Aussie Sojourn - Day Six

Today was the final day of leg 1 of our adventure down under because we were going to fly to Sydney to spend the coming week there and experience the hospitality of New South Wales from later in the evening. Though I had put much time on planing my stay at Melbourne, I haven't done half as much of research for Sydney. And that just for one single reason, my good old friend, my classmate at college and my advisor for this Aussie Sojourn... the one and only Pradnya.

She and her hubby Sumeet has been to Sydney on an onsite opportunity through a IT company and they had called Sydney home since last 5 years. I consider her as one of the biggest motivation factor for me having proceeded with my PR and has been a source of inspiration and a guide throughout the process. She had been very helpful to me in planning all aspects of my visit, from accommodation to places to visit, from making me aware of the 'must-dos' to letter me know of different offers I can avail. We had already setup to meet late in the evening at the Darling Harbour to watch the firework display. But all before this we has to pack up and get going.

Thanks to Anjali she had all the things wrapped up and packed the previous night itself. I had decided to use Uber to haul a cab and had thus differed this task to the last moment. I had booked the Sydney to Melbourne flights while still at India and had opted for the budget airline Jetstar, unaware of the fact that they depart from the Avalon airport which is much far away from the main city. While it had taken us less than half an hour to arrive from the Melbourne Airport, this one would take us a couple of hours drive. Whatever cost benefits I had availed from a cheap flight tickets were to be offset by the taxi charge to the airport. I decided to blunt the brunt of the taxi charge by chosing a Uber ride but it wasnt to be as surge pricing meter was indicating 4x. Though the scheduled departure time was 10am we had requested our host to extend it till noon as our flight was to depart only at 5 pm. So I waited for some more time hoping the surge to settle which instead spiked to 7x. Finally Our host advised me to opt for a local cab service and helped me with the App. I booked the cab which arrived with a few minutes. The very 'Indian' looking cab driver helped with loading all our luggage, we bid good-bye to Bryan and got ourselves settled in the backseats for the long drive to the airport.

The driver maneuvered the suburb lanes and soon we hit the highway to the airport. As we trudged along I realised this way the same route that would have taken us to the Great Ocean Road trip. Though my wish was making that pilgrimage was still pending, I consoled myself that I would make it happen sooner than latter. Very hesitantly I tried to strike a conversation with cabbie, the first question very obviously being to know of his origins. Though he looked very 'Indian', I was a bit reluctant to directly ask that a leading question. So instead I queried if he was from Asia? He didnt hear it the first time and thus I had to repeat myself. When he answered I realised he was our long lost brother at partition from Pakistan. He queried us back about our origins. I tried to strike a conversation with him but he seem to be a man of limited words mostly answering in mono-syllabic replies. Nevertleless he revealed that he has come to Australia for studies and decided to stay back considering the conditions back home. Rest of the journey was spent  gazing out of the windows, appreciating the nature, the multiple lane highway and the systematic driving sense. When he took a shoulder turn off the highway I realised we have approadhed the airport, but there werent any aircraft visible still circling in the sky. A few more turns and we arrived a very desolate looking building with not a soul in site.

Aussie Sojourn - Day Five

By now almost major attractions of the CBD were covered and I was pretty satisfied with the way things have coincided with my planned itinerary. As per my plan today was meant for the 'Great Ocean Road' trip which is one of major attraction for visitors to Melbourne. The GoD drive is a scenic drive along the antarctic ocean with many breath-taking spots, coves & beaches and limestones structures. This road also leads you to the '12 Apostles' which is fastly eroding into the ocean and I wanted to see this tourist attraction long before it is gone. Frankly rather than the tourist hotspots on the route, I had intentions of self driving  on the great ocean road and had got myself an international license as well for this precise reason. But when we visited the visitor centre we were warned that a single day trip wasnt the most advisable thing to do as one would hardly get the time to soak in the beauty, besides it could be pretty taxing upon the passangers especially kids, and needless to say on the driver. All this advice along with the almost intimidating driving rules (remember I come back from Goa) and a slightly prohibitive cost of self driving a soft top coupe weighed the odds against me taking the drive. I still had the option of taking the bus ride but I felt that would mean crushing my dream which I shall surely live some day. So that plan not materializing I had to make up for it with some alternative for we didnt want to waste a beautiful day within the confines of our room. So off we left...

We hadnt had a very fulfilling breakfast all these days, for the rush we always were in to explore new place. But today having been there seen that, we though of setting our priorities straight and spend some time in satiating our taste buds. So we went to QVM where I had spotted a line of food stalls in the alley adjoining the market. After a couple stroll up and down the alley and carefully going through the menu displpayed, Anjali decided to settle on a Turkish food stall. We ordered a turkish dish (was it a falafel or a pesto? I forgot) and rested our backsides into the chairs. When the food came we relished it to the last bit and then topped it with some turksih tea, coffee.

