Tim & Denise Tiner Travels: 2017 Australia - Day 2

February 11, 2017

Notice, February 10th did not exist for us. We were on a plane soooo long that Friday never existed on the ground. The flight was 15+ hours long and it was dark for 14 hours of it. That was odd.

We arrived pretty much on time to Melbourne...at 9 AM. The airport is pretty big and handled crowds fairly well. Getting through customs was quick and easy. It should be for the $200 mistake I made in acquiring the wrong visas at home! They could put a little money into catching mistakes in visa acquisition...but that's another story and rant I could go on.

Upon clearing customs, we headed out the door looking for rental car buses. It turns out that they are like SLC and had a building across the way where they house rental cars. But unlike SLC...there were no easy access paths to it. We had to go for a rather length walk down to a cross walk and then back to get there. I had booked a car through National on the airplane. I paid a few dollars for about an hour of Internet access. And I was able to do that. I got a much better rate than I thought I would for having the car 8 days and dropping it in Sydney.

Once we had the keys, we now had to sit down and figure out where we were going to stay. The place that I had my sights on was rejected. The host was out of town. Had I given them more notice, they would have made arrangements for us. But I was too late. So we sat down outside on a bench and began searching AIRBNB. I came across a fellows flat in the downtown business district whom I had corresponded with previously. He had told me that he doubted that it would be available. But lo and behold...it was. So we decided to book it. And it was an immediate book option for it...which was good. Some AIRBNB's you have to 'request' to book something and then you have to wait...which can take up to 24 hours. But immediate bookings are just that...immediate. So now, I needed to contact him. So I started messaging him through AIRBNB. He got right back to me saying that people were still there until noon and that it would be ready at around 2 PM for us. It was 11 AM. So I asked him if we could park our car there and go walk the city until 2 PM...seeing the city a bit. He said that would be OK to do. The current guests must not have had a car. Anyway, we went an got the rental car and Ireland\England came flooding back. Everything is on the wrong side of the silly car and they drive on the wrong side of the street! No wonder we broke away from England in 1776!

So off we went with GPS Denise gently instructing me where to turn, brake, go, etc.. She successfully navigated me to the building...which is 40+ story high rise. Our room is on the 33rd floor. More to come on that though. We met Lee on the street and he opened the garage for us and told us to drive to level 7. I've never driven 7 levels of parking....I was dizzy by the time we got there! We parked the car and he gave us keys to get into his flat once he had it ready. He would message me.

The good news...I probably won't need the car much. Everything is right here within walking distance. This guy does not even own a car. He walks or uses the trams. Anyway, one of the things Denise wanted to do was go to Queen Victoria's Market. And lo and behold...it was outside our front door. What an amazing place and atmosphere. Lots of vendors selling their wares. Food vendors everywhere...and tons of people. It was really neat. Denise had heard that you could find exotic food only found here...like Kangaroo. So we found it. It was being sold raw. But when Denise told the guy that she really had no where to cook it...he said he would. And so he did. We ate a kangaroo. That sounds funny.

After going to the market, we found where the city trolley stops. Like SLC, inside the downtown area it is free to use their trolley system to get around. We were told to catch trolley 35...the City Circle trolley as it gives you about an hour tour with a narration at each stop. That turned out to be really cool. We now know better what we want to see and do over the course of the few days we will be here.

At about 3 PM we headed to our car to get our bags and then up to the 33rd floor to see what awaits. I should have known...this pad is small. Basically, two small bedrooms, a small kitchen area that ties into a small living area. And it has one very small bathroom that is ours to use. The host is a young man who is from England. He lives alone. He does something with Bars and Restaurants and apparently is gone most nights. But we'll see. There is nothing 'private' about this set up. But we've had a lovely discussion with him and I think all will be well. It is very clean and nice with an amazing view of city lights.

It felt so good to finally shower and get into some 'summer' time clothes. We are pretty spent and sleeping will feel so good tonight. Not sure if we'll go back out to get dinner. We saw a small grocery store near by. We might go get some juice and stuff for breakfast in the morning. We'll see. Much more to come!

Pictures:

Ready to head out on a driving adventure that is all backwards. No wonder we separated from England in 1776...we could see they were backwards back then!