Melbourne - Cafes, Coffee and Coffee

I’ve been to Melbourne twice, both in the summer.  The first time it was cold and gloomy.  The second, in 2008 for the Australian Open, was hot and sunny.  In Sydney, a Melbournite told me, “If you don’t like the weather in Melbourne, wait 5 minutes”.  He was of course referring to the unpredictable, variable weather.  This time, I was blessed with mostly beautiful weather, even though the week before I arrived was very cold.

Transport:

I was very fortunate to have a lovely place to stay, with the most gracious of hosts - who kept trying to feed me :o).  Yes, he's Singaporean.  Melbourne is transitioning to a tap on – tap off ticketing system (like our ez-link cards) covering trains, buses and trams.  One feature which I liked was a maximum daily charge (so you never paid more than $x/day).  There are also weekly or monthly travel packages.  Something the Singapore government should look into if they want to encourage people to take more public transport.

Melbourne is serviced by trams, which sometimes stop in the middle of the road.  This means that when you get off, you have to cross a lane of traffic in order to get to the side of the road.  

Melbourne tram - note the lane between the tram and side of the road

Cars are supposed to stop behind the tram and give way to passengers alighting from the tram.  I laughed to myself thinking of how this would NOT work in Singapore, where cars ignore  zebra crossings - actually some accelerate when they see one, I swear.  Passengers would probably be stuck on the tram in Singapore, trying not get hit by the cars!

Yoga:

One highlight was the warm, welcoming yoga community.  My good friend teaches morning Ashtanga classes and I had the pleasure of meeting 2 of her students in Mysore.  They became my ‘’kaki’’ for coffee after class, lunch, cheese&wine in the country, the international comedy festival, watching the pilot episode of Game of Thrones season 2 etc.   The Ashtanga yoga practitioners I get along with have a common love for ashtanga yoga, coffee/chai, food, chocolate and having a good laugh.  The Melbourne yoga crew were all that.  They didn’t take their yoga too seriously and could laugh about their practice and themselves - just my kind of people.  I had a great time with them, felt very at home and was sad to leave.

I was also fortunate to be given the opportunity to cover 4 morning Mysore classes because my friend was going out of town.  These were the first Mysore classes I’d taught in almost 6 months.  I was dubious about teaching because of my injured shoulder but the teaching assistants were brilliant and with such chill students, it was a pleasure to cover the classes.

Practice-wise, I could only do a baby practice.  As with any injury, one is faced with the dilemma of continuing to practice & working with the discomfort or resting completely.  Many concerned people (especially with medical connections) were uncomfortable with the fact that I continue to practice.  That planted some doubt in my mind, but having worked with this body in this way for more than 10 years, I am inclined to go with my instincts.  My practice actually became better in that even though physically I am not doing as much, mentally I’m more present and focused.  You have to in order to know how far to go and when to pull back.  I did continue to take it easy though, if anything felt too sore, I’d back off the next day.  It definitely helped to stretch and it was nice to continue my ‘yoga holiday’.

Sightseeing:
On the touristy side, Melbourne took me down the Art Gallery route.  I have a one-hour attention span with museums / galleries.  After that, my brain shuts down. After consultation with the Lonely Planet, I visited the 2 National Galleries of Victoria (NGV) - one dedicated to Australian art and the other, to International art.

NGV Australia

NGV International - the blurry background is actually recycled water running down the glass

10,000 pieces of individually cut glass make up this beautiful roof

I joined the free tours so I actually learned something instead of aimlessly wandering around. My favourite was the Indigenous art collection which surprised me with the bright, vibrant colours.

I also visited a beautiful garden which used to be the residence of 2 pioneer supporters of contemporary art in Melbourne.  The 2 houses (one old, one modern) were converted into art galleries and there are sculptures scattered throughout the spacious grounds.

Lifting my arms was actually painful - but have to 'ren' and smile instead of grimace

I happened to be in Melbourne during the International Comedy Festival.  The free acts by street performers were good fun.  I love comedy, especially stand-up so I also got tickets to see a local comedian.  Sadly, he wasn’t as great as the reviews found him. My ‘kaki’ who usually draw attention by laughing raucously in public were completely silent throughout the act.

I went on 2 outings to wine and cheese country.  I have a pretty rubbish wine palate and I am not a big fan of cheese (I like ordinary cheddar!) but it was really fun to get out of the city.  I guess the only reason I was invited was as a back-up driver?

Views from the Chandon vineyard in the Yarra Valley

My friend was supposed to be in the foreground - but he couldn't stand straight after the wine-tasting ;o)

Another tourist memory was visiting St Kilda’s beach (cold and windy like Brighton) at dusk to wait for the penguins to come home.  They’re a small species, even full-grown … very cute.  Lots of tourists come to watch the penguins swim in one by one, hop up onto the sand and disappear into their nests in the rocks.  My friend volunteers with a group that helps manage the tourists so that they don’t use white light flash or disturb the penguins.  Sadly, it’s my fellowmen, the Chinese tourists who ‘Bu Ting Hua’ ie don’t listen.

Full-grown penguin lit up by a torch covered with red cellophane paper

Food:

The search for the elusive ‘healthy’ bran/wholemeal muffin continued … and sadly didn’t end in Melbourne.  The coffee was SO GOOD though.

I’m not sure if it’s the quality of the coffee, milk, foam, the way they’re combined or all the above.   I drank one or two a day – so nice to sit in the ever-present sidewalk cafe.  Chai – what’s that? :o)  I had to wait for my latte once while they made another.  Apparently, the one they were going to give me didn’t pass the test.  It was too flat.  How’s that for quality control.

Good-bye Australia, I had a blast.  Time for some tropical weather with gorgeous views and lovely breezes.  Fun in the sun, while I watch from the shade … Hawaii, here I come!