Australia part 5
We took a little nap after a very comfy plane ride back to Melbourne and had arranged to meet Frank’s LJ pals endlessblush, daturabelle and becofoz . I was sad not to meet merilune but I hope your schedule has calmed down! They will now know I refer to them as “Frank’s Aussie Hareem”
I guess the place to meet is Flinder’s Street Station since my group of friends suggested it as well (later in the travelogue) And it is easy to spot, full of all the visitors to Melbourne and a distinctive building with a lot of space.
I think they brought us to yoyogi which is “their spot” It is on a street that had every kind of food/store you can imagine. And it was New Years eve so PACKED with people. It was a nice surprise to sneak upstairs and be served. It was so quiet that our waitress/hostess on the second floor took a nap. And there was a little bird loose in there, hoping for scraps. (This turned out to be not uncommon and Australians don’t freak out about it the way Americans would)
A video of walking along there so you get an idea
Endlessblush gave us a BOX of goodies from Australia (that we are still finishing off-even sharing with several groups of people.) TimTams are the devil and now has Frank cruising the internet looking at import prices. The Musk(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musk_stick) is not a big fav with the folks here (sorry!). I’m not a fan of Jasmine rice as it is “perfumey” and it’s the same thing with this treat. She a very kindly me bought me the ever-illegal Kinder Eggs for my birthday. (We had to bolt those down before leaving Australia) We sat and chatted for about three hours. I learned that the educational system, healthcare and work environment would be welcome here in the US. They were sort of amazed at our lack of vacation and how much we pay for healthcare.
Side Note: Us getting to sit and visit at a table would never happen in America. We found that most AUS restaurants were very calm about sitting and visiting. This last Saturday, in the US, when I put the last bite from the fork into my mouth, the waitress put down the check. BAM! Get gone bitches I have tables to turn!
But folks had plans so we were directed to the State Library which I found fascinating, we didn’t get to see all of and had some really interesting manuals. I took a bunch of 15th century bibles and Qurans for brickhousewench-I just need to find and post them.
The streets were *really* getting crowded so we plowed through to our apartment. Frank turned an expected corner and some poor kid freaked that we caught him rolling a blunt. We shrugged and moved on. But one sight that will stay with me is a truck dropping off a BUNCH of green-jacketed city workers in a clump, who flooded into Flinders station and then *poof* dissipated into the crowd to alleys, street corners and elsewhere. We grabbed some takeaway from an Indonesian place.
We got to see a lot of Australian TV and started making connections
Coles=supermarket
Woolworth=supermarket +
Binders=Home Depot
Great news clips we saw;
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/morning-shows/daniel-mcconnell-the-aussie-hero-who-chased-down-a-man-in-his-undies/news-story/e08bc3fcc75a6d6f0443d4134696b0ad
http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/morning-shows/karl-and-lisa-in-hysterics-during-busted-thong-hero-interview/news-story/36e0114eba8622dd562da92a3db9599a
Not so great but still entertaining
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/diet/andrew-taylor-eats-nothing-but-potatoes-for-a-year-to-cure-his-food-addiction/news-story/41d8e6612679985fc9bf62e4b970ef15
We went to bed right after the 9:30 fireworks but we certainly couldn’t sleep through the midnight ones since they were firing off adjacent buildings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ9gxnnWNEY
Frank’s Entry
http://fbhjr.livejournal.com/1130271.html#cutid1