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.