Melbourne...Part One

It was a poor flight, 10 hours long with little room, no personal telly, rubbish films on and massive queues for the bogs (tip - avoid flying Qantas long haul). I arrived in Melbourne not in the best of condition but that soon changed as I stepped outside. The heat was incredible...27 degrees and just gone 9am. By late afternoon temperatures had peaked at 39.3C - a whole 39.3C hotter than Tokyo.

I was met at the airport by ex-work colleague Ben Kwai who's been on secondement in Melbourne for the last 2 and a half years. He and his wife Nicola live in a lovely 17th floor apartment with great views. I was shown to my fantastic room with double bed, huge windows and plenty of floor space for me to scatter all my clothes and various bits of rubbish.

And so to the city...I arrived on Australia Day and as we were walking through the centre we came across a parade including representitives of buddhism, countries and traditions of Tibet, China, Taipei and of, course, the Australian Ukelele Movement. Braving the heat we moved on to Federation Square where leading Australian tennis player, Aussie Molic (fit) was doing a Q&A. She then went on to hit a few serves on a mini court (pictures of that somewhere don't you worry).

Ben, a weirdo and me

Then we caught a tram to St Kilda, about 15 minutes up the road - a busy beach with plenty going on. Avoiding the heat for a while, we went to Greasy Joe's for some lunch. Kwai tried to coax me into attempting the 'Fat Bastard' - a burger so named due to it's layer of bacon cheeseburger followed by another layer of bacon cheeseburger and then a third layer of bacon cheeseburger. In the end I went for the regular bacon cheeseburger and just about managed it...I challenge anyone to finish the Fat Bastard (Tranter?). Another high point, other than the food, was that the guy who played Malcolm Kennedy in Neighbours was waiting tables. How the mighty have fallen eh? Still, he was chatting up a table of blonde beauties so he's probably fairly content with life. Good news for me is that I've seen a cast member so I can chalk the Neighbours tour off my list of things to do.

After a power nap we went off to the Rod Laver Arena to watch the first mens semi final in the Australian Open tennis. Marko Bagdhaditz (or summat) beat David Nalbandian in 5 sets finally finishing at around midnight. A thrilling game made even more exciting by the pockets of Greek/Cyrpriats supporting the underdog, not at all singing slightly altered football songs.

The aussies are at the forefront of court drying technology

All in all, a great day. Looking forward to tomorrow when I plan to tour the MCG and the Old Melbourne Gaol. Oh, and get pist.