Samdays in Melbourne

My friend Sam from Vanuatu arrived last Thursday before heading out to her 5 week UK holiday and onwards to  her new job in Fiji.

Living in the Pacific has its perks, but one thing it deprives its lucky inhabitants of? SHOPPING. So when an islander lands in civilisation spending money and buying pretty new clothes is priority. so I took her shopping – Bourke Street, DFO, Smith Street Outlets (for her travel gear).

Port Vila, where Sam and I previously lived, is a teeny tiny town with less than a handful of places you can go out to drink. So we took her out to get wasted too.

Madame Brussels -63 Bourke Street, Melbourne

Meyers Place – 20 Meyers Place, Melbourne

An islander might also be in awe of the cityscape. Port Vila, afterall, cannot exactly be described as a metropolis. In the whole country there are only 2 lifts – at the Reserve Bank of Vanuatu and the Sebel Hotel. Skyscrapers are none existent, so we took her around the CBD.

The Hills are Alive…

On Father’s day (the Australian, not American one) Mitch took me to the Dandenongs also known in Melbourne as The Hills to meet his dad, half brother and half sister.

We set out early to pick up his brother Max and an hour later we found ourselves in the pretty surrounds of The Hills where the air is much fresher (and a lot nippier), the roads are zig zag and the forest is right outside your window. Spent the day with his adorable siblings Max and Mira and their hilarious dad. A great day of seeing what lies beyond inner city Melbourne.

melbourne from the top of the hills

into the woods

Puffing Billy

max, mira & mitch

eeire tree where we had coffee

isn't Max cute?

mitch & max

these boots are made for walking …

One night, while walking along Brunswick Street I showed Jack the boots that my heart is aching for through a shop window. I told him how they stopped me on my tracks and made me block the walkway for about  10 minutes while I stared longingly at them. How when I walked away from them with tears in my eyes, I heard them calling out to me. (yeah.. i get a tad melodramatic about footwear and other wardrobe staples)

So he asked (as a boy would) “why didn’t you just buy them”.. I gave him a withering look and commenced a long rehearsed speech that I repeated to myself the whole day to stop myself from running out the door of my flat to the 2 short blocks where the boots were waiting to be rescued with a quarter of my monthly budget in hand. So my whiny retort to his question consisted of these very mature reasons:

They’re expensive ! If I buy them I’m going to have to eat 2 minute noodles for a week!

Winter is almost over. I won’t have much use for them in about a month!

I really don’t need ANOTHER pair of boots (but one can never really have enough pairs of boots. really.)

I’m a big girl. I know now that not everything you want, you get.

He shrugs, continues on and that was the end of that.

Or so I thought…

he came over on his lunch break the next day and told me to open his bag and there my booty babies emerged.

I was so shocked (and secretly ecstatic)!! I couldn’t believe he bought them for me! But I couldn’t accept them 9r could I? I told him to return it, he said he is most definitely NOT going to do that. I said I can’t possibly accept them and won’t wear them, he said fine I’ll throw them in the bin then. I couldn’t let him do that….

THE MAN IS A FRIGGIN LEGEND!!!

They are beautiful… I couldn’t get enough of them! I wear them to Coles, to go to the post office and even to take the rubbish down.

One bright windy wet Friday I took it out for a spin in the city. Jack was paparazzi taking photos of my bootyfull boots. So here they are..

trodding that arcade between bourke & little collins

busy in the city

Friday is my free day and on this particular one, it was Jack’s too. So we went out to the city to do some things we’ve been meaning to do for some time..

Like …

Go to the music store on Bourke Street to buy Jack’s drum sticks

And then have coffee and some yum lunch at a laneway in Flinder’s Lane

Simple Pleasures

Since coming back to Melbourne from Vanuatu, I have had patches of the blues.

Perhaps it is being away from precious family and true friends.

Or being so far from the beautiful beaches and breathtaking Port Vila Views.

Or the winter chill that seeps in to your bones instead of the delicious tropical heat.

Or the fact that I have to pile on the clothes instead of wearing bikinis all day everyday.

Or the gloomy days of ominoues grey clouds as opposed to the spectacular sunshine.

BUT i have been fighting this feeling and finding pleasure in the simple things..

here are just some of the things that made me smile helping me ward away homesickness and rediscovering the beauty in my life in Melbourne.

• Pretty, pretty, sweet smelling flowers from my local flowershop. For a total of $16.50 this beautiful bunch has adorned our dining table to brighten the bleak winter landscape outside our window.