From there we went to the docklands to view the marina from up close. We had passed by it the last time we visited the Melbourne Star and since the shuttle didnt halt here we just observed in from the comforts of the bus. But today we had the luxury to visit and see a few art installations and patches of beautifully manicured flower beds we line alone the shore while the sparkling white yatchs dazzled in the bright sun in the background. Walked over the wharf, passed across the Etihad stadium and hitched a bus ride to the Royal Botanical Gardens which we could not explore due to the rains on the previous day. Today was different as in it was pretty hot and not the best day to roam around large stretches of absolutely very well maintained plants of different species and colours. Nevertheless we explored the various sections of the park, the map we picked at the entrance lobby coming very handy. Totally exhausted having unknowingly clocked a few miles, we finally decided to rest for a while. So we located a bench on a lawn and cooled our heels. By now Anannya too had dozed off and it only meant we had some quite time for just two of us.

Aussie Sojourn - Day Four

So past three days of activities means we did cover many of the tourists attractions but a couple of them were still pending to be ticked off. So we decided to schedule our day's itenirary around these viz: The Shrine of remembrance and Royal Botanical Gardens which were very closeby to one another. One more reason I had not clubbed these attractions with rest of the site-seeing was that I had plans to meet up with on eof my classmates from college and so also check up on the Centerlink services whose office was locality in the vicinity.

But the day didnt exactly start the way we would have preffered it to. We had experienced nice, cold breezy weather and so also the hot and hunid climate on the previous days. But today it was a day for the showers. The weather app had been predicting the days weather more or less accurately in here, however the place were I come from we are neither used to checking the weather app predictions; perhaps the weather forecast are known to be notoriously off the mark. Infact as some joke goes back in India one should expect exactly opposite weather to what is been predicted. On a serious note, weather in India is very much predictable and there are pretty well defined months for season and one do not see much of seasonal climatic variations during a day. However Melbourne is notorious for its erratic weather conditions and I was correctly forewarned about 'able to see all 4 seasons in a 24 hours span' of any day. So here we were starring over the poarch  while sipping hot tea and eating instant noodles as the raining came down. Though the downpour wasnt significatly heavy and had it been just me I would have walked out, we were still reluctant because we didnt was to risk any ailment on the foreign soil and especially after the still fresh in the memory episode of pneumonia she had been through and needed a 11 days long hospitalizaion needless to stray the numerous pricks she was administration causing her so much of physical pain and mental trauma to all of us. Thankfully she was cured well in time and recovered  from her convalescence which had at some moment even threathened this trip down under. So we waited was the rains to subside.

Once the showers fizzled out, we moved out on our mission armed with the single umbrella that Anjali had carried from home. There was no ambiguity in our minds as to who gets to use it. We took the usual bus ride back to the city and got down near much earlier to our usual stop and walked our way to the university main building. I planned to take the visitor shuttle from here to the Shrine of Remembrance rather than going to the Fed Square and onto St.Kilda. I was by now pretty familiarised with the layout and was beginning feeling confident of commuting. So we wait for the next shuttle to arrive at the stop and hoards of students zipped past us. Then onto the shuttle we took us through the familiar route via CBD and docklands to the Shrine of Remembrance. By now it had begun drizzling again but still not that heavy. The plan was to have Anjali take Anannya around the Shrine of Remembrance and the Royal Botanical Garden which was spread over vast expanse of the land. Anannya especially was looking forward to go to the 'garden' which to her had totally different connotations from usual. 

So I left them behind and moved across the lawn and onto the St.Kilda road, crossed it and moved downhill along in street in a seemingly commercial district. I called up my friend and he gave me a landmark to arrive at and asked me to buzz me once there. So once I reached opposite the BMW showroom, I buzzed Rahul and waited at the entrance of Wipro Technologies where he worked. Minutes later he arrived and hugs & pleasantries were exchanged. He enquired if I have had lunch and offered to take me for lunch somewhere nearby. I hesitantly agreed for I wasnt sure if my folks back there would wait for me. But since I have no way to communicate back to her and knowing the fact that she did had AUDs with her I walked to have a quick bite. Besides Rahul and me had lot to catch up since over a decade had passed by since we had last met way back during college days. So we settled our butts at a South East asian restaurant,ordered a couple of dishes. Our talks ranged from nostalgic memories of college days to whos-who & whos-where about all our batchmates, how Goa has degraded over the years and then to how australia is as a place. I too had many curiousities to settle viz: Melbourne vs Sydnet, the climate, jobs and career prospects, standard of living et al. He patiently listened and answered as we devoured the food that arrived. Rahul had to go back to work and so we wrapped our lunch and he was courteous enough to foot the bill, so I thanked him exchanged a warm handshake and each took their own road back to their destination. But not before clicking an mandatory selfie for the college whatsapp group.

