Culminating Day in Australia

Jan 20

This was to be John and my last day in Australia. He woke up about 7am and read for a while. Then when he got up he found Janice downstairs getting some toast. She had decided that rather than stay at home for the day and meet John later for a meal in the city she would come in too. She rarely goes to the downtown because it is so crowded.

Anyway, they took the train in to the city and got off at Southern Cross station because Janice had said she wanted to see the newly developed precinct called Docklands.

At a posh little fish and chip place on a part of the area, Janice bought lunch for them both. They had blue grenadier fish, with french fries, a dim sim each, and a battered potato hasbrown each. It was very filling.

After walking for a bit they found a shopping area with hundreds of designer shops and factory outlets. They also found Australia's first Costco. Janice had wondered what it was like. So they went inside. You can look at stuff there but not buy until you have a membership and that is not practical for a person living on their own. John has foound the same thing in Canada even though he lives close to a Costco.

Next, they went to a bookshop for Janice to buy some books for her grand niece and nephew and after coming out they realized they were right beside a City Circle tram stop, a free service.

They hopped on even though it was quite full and found seats. As the tram continued on its route, more and more people got on, stop after stop, until it was straining to move and standing room only. They were both happy when they came to Flinders St Station and were able to get off.

One of the things that John had wanted to see before leaving was the flame show outside the casino later that evening, so the two went looking to find a movie to put in some time. After some considerable searching they found the downtown movie theatre but there was no movie about to start. So, it was plan B. But there was no plan B.

They wandered down to the area called Southbank on the south bank (strangely enough) of the Yarra River than runs through Melbourne. They say the Yarra is an upside down river because it is as muddy on the top as it is on the bottom. However, Southbank is lovely with hundreds of fine restaurants. They put in some time because neither was hungry enough to eat at 4:30. So, they had a lemonade or slushy at a foodcourt.

Then they went along and looked at the menus of many of the restaurantts. Janice's sister-in-law had suggested a restaurant called 8 and they really liked the look of its menu so they went in. This was to be John's way to thank Janice for all her kindness.

It was great! It was a part of the casino and the food and service were both 5 star quality. The restaurant had a great special - two glaases of wine, two courses (either appetizer and main course or main and dessert), a side and coffee or tea. John had two glasses of pinot noir from the burned out area he had seen the day before while Janice had sauvignon blanc. John's main course was kangaroo with a raincherry sauce, salad and a huge creme brulee. Janice had a beef carbaccio, barramunde (fish) and s aalad.

Aside: Although John loves to see kangaroos wild and free, they have to cull them these days or they eat up all the vegetation in the current drought and end up dying of thirst.

The day turned to evening as they sat on the restaurant patio. The restaurant was near one of the six huge three-story fire towers spaced about a hundred or so metres apart that the casino uses to put on the flame show every evening and they felt the heat from some of the flames. So, after they finished their meals they went outside to watch the whole show. John videoed some of it. The waiter said that it costs the casino about $10K a night to put it on.

Then it was back to Janice's home on the train, arriving after 11pm. It had been a fitting day to end this leg of John's trip. After getting me to write this post John attempted to upload a video to the blog.



John and I are not really looking forward to the 8 hour flight tomorrow to Singapore.

John wants me to tell you, my readers, that he has no idea of the connections in Singapore starting tomorrow so please be patient.

TRB