• capturing the beauty of the city on unsuspecting moments. Taken from a park bench in Carlton Gardens.

On the Tram 112: Spencer St Station to St David Street, Fitzroy

Melbourne is such a picturesque city and it is so easy to forget that. Going back to Melbourne after 3 weeks in Vanuatu, it hit me again.  Just on my usual tram ride home there are so many remarkable, beautiful sights to take in which we take for granted because we are tired, the tram is crowded, we are lost in our thoughts, we have become immune to the beauty that surrounds us everyday.

Here’s something that would hopefully remind me to see the beauty in everyday’s mundane.

One Melbourne Morning

I’ve got to admit despite my rant about mornings.. I thought Melbourne is esxpecially photogenic in the morning..

because i have photos but no words..

This is what I came up with when I fumbled around my closet for something to wear to run errands around the neighbourhood..

To Jasper’s for 250 grams of Blend #8 Coffee. To the Photo Shop for a present. To Coles for milk, bread and addictive mandarins.

I should really clean that mirror, hey?

Also.. Years from now when I move out to much inferior digs I would like to remember that once..

I lived in a flat I love in Fitzroy with this view of the Melbourne CBD.

Is all.

Melbourne Walkabout

When in a new city I like to have a day alone.. To walk around aimlessly, get lost,  ask for directions, press my face against shop windows, have random conversations with strangers, sit myself down in quaint cafes, watch people go about their daily lives, look at the buildings and to feel its vibe.

Today was that day when Melbourne opened its arms to me. It flaunted its beauty in such a beguiling fashion. Its old buildings were charming, the newer ones impressive, public parks inviting, streets easy to navigate, transports accessible and size just about right.  The weather was perfect (albeit colder than I expected).

But what really impressed me the most is its people. All the people were incredibly friendly from the guy who served me my pasta in a café along Elizabeth Street (who ended up showing me around the flat above the café),to the guy who served me my coffee in Cookie along Swanston Street, to the lovely lady in Carlton who helped me get back to my hotel and all the other really amiable people who readily smiled at me.

It was a good walk about that made me feel good about my decision to come here. In no time, I know I’ll come to regard Melbourne as my home.

Fall is here, hear the yell

Back to school, ring the bell

Brand new shoes, walking blues

Climb the fence, books and pens

I can tell that we are going to be friends

Yes I can tell that we are going to be friends

We’re Going To Be Friends ~ Jack Johnson

CHAY’s TIPS on TRAVELING

Or the incomplete guide on how best to stress during a trip

Or my way of combating in flight boredom

1. Get an early flight. So people have to say goodbye to you in their pyjamas all bleary eyed and only half coherent. They’ll be too sleepy to be sad about your leaving and they‘ll forget to tell you the list of things they want you to bring for your trip back home.

2. Leave your packing for the very last minute. Like about 4- 7 hours before you’re due to go to the airport. Make sure to do it on the day of a major party too so anyone who could have helped you is busy and tired. Better if you pack everything yourself anyway, That way if you cant find your damned camera cable you only have yourself to blame.

3. Over pack your bags and go waaaaay beyond the free baggage allowance. Be confident that when they weigh your bags at the airport it won’t be as heavy as it was in the scales at home. Because the final weight of your suitcases is not arbitrary.. It is like the temperature outside.. It is out of your control.

4. When your charms and your best oh-woe-is-me routine doesn’t work on the check-in agent at the counter ask them how much it would cost if you just pay the stupid excess baggage charge. Try to keep your eyebrows from shooting out of your head as she says US$ 190. Flash your most sincere smile at her like you’re willing to spend about half the amount of money you spent on your tiny new laptop for 6 measly kilos of shorts and denim skirts. When she asks whether you’re going to pay the charges or remove items from your luggage answer like this: “I’m just going to take out items from my bags bitch”. Mutter the last word to yourself when she has already assigned you with a coveted window seat.

5. Make sure to use the combination type lock. That way you can spend a significant amount of time kneeling in front of your suitcase and fiddling with the lock whilst having morbid thoughts of having to rip your brand new suitcase open with a knife and subsequently having to use a LUCKY ME Pancit Canton Box to ship all your worldly possessions to Australia. Be grateful your brother came to collect the clothes that will never see the light of day in Melbourne. Without him you wouldn’t have figured out what a big bag of idiot you really are for putting on the lock backwards.