Now it had begun to rain pretty heavily. Anjali had thrusted the umbrella to me saying I might need it more that I had to walk quite some while and that she would find shelter somewhere in the garden if need be. So armed with the umbrella I walked to the centrelink offfice which was at the York Street which almost seemed to be a deserted street. I located the office and got myself a ticket and waited in the lobby. It had been quite a while since I had left wifey back and that I had told her that I should be back within an hour. Now that it was over an hour I was getting worried that she might start feeling panicky but I had no means to reach out to her. The wait felt excruciatingly long with each passing minute as I waited for my turn to come. And suddenly my phone buzzed with a unknown number. I was pretty sure it was she calling me and with great anticipation I answered it. Yes, it was her. "Where are you?" she questioned. Her voice a mix of worry and anger. I told her how I got delayed at the office and asked her not to worry for I would need to another half an hour at least. I hung the call up relived that I have things under control. Soon I was called to the counter where I was courteously dealt with in regards to application. Since I didnt have my bank debit card with me there, I was requested to revisit the centre with the same and get my records updated. That thing done I had another item off my to-do list and I triumphantly walked back to reunite with my family braving the incessant showers.

After looking out for them two for few minutes, I found them in the lobby anannya saddled in her pram and dozzing off but Anjali was fuming primed to erupt and my glimpse was an trigger she was waiting for. She wasnt all at fault for I was gone for hours without a trace, she could not move around as it was raining, and our little one could quite be a devil at times and this was that one time where she had been throwing tantrums. And to top it all they hadnt had their lunch; I felt a bit repentant for having relished a decent meal while my folks were starving still. Telling her that would just mean adding insult to injury so I deliquently avoided her question probing if I have had my meals. We moved out from there without visiting the galleries and went to the bus stop to catch the next shuttle to CBD. That also meant I will have to give a miss to the two attractions which I was actually was looking up to visiting and it kind of put me off. As we waited for the shuttle, I even got in a minor argument with my wifey as why she couldnt get food for them two not realising she was constrained with the pouring rains. Anjali sensing my disappointment coaxed me in making a quick tour of the shrine which after initial rebuttal I gave in to. I promised to make a quick tour of the same and would arrive well in time before the probable time of departure of the shuttle. So i sprinted up the steps of the shrine , visited different sections, clicking pics and virtually running through the aisle. Though I skipped many a section just to ensure I will be back in time and in time I was; Anjali told me the shuttle had left soon I had departed. Darn! Had no option but to curse my own self and wait for the next one. I dont know if Anjali was testing me when she proposed making a quick dash to the RBG before the next bus arrived; which I flatly refused, rode the next shuttle and arrived at the St. Kilda's stop for some pet-puja.

Aussie Sojourn - Day Three

At the Melbourne Visitor centre yesterday we came to know about the visitor shuttle bus which move around the city and take the tourists to landmark attractions. The $10 ticket for 2 days entitled one to get on any of these shuttle at any of these designated 13 stops. One could visit the attraction at leisure and then hop on to the next shuttle and continue the journey. What’ more? It had free onboard Wifi. Yippee! So we bought a couple of tickets for our self and take the shuttle at St. Paul’s Cathedral which was stop #2 on the route. When we arrived there, the shuttle wasn’t yet arrived at the stop so we decided you see the cathedral from inside.

The cathedral was humungous with the high ceiling intimidating you and making you realize what a tiny speck you are. The fat pillars on both side and the arcs curving in from each side and meeting at the center were stone carved and flashed the gothic look. There were hardly any soul on the prayer benches or otherwise except a couple of tourists near the towering altar. Since this would interest Anannya, Anjali took her to a side aisle wherein a special play area was demarcated with toys scattered around. I moved on to watch the place with more details. As one entered the cathedral there was this soothing sound of someone playing an organ. Though very calm it was loud as well, perhaps it was the acoustics of the grand hall which was amplifying the effects or perhaps the person was playing on a mic I told myself. I roamed around a bit and then came across a array of giant pipes which kind of puzzled me but I moved on. When I returned back to the play area, Anannya was busy riding on some toy while Anjali was chatting with the David Shepherd’esque old man. I realized later that he was the curator of the cathedral. After exchanging pleasantries and hearing where we came from, how could we not grace past the topic of cricket. So here was he, but as you might be expecting or at least as I had expected  instead of bragging how the green baggies have been humiliating India time and again down under, he chose to mention the series when India had white-washed the Aussies. And we say that the Aussies are big-mouthed, or perhaps it was just him. I later queried him about the sound the queried him as to who was playing it and it is then I got enlightened about that array of pipes. The cathedral contained one of the world’s largest while organ and it was wind acting as the conductor of the orchestra. He also added that we were plain lucky to have witnessed it as it is usually played only on the day of the mass.

When we came out we still didn’t see any bus there. No, it didn’t mean that the bus has not arrived, it only suggested we did miss the bus and may be two. So instead of waiting there at the stop I decided that we visit the ACMI and the NGV which were just across the street. As we walked along the footpath we could see hordes of people visibly tourists moving in and out of an alley way. As we approached we could see and stone brick paved alley way with either side walls sprayed with all hues of colour. It was the Hosier street and famously known for its street art, graffiti. It wasn’t random sprinkling of paint on the walls, but there was definitive artistic touch and many a times a not so subtle message. The paintings ranged from cartoon characters, to sceneries, to world peace message and even a piece of advice to the USA. I could spot a couple of kids who in their school-uniforms were sheepishly trying to paint their artwork as well. Guess they had bunked their classes for a noble cause? 

