New Zealand Blog Day 0: Adelaide -> Melbourne

Sunday April 11th, 2010

Day 0 Adelaide -> Melbourne

I took an 11 hour bus ride from Adelaide to Melbourne. It was long but they played two films to pass the time: Imagine That (Eddie Murphy) and Fame. I was actually glad that they played these films because I would never spend money to watch them but was curious to know what the hype was about (Fame). To my surprise I found both films entertaining and also I felt that Fame gave a glimpse of the reality of what it takes to be an artist which I found refreshing.

What was also refreshing was the change of landscape of South Australia to Victoria. As Victoria is more humid, there is more lushness in the greenery and the rolling hills and light drizzling of rain made me feel at home (Northern California).

My thought of Melbourne as I was crossing the bridge into the city was, “Damn, this place reminds me of San Francisco.” The fact that I was on a bridge overlooking the city skyline was reminiscent of what I feel every time I enter SF via the Bay Bridge. While walking to a local hostel near Southern Cross Station, I could tell that Melbourne, though it seems to have similarities with SF, had one glaring difference: the streets are freaking wide.

That night in Melbourne was the start of a very long journey of self imposed insomnia. I met with a friend (co-worker from my cleaning stint in SA) to leave some luggage at his place. I talked to him about my trip to New Zealand, how it materialized out of nothing and that I had no real plan. He said, “Joy is unplanned.” I thought that was a good point, but then I replied, “Sadness too.” He laughed. When we parted I thought, if you follow that line of logic, human emotion and reactions cannot be planned, they can be anticipated but not planned for (Consider this example – 15 minutes from now, I plan to be happy).

I met up with Apo and two friends from the mango farm (See “Notes from the Mango Farm”) that were in Melbourne at the time. We shared work stories of the past few months. They had been working on another mango farm except this farm farmed lemon trees as well. Apo and I shared our cleaning stories (See my March, April 2010 facebook pictures). In particular we talked about this one co-worker that wouldn’t shake my hand when I first met her and later was found to be mentally unstable. One of our cleaning coworkers that disliked her nicknamed her MQ (Mad Queen) which I thought was hilarious and incredibly accurate.

After getting back to the hostel, we checked online to see if we could check in for our flights for the following morning. For some reason Apo didn’t receive a confirmation email for her flight ticket. We tried in vain to contact the airline reservation desk. Apo went to sleep for a few hours as I stayed up, deciding to just wait for our 5am bus to the airport. The night bled into early morning.

Money spent today (in AUD): Bus (Adelaide->Melbourne) 55 + Melbourne Sunday Savers Bus Ticket 3.1 + Water & Food 26.4 + Hostel 24 = 108.5 AUD

For specific bus company or hostel information, please msg me.

Pictures on facebook