and internet-ing, and Glenn chatting with us and cooking.

The next day was my walk about day.  I got a transport card and headed into the city.  It was very easy.  I found Lygon street first.  This street is supposed to be foodie heaven.  And it was grand, there were so many options, but I wasn’t hungry so I headed towards Flinders Street.  This was supposed to be the tourist area.

When I arrived at flinders, to my surprise, there was a Superbowl party.  I was vaguely aware of the Superbowl, because of random Facebook postings, but I would have never guessed that Australians would be interested in it.  I guess Australians like all sports, and a party… well who doesn’t want an opportunity to drink and wear their jerseys.  I had come right at the half time show, so I sat down for a bit and watched.  All around the square there were American things.  A taxi cab and a miniature of the empire state building.  I got a real kick out of it all.  Shortly after the second half started, I left to go for a walk.  I don't need to spend all my time in Australia doing American like things.

I found the river and wandered my way down it, and eventually found the royal botanical gardens.  I had read good reviews online, and it was fantastic.  The grounds were very well maintained, and there were ponds, a craft shack, gazebos, benches in little hideaway areas, jungle walks… I have never been to a nicer public park.  

I wandered on the other side of the river back and continued past the Superbowl party to the south bank.  This part of town was getting ready for the Chinese New Year celebrations.  There were little stalls and red lanterns everywhere.  Nothing was completely set up, but it was a nice walk.  After seeing that I decided I needed to see the giant New Year’s dragon that was set up in Lockland.  

I had built up an appetite, so I headed back to Lygon street and found an Argentinean restaurant.  I ordered an empanada and a Quilmes (meat pastry and beer).  The empanada was so good I ordered another one.  I miss Argentine food, and I feel like it’s hard to come by, unlike many other world cuisines.

The next day was zoo day, but because I spent half the night on the phone (time differnce) it started really late.  I thought the Healesville Australian Animal Sanctuary was an hour away, just like everything else.  Unfortunately it was about 3 hours away by public transit.  But there was public transit!  I started at 11 and got there about 2:40. I missed the bird show and several other attractions, but that was ok.  Sometimes I like to just walk anyway.  I saw every Australian animal under the sun.  Kangaroos, I thought looked like big rabbits.  Wallabies were similar to really big rat/rabbits.  Wombats are big sleepy teddy bears.  I was surprised that platypuses were way smaller than I thought.   The koalas were just as cute and cuddly though.  This was probably because there was a baby at the sanctuary, and it was climbing like mad, just being the cutest thing ever.  I saw a lot more things, but these were most memorable.  Going to the sanctuary was a much better idea than going to the zoo.  I liked seeing animals unique to Australia.

 Because I started late, of course I finished late.  The bus back into town didn’t leave until 5:30, so I waited around for that and then caught one more bus and train into Melbourne.  I got in about 8:00 and was ravenous.  So I went back to Lygon street and found a cute little Italian restaurant.  The head waiter was a character and then a regular asked me if I wanted to join him.  I did.  He was a nice fellow from the bush.  He came into the Melbourne all the time for his job, and knew a lot about Australia because of it too.  We chatted about where I should go when I visit, talked about his job, about politics and everything under the sun.  I really enjoyed the company.  I love meeting random people.

The last thing I did in Australia was eat a Kangaroo steak.  I was going to go see some art galleries and what not, but I ended up having something wrong with my foot that made it hard to walk.  Despite this, I went out for my kangaroo steak.  It tasted a lot like regular steak.  It came with a rich pepper cream sauce and vegetables drenched in butter.  It was delicious.  After the steak I hobbled back to Tara’s and Glenn’s apartment.  The day ended with more chitchat with Glenn and Tara and a quick trip to the airport.