From there we moved onto the halls of ACMI and the art galleries of NGV. The ACMI exhibited variety of sci-fi gadgets from the past and those used in different movies. But what was more interesting was what lay ahead, for they were also demonstrating the gadgets for the future like the Virtual reality goggles. The NGV too was spell bounding for any connoisseur of art for it had huge collection of paintings, sculptures and art. We raced through much of it as we didn’t have any plans to skip our shuttle any longer and headed back to the cathedral stop. Within minutes we could see the distinctive bright red coloured bus pull in. A few tourist got off and we jumped on and grabbed the seat. Needless to say first thing that both of us did was to connect to the free onboard WiFi and got on with instagramming/FBing .

The shuttle chugged along and the very lively driver welcomed the new guests onboard and proceeded with his running commentary. The next stop was the MCG which didn’t excited Anjali much but I still decided to hop off to do the ‘Sporting Hajj’. The climate out there at the MCG stadium was stupendous with cool breeze kissing your face. Anjali had once again got her sartorial choice wrong of clothing relaying solely on the earlier day’s hot and humid climate. Duh! The climate was very pleasing at MCG and the cool breezing crazing against your body makes one feel energetic. Guess that is one of the reason why MCG is the most favourite venue of most of the cricketing legend and facing the red cherry dressed in the whites is kind of a holy grail for most of the cricketers across the world. Very typical to the Hajj wherein the devotee circumambulate the black stone, I went all around the MCG. I also took a detour to the Hisense Arena, the National Tennis centre, AAMI Park and the venue for the Australia Open. One could see hundreds of young kids practicing different sports, no wonder Australia is such a strong sporting nation. We took the next shuttle and then moved on.

We moved past the Treasury gardens, watched the Victoria parliament building pass by, zipped past the famous food street of Lygon street and Collins street and then to the University of Melbourne, the driver blabbering all the way with history of many a landmarks sprinkled with nit bits of GK. The bus paused at regular intervals to let the tourists hop on and off at the stipulated stops. We then arrived at the Queen Victoria market stop which was the place for Melbourne biggest market for all things under the sun. For fish to clothes and eatables to vegetables, this was the go-to place if you wanted to buy things cheap. But it being a Wednesday it was the weekly off and all the stalls were sealed and wrapped. This disappointment didn’t last for too long as the driver informed us that Wednesday though being the weekly off, it is all the day for the night food bazaar wherein I can get to devour a wide and inexhaustive range of cuisines supposedly from the length and breadth the world. Now that I have titillated your taste buds and I am guessing you mouth is watering as well, I will leave it at this. More of it later. So we made a mental note that we need to arrive at the place dot at 1700 hrs, militarily speaking.

We then made our way to the docklands which is a very recently developed region of Melbourne. We passed by a giant white statue of an Eagle, which was considered sacred by the native aboriginal people of Australia. We could see large tracts of wavy roof like structure which turned out to be the Southern cross station, the hub of all inter- and intra- state rail networks. Interesting to note here the name Southern Cross is derived from a constellation, which is also seen on the Australian Flag. As Melbourne grew and so does its population, it had to expand to accommodate its vast numbers of immigrants and thus this area got into being as an outshoot. Unlike the mix of Victorian and swanky buildings in the CBD, this area housed mostly residential hi-rises. Our driver informed that the buildings having built in the docklands region were so shaped to look like that of a ship; I am yet to figure out that similarity. Ignoring his rant we got ourselves busy watching the marina and the white gleaming yachts anchored there. Soon we reached the Melbourne Star, our next in to-do list. Remember Anjali had added this to her wish list yesterday, and I didn’t want to disappoint her. A few years back when we had been to Singapore, I had given the Singapore Eye a miss for more ‘down to earth’ experiences, but she hadn’t still let me go for that misadventure (missed adventure rather) and I was in no mood to make it 2-0 in her favour. So here was the opportunity for me to break even,  even though if it meant I would be set back $140. So we grabbed a quick bite at a McD and moved on to take a ride in one of those glass cubicle which circled every half an hour. There was hardly any crowd there and we got the entire cabin all for ourselves to play around. No, don’t let you mind wander; the cabin is strictly under CCTV surveillance and besides we had own set of little eyes proding throughout. The cabin rises slowly and you get to see newer frontiers of Melbourne emerge at the horizon. There is a running commentary helping you to identify significant buildings I you move 360 degrees along the circumference of the Melbourne Star. All and all I felt this experience a bit…….. ‘Meh!’ A more exciting thing was seeing Anannya enjoying herself on the tiny slides, the rocking rides and the driving car that she got to play with in the play area after we have alighted. It was a tasks to get her off from it and onto the City Circle tram back to flinders street. Got somewhere close to the George Street stop and walked north to QVM.

