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?
