Melbourne

Last week I took a week of leave to visit Australia. My dear friend Amber was celebrating her birthday in grand style, and I just couldn't bare to miss it.  So I was off to the lovely Wellington airport to test my passport for the first time since moving to New Zealand.

I spent the first 2 nights swing dancing. The dance scene in Melbourne is fantastic. Turns out that my friend Amber knows several dancers, so there were even people to dance with before I showed up!  I learned some new moves and just had a marvellous time dancing!!!

I also had plenty of time to just enjoy this wonderful city.  I sat on this ledge for awhile reading and enjoying a great coffee and the interesting city scene....



I also love that Melbourne has public toliets in the city, though you have to look for them, these were under ground:


I also am a huge fan of public transport that works.  Now every city has its nay sayers about public transport, but Melbourne certainly is doing a pretty decent job, particularly on certain routes.  The trams are great. The trains are great. And its flat enough to my cycling doable for the average person --- if you have the courage given the traffic and tram dodging required.

Here is an example of a trip...

1.  take a tram down to Flinders Street Station. 
You'd be hard pressed to miss this landmark.



2. Take train out of the city


3. Get off at your stop and take note of the signs that will 
lead you back to the platform


4. Enjoy the mini shopping area that prevents you from
having to travel far from home to get bacics like coffee


5. Walk a few minutes to your destination


When I wasn't enjoying the tranport system, I returned to some old haunts...

City sights

This is the Yarra River

St Kildas's


which has this amazing veggie restaurant called Soul Mama's. I'm making coconut panna cotta tonight in honor of the amazing dessert I haven't stopped thinking about since leaving the table there.

Thrushermans

No trip to Melbourne is complete without a visit to Lygon street, at least for me since it used to be my daily commute to uni, and this bake house has many many fond memories for me. I enjoyed a lovely pastry here and wished I hadn't just had pizza down the road when I eyed the salads and soups here.

Melbourne Uni
This uni has everything I'd ever wanted in a college. Vibrant student life, great mix of 
architecture, open spaces, accepting culture, basically everything buy a degree program in my field.  I loved the 6 months I spent here. I had a really lovely personal home coming of sorts here last week. Granted no one really knew I was there, but I felt welcome and happy all the same. Funny, because I experience the same level of anonimity at my primary alma mater, but that didn't feel quite welcoming and lovely....