When we arrived at the tin shade of what we know at QVM, the stalls were just getting set up. Though there were a couple which were up and running and already had a small crowd gathered around it. We had no clue what this would snowball into as the evening unwound. So as we waited for more options to get added, we had our first mango of the season well before the season. My daughter being a huge Mango fan, meant Anjali and me got to taste just a small bite of it as Anannya ‘cleaned’ it up within no time. Soon the crowd begin building up and we decided to take a walk down the aisle and take our pick. The entire lane was lined up with hundreds of stalls and each of these stalls offering you thousands of things you relish. From Cheesesteaks, Dumplings & Noodles to Nachos, Pastas and doughnuts. Well not to miss on the different items in meat of lamb, chicken, pork etc. After the recee I decided to settle for Koothu Roti from a familiar looking Sri-Lankan stall. This dish was basically a chicken and Roti version of scrambled egg. Wifey settled for a more saner looking Korean Potata twist and fried beans. Besides food, another star attraction of the night food market is the live performances that happen along side which all the people can enjoy while devouring their chosen food. We got to experience this guy who was playing a fruit. No its not a typo and I didn’t mean to say flute but F.R.U.I.T. He had this assemble of different  carved of fruits viz: carrots, watermelon, cabbage, lettuce et al and he was making rhythmic notes out of these. Quiet a novelty it was. We also had another stage wherein the artist were playing the digeridoo though I would have loved to hear the same played by an aboriginal native in his traditional attire. With our mind and soul satisfied and more so our tummies, we took the ride back to our home. 

Aussie Sojourn - Day Two

As I suggested earlier many of the tasks that I had planned for Day 1 had spilled over to the next days due to our slumber but we were determined not to have our ‘need for sleep’ ruin our ‘midtown madness’ anymore (oops! Sorry for the bad pun). So despite not being to get myself to bed any time before well past midnight I had my alarms set for early morning. So though not exactly as early I would have wanted to get up and get going we still managed to wake ourselves up, get freshened up, had a decent breakfast (courtesy Anjali) and get going back to CBD. By now we were quite familiar with the public transport and the timings and thus we arrived in time for the next 505 route down to its last stop, Pehlam Street. Once the driver announced that it’s the end of the trip we moved on to the next part of the journey via the tram. So from the nearest tram station we go the tram and got down at collin’s Street.

So from the bucket list for Day #1 the most important item that was still pending to be picked off was getting ourselves registered for Medicare. The Australian government provides all its citizens and permanent resident access to its health care facilities a.k.a Medicare. Having heard about numnerous instances of how expensive healthcare is on foreign soil, I had already got me and my family insured for any health emergencies for this trip however I wanted to have us on their rolls as well as a fail safe. So when at Collins strret I quickly spotted the Shopping mall housing the medicare office once again thanks to Google Strret view. After wandering for a bit in that mall and asking for directions we did end up at the medicare office where we were courteously welcomed by a host, who asked me my name for appointment ticketing purpose, asked me the purpose of the visit  and guided me to fill up the forms required for it. However I had already downloaded and filled the same while in India and had my task cut short. So we patiently waited for our turned at the lobby. When my name was called out within 10 odd minutes we were hosted to a desk manned by a old lady who took the form requested for our passports and visa copies and left the seat to do the needful processing. She was back in a very short while and updated us that we are done with the process that the cards will be mailed to us at the address mentioned. We cleared some of our doubts with her, thanked her for the services and left. Phew! Two of the major ‘must-dos’ of this validation trip were ticked off; one left – Centrelink.

Now the official work thingy done the next thing to get done was visit the Melbourne Sea-life museum. So again we went to Flinder’s street stop and switched to a tram along the flinder’s street. Once again we hoped off a stop in advance and that meant we had to walk the remaining distance. Though it wasn’t exactly too much far, the weather today was hotter than the previous day and we were sweating as we were hauling Anannya in her pram towards the Sealife Museum. It was especially a bit harsher for Anjali who had dressed up in woolens for the climate we experienced the previous day. Such is life!

Once at the Sea Life Museum front dress, I presented the receptionist with the print out of Annual membership which my dear friend had already booked for us online. She hosted us to another desk, got us to fill up a form, took mugshots and handed us a card each connected to bright orange neck tags with ‘annual membership’ boldly written over it. Basically the annual membership allows you visit some 11 attractions across Aus and NZ for just AUD 115. Considering I was just visiting Melbourne and Sydney I could have covered 7 off it, though I ended up visitng just 5. Nevertheless it wasn’t still a worthy option I would believe and would pray that I make another trip before the card expired come March 2017. Once done with this formality we were ready to take the trip down under the sea to experience a totally different world. And boy! It was truly an out of the world experience. From touching real eggs/shells to viewing different exotic species of fish; from hopping under an acquarium to feel you are deep down at the bottom of the ocean to walking through a tunnel with sharks and sting rays sailing past you, it was totally ethereal experience. Anannya had a ball of a time touching (well, almost) the different fishes across the glass wall while Anjali loved the jelly fishes changing colours as per the hue of the light. The eals and seahorse too were unseen before but the highlight of the museum as far as I was concerned is the huge acquarium set up in an amphitheathre kinda setup. One could take a seat and gaze and the tranquilizing moments of many species of never before seen fishes as they very calmy swim past you unaware or perhaps unbothered about your presence. Viewing them is such a hypnotizing and soothing experience that if somebody could pay me salary for it I could do that for weeks together. However I hadn’t come across the benevolent person who would do that so I had to get my ass moving. We did our lunch at the museum itself and then covered the remaining sections which include a rainforest walk with exhibits comprising of frogs and snakes. From the rainforest we directly moved to the poles which begin with a 5D experience of scrat hiding his nut. Anannya had great fun watching it. We were then escorted to a penguin land where hordes of penguins slide down the ice, took dives in the freezing cold water for their food or simply did the penguin hop. All things done it was time to move on.

