After arriving at Melbourne, I can say that honestly I didn’t feel any different than any other big airport I’d been in. People were scurrying all about dragging luggage and grabbing shuttles and taxis. But that was about to change. We went outside and a young lady asked how many we need in a taxi. There were six of us total, so she pointed us to a spot to stand. Within a minute, a large taxi van pulled up and we loaded up and left. The first thing I saw was that in Australia, cars drive on the left side of the road. That was quite different. Then, I saw the temperature was 11. I realized that everything was on the Metric system in Australia. I knew that but it really sinks in when you actually see it in action. I saw several signs with numbers like 60, 80 and 100 with red circles around them. I’d find out later what those meant. We got to our hotel with no issue. It was before noon so we couldn’t check in. We were able to leave our luggage there so we decided to forage about for a café. We found a place called the Phancy Café.
We got our next introduction to the culture. Most of the guys wanted coffee but the menu had items like a Short Black, a Long Black and a Flat White which left us scratching our heads. They only had sodas in 20 oz. bottles and not a huge selection. We scanned the menu and I ordered a ham and cheese toasty which is pretty much a toasted ham and cheese sandwich. I ordered a hot chocolate and ended up with some sort of frothy coffee drink which I didn’t like at all. I send up researching the issue later. A long black is a double shot of espresso. A short black is a basic espresso. A flat white is steamed milk over espresso. It’s like a latte. One of the guys asked for black coffee and our server acted like he was speaking a foreign language. Fortunately while we were there, the hotel called saying Josh’s and my room was ready, so we walked back to the hotel and went to our room. I promptly crashed out. Josh laughed at me later saying that while he and another guy on the trip (who is a team lead) were talking I kept interjecting my opinions of being a manager. I didn’t remember a bit of that.
I got in touch with my friend Daniel Anderson. I’d known him since he was a little boy, I’d taught him in Bible class. He worked in Melbourne and had married a young lady from Australia. He graciously volunteered to pick me up and take me to worship services. As I drove, he would laugh as occasionally flinched as he made a left turn. A left turn there is pretty similar to a right turn here. I kept thinking he was turning in front of traffic. I also found out the numbers in the Red Circles were. They were speed limit signs. They were in kilometers (the Metric System strikes again). You have to multiply the number by .62 to get the mph equivalent. We went to his congregation (Church Street church of Christ). I enjoyed my time with the brethren there. One guy was even a big Tarheel fan who asked if I was a big Wildcat fan (which I answered yes to of course). Daniel took me back to my hotel. Josh was gone (he was at a prep meeting for their work) so I went to sleep. He got back and he’d had a pizza so I didn’t even bother with dinner and went to be for the night.
The next day Josh met his co-workers plus a young lady who works for his company and lives in Melbourne. I headed out for breakfast and ended up going to the Phancy Café. I ordered bacon and eggs and toast. I stuck with water to drink. Their bacon is different as well, it’s more like a fatty Canadian bacon. Another thing I confirmed with Daniel is that you don’t tip in Australia unless get really fabulous service. After I ate, I stopped back at the hotel and then went to forage about the city. I knew we needed some soda and something to snack on. I already had scoped out a Woolworth’s. It turns out in Australia, a Woolworth’s is more like a grocery store than the old five and dime I remember. It took a lot of searching but I finally found it. I got my next surprise. Soda is almost double what it is here per liter. Plus, the selection is much slimmer – the only diet soda was Diet Coke and Coke Zero. I didn’t see any sign of a Diet Dr Pepper or Diet Mountain Dew til I got back to the States. I also bought a pack of Tim Tams. Tim Tams are what appears to be the national Australian biscuit (what we’d call a cookie here). It is two layers of cookie with cream filling and then covered in chocolate. They make all sorts of varieties, but I thought the original chocolate ones were excellent. On the way back to the hotel, I stopped at Walker’s Doughnuts. I had read their doughnuts were fabulous – better than Krispy Kreme. They were good, but not that good. So I ended up having doughnuts and Tim Tams for lunch.
I struck out later for Flagstaff Gardens. It was a park right down the road that had been established in 1862. I enjoyed a nice walk. I noticed what appeared to be a basketball court with no backboards. After I studied up later, I found out that was a court for netball. It’s a game played mostly by young ladies. You are not allow to stand within a couple of feet of someone when they shoot. I remember then I was watching what I thought was a girls basketball game earlier on TV There. I thought “man they play no defense at all they keep backing away from the shooter”. I now realized they were playing netball.
Well, that’s plenty for this post. Come back for my next post when going out for dinner made me feel like I was in the game row at a carnival.
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