Hello Possums!

Yes, yes, I know, it has been too long, but in my defence, Tafkab and I have been road-tripping to Melbourne and back and one of the things that people here in Oz don't really have is a sense of the need for regular, dependable and findable internet-spots. You'd think, what with backpackers being a plague and all, that the internet-cafe would be relatively commonplace but outside of the larger cities, you'd be wrong. You'd also think, wrongly, that a road-trip is exactly where exciting stuff happens.

Anyways, Melbourne, or mostly, the trip there-to. Going via Canbera on the way in, and along the ocean on the way out. We rented a car and were on our way, stopping over where-ever Tafkab found the most god-awful, serial killer inviting, horridly woodpanelled motels imaginable. (again, photos refuse to be uploaded, I'm sad to say, but will be on facebook).
We also stopped of at plenty of small places for coffee-food-icecream-mental health, and not once was I disappointed in the belief that most of this country is just waiting to unhitch the chainsaws and go mental.

Canberra is very much ok. The capital of Australia, it boasts some very impressive views, mostly in the Embassy-district, where most of the embassies look like buildings from the countries they represent. This is cool if you take Malaysia or China into account, but doesn't do much for Holland and the United States of America.

Melbourne itself as cool. Everybody kept saying I would like it, as it is more cultured, more European
(difference?) and it was, mostly because the weather was rather grey and windy, as it was for most of the road-trip actually. In Melbourne I had a bit of a Pilgrimage to Dame Edna Place, a street named after the well known Melbournian housewife. We also did a little more shopping both in Melbs and on the way, getting former Housemate and her man some Australian souvenirs, and ourselves some much needed clothing so as to not show up in EVERY photo wearing the exact same t-shirt.

We met up with some former friends of Tafkab in town as well, and are scheduled to meet up with them again in Sydney. But hey, that is the international life, running in to all and sundry willy nilly, I suppose. Also,l after 2 years of backorder and whatnot in Holland, I finally got the next installment of the Gloomcookie graphic novel, but that probably only interests me.

On the way back through every coastal town god saw to grant with NO INTERNET ACCESS and bad weather we mostly stayed in our serial-killer motel rooms and watched television, or went out to see some movies, ("Where the wild things are" which was a disappointment, and "Paranormal Activity" which was not).

Seriously, we travelled for 6 full days, two nights in Melbourne, but nothing exciting really happened.
Only in the Gong and Tathra we finally got the combination of surf, weather and eye-candy to get into the water, and man was it pleasent. I don't think I swam in sort-of open water for over 10 years, not counting inland lakes, and the surf does a man good. It does a man's blisters after days of a lot of walking less good though, what with the salt and all
.
Now back in Sydney with better weather, I am hoping for some beach-action in the coming days running up to Christmas. First, though Barry Humphries in the Opera House toninght, and Wicked tomorrow.