Back to the tram stop as we waited for our ride we soaked in the architecture of Melbourne. It isn’t uncommon to see totally hip/techno shapped buildings interspersed with a lone Victorian era block and you wonder which one to admire more. As I was transposed to Victorian time, I saw a tram buggy chugging towards me and it took a firm shake from Anjali to get me back to the present day. So I hadn’t actually been time travelling it indeed the city circle tram that had arrived. The speciality of this tram is that they are still ply the old iconic tram carriages rather than the sterile modern masters, and more importantly they are free, make a round of the city and has a running commentary onboard informing its occupants about the significance of the various landmarks long the route. So we travelled all the way down the flinders street , turned around at he treasury gardens then moving along the bourke and Collins streets moved up to Docklands where the Merbourne Star observation wheel was spotted by my better half and added to our “to –do” list, zipped past the marina and Etihad stadium and back to Federation Square where we got down.

Since we had not yet been to the Melbourne visitor centre as yet, we decided to visit it and climbed down a couple of floors underground to the centre. It basically consists of all the information about Melbourne and surrounding attractions that a typical visitor would need. There were free take aways brouchures for different tours one could take in and around Melbourne and they also had private counters for booking a ticket onto these. So we took a heap of the guides, brouchures and maps and once again emerged to the earth’s surface. We already been to Fed Square the previous day and decided to give it a skip, we crossed the Yarra River over the Prince bridge and arrived at the Southbank. Southbank is kind of a recreational area with tons of cafes and food courts lined along the bank of Yarra river. As you drool over the smell of food and coffee you also get to public sculptures and street art and if you are lucky enough sometimes even artists at work.. 

Aussie Sojourn - Day One

When we had slept the previous night (or early morning?) we didn’t realize that were this tired or was it the jet lag coming into play, but we woke up only around noon. Since I had made vague plans for the each day, they were already started falling apart due to our unplanned slumber. Howsoever unwillingly we forced ourselves out of the bed, but that was the easier part because it was quite a task to wake up Anannya and get her on her legs. A few minutes of cajoling, coaxing, threatening and scolding for both of us was reciprocated by a spate of tantrums. Not being totally unfamiliar to this, we somehow got her to ready and clothed for journey to the hub of activity at Melbourne or CBD as the locals prefer to call it. 


I had rece’ed the nearest busstop and our host was kind enough to provide us the time-table of the public transport, not to forget the MyKi cards he had for us. As we stood at the bus-stop and commuters (mostly college going students) begin to add up around, I was feeling apprehensive because I was carrying along a pram from my daughter and wasn’t sure how well it will be received on the public bus. Coming from where I go from, any piece of extra ‘luggage’ on a bus besides your own self is considered a nuisance, both by the conductor and fellow commuters alike; However this guilt-trip was soon going to cease of exist. As the bus arrived at the bus stop, I couldn’t resist noticing that the driver has made a conscience effort to park it as close to the kerb where I was standing so as to make it convenient for me to raise the pram into the bus. Once again when the doors got flung open I expected the rest of fellow commuters to crowd in but it wasn’t to be; in fact I soon realized I was the priority traffic and had precedence to board the bus. Almost zapped at this never before experienced courtesy, I failed to notice that the bus-driver had further lowered the bus platform using some hydraulic system which further aided boarding with the baby stroller. Once onboard I had to tap on each of our MyKi card to start the journey, but before that I had to top-up the same. I approached the driver and requested him to do the same and he was kind and courteous enough to do it. While I did all this the fellow commuters lined up silently behind me, no heckling no cribbing. Tapping my cards on the card reader I pushed the pram further down the bus aisle. 

Let me digress here for a bit. Compared to the mini-buses back at Goa (as the full length buses have become almost extinct) these buses felt extra-ordinarily long, however they were very spacious and might just seat as many passengers  of seats as the cramped buses back home. These buses are divided into 2 sections with the front section being disabled friendly and many of the seats reserved for physically handicapped, the old-aged, expectant mothers, or chill strollers/prams. The back section of the buses is raised by a couple of step and is meant for general public.

So I rolled buggy and parked ourselves in a seat. I kept the pram close to the seat holding onto it throughout the course of our journey. During the course of our journey I realized there are not just separate foldable seats but a proper way in which one needs to park the pram. There is this row of three foldable seats  out of which 2 seats need to be folded and the pram be parked there facing towards the back of bus and the wheels locked and the mother be seated on the third seat in that row.

