Australia Day

day before yesterday was australia day (jan 26th).  cam and charlotte (narelle's bro and sis in law) invited me to their place for a bbq.  nothing more australian than that on australia day.  it was a small group that changed throughout the afternoon and early evening.  there was a lot of beer involved as well (mandatory).

i had a great time eating and drinking on their back patio until it got too cool in the evening.  the five of us remaining moved indoors and watched andy murray beat rafael nadal.  charlotte, being english, quite enjoyed it.  i stayed the night and narelle and greg went back home to upwey.  cam and charlotte had offered there place to stay for a couple of nights.  sweet!  they live in st. kilda close to a beach.  i'm going to be staying until friday (tomorrow).

yesterday i spent the day doing another self guided walking tour since it wasn't warm enough for the beach (22).  i walked along the shoreline for quite a ways and then headed to the shrine of remembrance (a catch-all shrine for fallen soldiers from this state - victoria).  it doesn't look dissimilar to the memorials in DC.  if anything i thought it to be underwhelming and said to myself 'i've seen this before, next!'.  BUT the difference here is that you can walk through the entire building including the basement/crypt and an outdoor balcony around the perimter at the top of the structure that provides brilliant views of downtown.

the shrine neighbours the botanical gardens.  it is better to think of it as a big park with a few interesting features.  i'm not complaining - it's free!  so using that as a base point... this place is huge and beautiful.  so many unique and picturesque spots that seem to keep appearing around each corner.

i had walked for a couple of hours by this point and australia day had caught up with me.  i found a spot under a huge umbrella like tree that was partially shaded in a meadow and had a nap while listening to songs that reminded me of roel.  (yes, i know, very cheesy)  i love me some naps and some roel.  so a perfect combination really.  :)

after i woke up i headed to (yup you guessed it) federation square to catch some tennis on the big screen (federer vs davydenko).  great match.  by the time this was done the sun was setting and i needed to get home.  i got home at about 9:30 and my feet were tired.  i had been out for 10 hours and walking for the majority of that time.  bedtime!

side thought:
i was telling roel on the phone yesterday that i thought melbourne was a fantastic city for so many reasons.  it's very liveable.  however i wouldn't want to live here because it's missing something, a certain kind of engaging energy.  once again i repeat: there is so much to do and it's a really cool place.  i just don't find it pulling me in as some cities have done.  as i was lying in bed i was thinking how strange it was but then i think i put my finger on it.  i don't know why i didn't think of it earlier (it's obvious now).  i lack a certain basic fundamental commonality to the people: i'm not australian and often can't relate.  This inlcudes fewer common terms of reference as compared to north american cities and people (duh!).  i think i was naive in thinking that canada and australia were more alike than they actually are based on what others had told me.

today is too cool again for the beach.  :(  we'll see what i get up to today.  only three more sleeps until bangkok!!  forecast is for 30C and 70% humidity at 10pm (about the time roel and i arrive).  the heat will be brought to a whole new level with that humidity.  ha  scary.