#cowwatch at the Docklands
Alright sports fans, this is not going to be a particularly long or significant update but, an update non the less. Well, actually, it is an update of the less, because it contains less content. Let's leave semantics out of it...
Since the last update, not a whole lot has happened, it's mostly been mingling with people at, and around, the hostel, doing some groceries, cooking and, more mingling. Mingling is often unavoidably followed by shooting the breeze and discussing gun control, Australian migration law, things to do in Melbourne and, of course, yellow fever. I'm not going to ruin it by naming names in regards of the last mentioned subject.
Last week I took the City Circle around Melbourne, which is a free service of Yarra Trams. Yarra Trams is the company that runs the tram system in Melbourne. Only the City Circle is free of charge, the normal trams are not, which makes sense. The City Circle is aimed at tourists and for that reason there is an automated announcement system on board, guiding you through the city as the tram moves. With announcements like "On your left, you'll find the Melbourne Aquarium. Open all days from 9:00am to..." - you get the point. It circles the CBD (Central Business District - which could be compared to Stadsdeel Centrum in Amsterdam, activity-and-business-wise) and stops at all significant venues around the track. The messages are actually extremely detailed and very useful, which is something I've noticed on most signs and directions in Melbourne, they frequently contain an unexpected high level of detail.
On the tram ride, one of the announcements mentioned a piece of art called "Cow up a Tree" to be on our left. As I looked I didn't see anything impressive; there was simply a large mesh of steel rods protruding from the ground. I assumed the announcement referred to that mesh of steel rods and returned to gazing into the distance. Up to the point, where a tree slowly passed the tram... with up cow up in it's branches. My initial thought was in the direction of "Holy shit..." and my second thought was "FUCK – I didn't bring my camera!" - Oh well, I enjoyed the rest of the ride and, listened to all the other interesting facts but, of course I was pretty bummed about not being able to spend more time with the cow.
Today (Monday 31th of May) I decided to go to the Melbourne Aquarium. I remembered that it was on the route of the free City Circle tram, so figured I'd take that. Then a certain cow crossed my mind. "Hmmm...", I schemed and plotted, "what if I ride the tram to the 'Cow up the Tree' and the back to the aquarium...Excellent." So there it was, the master plan. The plan was amended along the way, as the free City Circle tram also passed a shopping area, in the Docklands, which I wouldn't mind visiting because, I still need a new hoody. The gray hoody I took with me is actually one size to big and also not very pretty; I would like one that's nice, snug and handsome. The Docklands is in the west of Melbourne, it gained it's name because it's where the docks of Melbourne used to be back in the settlement days. Now of course Melbourne is several hundred times as big and the docks have moved further outward.
The "#cowwatch" is a reference to hash-tag I've used on Twitter in the past, indicating tweets about my hunt for cows in the Dutch country side. I wasn't just keeping track of the local cow activity, I was also looking for a particular scene of cows gently grazing in the country side. I was in need of such a view for a skit (a type of video) I wanted to shoot. Unfortunatly I never found the right scene in the time I had remaining before my trip to Australia. The cow watch continues today and of course I will keep everyone who is interested up-to-date on Just Like Ed and Twitter. For Twitter users: just follow #cowwatch.
I got off at the Dockland Parks tram stop, walked up to a particularly interesting tree, took some pictures, hugged it, and here we are. Along the way, and while visiting the shopping area, I managed to make some more pictures of interest, including one of Hugh Jackman.... well, Hugh Jackman's star in the boardwalk. There were obviously other "famous" people featured there but, who cares; I found Hugh Jackman!
Now I'll pop off to make myself some dinner. Today is lamb chop with some Australian seasoned miniature potatoes, as they call 'em here. Cooking hasn't quite become second nature yet but, I think it's because of the annoyance caused by 30 people trying to cook in one kitchen, at the same time. It would be so much easier if different countries had dinner at different time but, no; everybody starts making their dinner between 6 and 8. If you try to enter the kitchen between those times, you will get burned or at the very least demoralized. Come to think of it, I'll just have some Tim Tams and wait another hour. Tim Tams are a particular brand of Australian cookies, by the way.
With love.