Having rested our butts and the wheels started rolling  I begun getting myself familiarized with the surrounding, for I needed to alight back on the journey back. I made note of some buildings and landmarks in the area. However the major task at hand was to reach where we were heading to. Our host has mentioned that the bus #505 was heading to Melbourne University and that is were we need to alight, but as I soon realized Mel Uni (as it is popularly known here) isn’t just located at a single city block. As the very jovial city tour bus driver mentioned to us later, what started as a single city block Mel Univ spread it tentacles across a very large area of the city admeasuring thousands of square metres. So as simple as the instruction was from our host, we still ended up getting off the bus a few stops earlier than our intended destination. The thing being that the bus zips past through the Mel Uni region and has many stops close to buildings housing various institutes/college, each of these building proudly brandishing the univ emblem  thus fooling us. 

We disembarked from the bus after thanking the bus driver which I found a very nice etiquette for even he wishes you with a smile and a ‘Howdy!’ when you get on. Now that we were down and looked around it dawned upon me that I may not be exactly where I was intending to be at. The plan was to get down at ‘Pelham Street’ which we later realized was the last stop for the Route 505 bus and from there take a Tram from the nearest tram station (which we later got to know was Hay’s market)to the Flinder’s street station which was dead at the heart of the CBD. But having alighted at a wrong stop we had to reroute ourselves and find a way to our destination. So I begin pushing the buggy with Anannya enjoying the ride and Anjali closing following me. I followed the general direction of the bus was heading to. The footpath were clean and wide and the chilled breeze kissing your face just mentioned pushing Anannya in the stroller wasn’t a daunting task. We soon begin enjoying the weather and Anjali was wondering why she hadn’t been wearing warm clothes.

I am generally not directionally challenged and pretty much easily find my way through but here I was in a totally uncharted region without an aid of a map, GPS or a mobile phone. Considering this the only option that we were left with was asking any passerby to kindly guide us. As we strolled over the walkways we were trying to identify whom should we addressing our question as we were having trouble to tell a tourists apart for the Melbournian. Many faces zipped past us mostly “Chinese” (as any true blood Indian would call people from China, Japan, The SE Asia and the ilks) interspersed with brown (pardon my racist remark) faces who gave us a familiar glance of countrymen. After probing a couple of folks we were headed to the Queen Victoria Market Tram station wherein we had to take the tram to CBD. So we started moving towards QVM tram station while soaking the beauty of the place.  The lush green gardens, the well-manicured lawns, the birds, the zipping paved walkways, the water fountains everything of it was enthralling us. And not to miss ‘click!’ ‘Click!’ ing our way to the tram station. Once at the tram station and after figuring out which side of the platform to board on, we gently waited for the ride to arrive. This would be the first time I would ride a tram and was feeling excited about it. Though when the first tram zipped past us I get it go as it was pretty full and also not very convenient to push the buggy in. Perhaps I was already getting used the convenience of the public bus. Another tram and I realized either things weren’t improving: the rush and the convenience. So we decided to take the next one without much hue or cry. So when the next tram arrived we quickly located a relatively empty cabin and raised the pram into it. As I suggested earlier I felt it troublesome to move the pram in and out of a tram but the ride in itself was smooth.

Melbourne has an extensive network of trams or light rail as it is known there. This light rail service crisscrosses large part of the CBD and thus makes for a very easy and convenient mode of transport for locals and tourists alike. A very significant more of this tram service area in the CBD falls under the free tram zone meaning they wouldn’t cost you a single penny to travel within this area though generally speaking transport is pretty expensive. The tram service also extends beyond CBD and flanks out in all direction. Besides this there is a city circle tram which still plies the vintage buggies and moves around the city at regular interval. There is an onboard running commentary for tourists which tells about different tourist spots and history of iconic landmarks.

The tram announced the next tram stop being Collins street and I springed up to alight. As soon as I got down, I felt as if in familiar terrain. Now that I had been here in my earlier lives/incarnations but I had strolled along this street just a few weeks back from thousands of miles away sitting on my computer. Yes, Thank you Google Street view. So I was exactly sure where I was heading to and a couple of minutes of walk past I was at the NAB where I had already opened my migrant bank account but had to do some in-person verification. There were a number of numbered counters and I walked to one of them, the lady behind the desk guided me through the electronic ticketing system and requested me to wait till my number was called out. A few minutes wait and I was called to a desk where the service executive carried out the formalities towards fully activating my banking services. When I was busy doing this, Anannya was apparently getting cranky in the waiting area. Remember all this while we hadn’t had anything to eat and perhaps this was getting to her. Thankfully my well-equipped wife had foreseen this and she did carry light snacks for our beloved daughter. So once done with the bank account opening our next destination was finalized to be some food joint. However I did hopped into a currency exchange bereau and I was getting seriously low on currency notes. It’s worthy to mention here that I requested to have forex converted at the bank but once again the executive informed me that it would be more prudent to have it done outside the bank for a better exchange rate and without a service charge. How often do we see such a courtesy back here in our country.

