James’ travelog

While cyclone Larry left his trail of destruction around Cairns, the Melbourne weather was just fine today. This contrast is not too strange when you take Australia’s monstrosity into consideration - often overlooked by those who haven’t visited this continent yet. This is the sixth biggest country, and the largest island on the planet. The following picture puts Australia’s size nicely in perspective. (The Netherlands fits twice in Tasmania alone!)

Anyhow, as I was saying, the weather was nice today. Perfect for a fieldtrip, which was in fact what I did today. As I mentioned somewhere in one of my previous posts, I follow a course called Education in Natural Landscapes which entails visiting a variety of Australian locations (the course is sometimes referred to as ‘camping for credit’ ).

So this morning I left uni campus at 07.30AM to spend the day at Aireys Inlet - located about 2 hours south-west from Melbourne along The Great Ocean Road - which has some very nice nature reserves. I’m not going to write much about it, but will simply let these pictures speak for themselves.

Last Wednesday I watched the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games 2006, which are held in Melbourne this year. Although the Yarra river is only a couple of km away, I didn’t go and watch on Federation Square but watched it on the telly instead. Partly because I’m simply not that dedicated to sports, and partly because I was hungry and decided to cook pasta instead (ya gotta have priorities, eh ).

The Commonwealth Games have been all over the place since I came to Melbourne though. There’s no avoiding it. A few days ago the police stopped my tram because of a Melburnian athlete carrying the Queen’s Baton - which has travelled 181,000 km before arriving to Melbourne. It was very cool to see it.

And this Sunday most main roads in the Central Business District will be closed down for to the marathon. In fact, the athletes pass right in front of my place. I had a diving trip planned for this weekend and had hoped to miss the nuisance of not being able to leave my house without battling my way through crowds of sport lovers. Unfortunately enough, due to sub-optimal weather conditions for diving, my diving weekend in Wilson’s Prom has been cancelled.

I took a break from watching the opening ceremony broadcast when the fireworks started. From the roof I had a great view on the night skyline of Melbourne, being lit up by many sparkly colours. I tried to take a pic of it, but that didn’t work out too well unfortunately, as you can see.

It’s really good to see so many countries united over this event. Ozzies from all over the country have flocked to Melbourne. Boy, do Australians love their sports! Cricket, footie… I have yet to meet an Ozzie that isn’t active in at least one sport. Sport is deeply intertwined with the Australian culture, and I think Australia is one of the fittest and most health-oriented countries I’ve visited so far.

I arrived to Melbourne two and a half weeks ago, and it already feels like home. You’d have to try really really hard not to immediately love Melbourne. The world’s most liveable city? Definitely. It’s a big city that doesn’t feel like one: a pitoresque metropolis.

I’ve joined the Juggling Club to enhance my juggling skills, and the Melbourne University Underwater Club for some cheap scuba diving in Port Phillip Bay and further out. I found a respectable second-hand mountain bike which is a GREAT way to explore the Melbournian neighbourhoods. I have a part-time job. I live in one of the coolest areas of Melbourne. I can bike down to St Kilda beach whenever I feel like it. I can BBQ every evening… It’s real good living here.

Apart from all these activities, there is of course plenty of university. Classes started this week. My most interesting course is Human Language Technology which deals with algorithmically analyzing, processing and synthesizing natural language, and the coolest is Education in Natural Landscapes which more or less exists of taking a couple of camping trips into the outback

I’ve managed to find accommodation just a stone’s throw away from the campus I spoke about in the previous post. A very girlish throw actually, as it’s simply across the street! I moved in yesterday, after 3 nights of sleeping in a 14-bed hostel dorm on busy King Street. The place is a bit comparable to the good old Weesperflat, only this building is brand new and the facilities are much better. :p

I’ve been hunting for a place to live in Melbourne since I arrived. The most commonly available housing option is a shared house, i.e. living with other students. The Union House on campus has a accommodation board where people can list their available places. So after buying myself an Ozzie SIM-card, I went there and starting calling around and making appointments, along with herds of other new students. In this manner I’ve been walking all over town and caught a glimpse of student life of local students. The coolest place I visited was just opposite of Edinburgh gardens: a church on the outside, but a very spacious house on the inside with the only thing betraying that it’s not a normal house being the tall glass-in-lead stained glass windows.

Obviously I would have LOVED to live there, but then I came across UniLodge to which a German girl - who arrived to Oz on the same plane as myself - pointed me. For about 300 EUR a month you get a very decent furnished room, communal kitchen and bathroom, and all bills included. Regarding price and location, this was in both respects the best deal I came across. The only disadvantage is that most tenants are international students like myself, which makes it so much easier to get caught in the ‘international social circle’. But then again, I reckon I’ll be spending most of my time outside anyway.

Parkville Campus is absolutely amazing. It provides everything a student could possibly need: from convenience stores to laundry facilities, from a museum to a concert hall. On top of that, it’s just absolutely stunning. There are many beautiful buildings, lots of green… well, you should really fly down under and go see for yourself. Some pictures I’ve made of the campus can be found in the Melbourne photo album. And here’s a link with some nice panorama pictures and alike of the campus.