So while we were strolling down a wide alley lined with shops we passed across this Turkish food joint exhiting its offerings through a glass counters which caught my wife’s eye. So we decided to hop in and check out if there was something that we could afford, not just economically but gastronomically. Since beef and pork was a street no no for us half of the menu was already a ‘do not trespass’ zone for us. Anjali did manage to zero in on a dish which looked a combination of fried chicken pieces over plain cooked rice. I wouldn’t say that I was thoroughly impressed with it but then I didn’t have any better thing to offer, so we ordered it. Anjali was still coming to terms with the Australia accent and was having trouble what the guy across the counter had to say. Anyways I tool the reigns paid him and grabbed a table for us and got settled. Now the gastric juices were really dancing in our tummies and we were literally staring at the Kitchen counter for our order be called out and finally it did. Our wait wasn’t rewarded as much as we didn’t particularly like the dish and felt the food was too bland. The chicken pieces though edible, the rice was too dry and we could have certainly done with a little bit of gravy into it. On any other day we could have given this item a miss but the hungry that we were we still managed to eat a large portion of it. We hadn’t quenched our hunger in totality but had placated it for time-being. Our goal of finding food was still on. We moved out of a food count looking for another. No sooner I laid my sight on a Hoarding with those 3 magical letters ‘K’, ‘F’, ‘C’. No, I am not a die-hard fan of Col. Sanders or any of his offerings but on previous international trips I have realized that if your risks which trying local food-joints fails you need to head straight to any of these international brand for you will always know and will get what you have ordered for. A Bucket of this, packet of that and few cans later we had our stomach full and charged to move on.

We walked further along the walkway and a familiar building with a clock tower begun to emerge at the T junction ahead. It appeared ancient with its Victorian era architecture and brown colour façade but it seemed abuzz like any modern day shopping mall with hords of people rushing in and out of it. As we drew closer it was clear what is was. As the Dull blue font on the mud brown façade proclaimed it was the ‘FLINDER STREET STATION’. We had arrived where we intended to, but perhaps not on the right side of it, for I had read that it is just across the Federation Square (or Fed Square ) and the St.Paul’s Cathedral. But now that we were there I knew its just minutes before I find my way to it. At the T-junction, I glanced to the left I could see a very modernist looking building a few blocks away. I could identify it was the one housing the ACMI right at the centre of the Fed Square. So we thudded along slicing through the crowd and then a road crossing and there were we, right at the nerve centre of the CBD. At the main entrance of the Flinders street station with the enormous St.Paul’s cathedral looking down onto us.

Hordes of people were rushing past us in all directions as it was peak rush hours. It also meant that we were past the visit hours for the most of the attractions in that area, those being the Melbourne Visit Centre, The Austalian Centre for Moving Images, National Gallery of Victoria. But we could leisurely stroll along the streets, Laze around the Fed Square fully utilizing the Free Wi-Fi and soak in the ambience as the Sun set. And that is precisely what we did.

Aussie Sojourn - Day Zero

I got grant for myself and my family (wife and daughter) in early December and had to make the first entry by May. Since I had to take along my family for the validation I planned this more as a leisure trip and didn’t think about planning for any interviews. I had booked my ‘To’ tickets to Melbourne well before I have got a grant (took a gamble there) and got them for a paltry 50k for 3 of us on Air Asia. So we left Goa for Melbourne with an 8 hours layover at Kuala Lumpur. So the flight that left at 9 PM IST on Saturday reached at the 12.10 AM at Melbourne. In the flight I was given an immigration form where I ticked ‘permanent resident’ (NOT Leisure as few suggested in this forum) as I wanted to have the PR initiated as early as possible. Declared a few medicines and nothing else. Immigration process went hassle free without any questions and we were out of the airport within a few minutes. Hailed a cab and went to the place I had booked on AirBnB. Taxi run on meter so no scope of fleecing customer; a 15 mins drive cost me around $54. Taxi driver helped me locate the house and help me with the luggage. Experienced this courtesy throughout my stay at Australia.

The AirBnB host (Brian) welcomed me to his home and showed me around his house and then hosted us till your room. He had MyKi cards ready for us and also had city pamphlets for different attractions. Please note the host was awake at a very odd time just to welcome us in. We freshened up and got in the bed after wishing the host a good night and with a relief that a major milestone has been achieved: WE HAD ARRIVED.

A trip down under

I have been wanting to share my experience of my trip to Australia for some time now. Had initially planned to describe the entire experience in one post and share the same with you all. But I couldn't get myself to sit at one place and pen it down... for I realized there is a lot to share and as time passes by, my memories are fading fast as well. So I will make a start and publish a day wise report of things we did, the experiences we cherished and the memories we made. 

I will just describe the validation trip in this post here without flashbacking through the PR process and my experiences during it. I do have lot of things to share regarding that as well, but maybe I will keep that for another time.

However before I start I want to give you guys a fair warning or a disclaimer of sorts. Reading through the posts you guys might get a feeling that I am a bit too critical of things back home or already too much dazed with down under. While I didn’t intend to criticize every aspect of India, one cannot help but feel the difference one get to feel in terms of discipline, convenience, etiquette, courtesy etc. Please spare me for this indulgence. So here goes…


Note: I will be updating each of these posts as I recollect more things.