You know that you have spent too much time in Manila, when walking upsets you feet much more than usual. My feet are quite upset at the moment.
I went to bed quite early last night, the first one in my room. This did mean I work up a few times – every time a roommate decided to go to bed. I believe I live in one of the few rooms in this country with a door that cannot, under no circumstances, be closed quietly. Good thing I was tired enough to open an eye, shut it and drift off again. After much needed sleep, I woke up quite early to make a phone call. And it was so cold, I decided to go back to bed right afterwards. I did however have to get up at some point, because I had an appointment at Westpac Bank. I don’t think I have even been in a bank in which all employees looked between my age and max. 5 years older. A very friendly and accommodating bank. The guy who helped me open my account then told me a wonderful story about how he stayed at my youth hostel once and got all his stuff stolen. Just great.
After getting one of my formalities of the day out of the way, I walked. And walked. And walked. I had no idea where I was going and had no goal other than to see the city. Getting lost in a new place is actually one of my favorite things to do when travelling. And my superb sense of direction lead me once around the city, and the few times I did look at a map, I was always in quite opposite places of where I thought I was. The sun was out, the sky was blue and the clouds stayed far away, fluffy shapes on the horizon. I walked along a river and was even able to take my scarf off at some point; but I did feel kind of silly with thin stockings under my jeans, while girls I passed were wearing short skirts and guys were in t-shirts.
I have heard about the quaintness of Australian cities, when compared to cities like Berlin or Manila. And today I got to experience exactly what was meant with that. There is a free rickety tram that drives around in circles around the city, but in the end, everything is walking distance. I ended up in places that looked far on the map and were really just around the corner. And suddenly I was back at the hostel (and my feet were very glad about that). I walked for 4h and can hardly tell you about where exactly I was, because I was too busy sticking my nose into the sun and following the path that looked the nicest. I did however took a mental note of the Tim Burton Exhibition that I must (!) go see and the Melbourne Aquarium. I crossed a bridge lined with big funny metal sculptures that glinted in the sunlight and made me almost walk into people because I was looking up at them. Along one side of the bridge, there were glass panels which displayed a whole array of different countries and list waves of immigration, places where they came from, reasons for coming and numbers of Australian citizens with that heritage. Beautiful.
On my way home I set foot into an Australian supermarket for the first time. An important part of travelling is exploring the colorful aisles filled with unknown brand names and getting a feel for nutritional habits of the country and how they may collide or coincide with your personal taste. Not really wanting to cook for myself and not having eaten a warm meal yet since getting here, I took home a microwavable pasta dish – bland and boring, but warm and filling. Can’t live on apples, pears and granola bars all day. I’ll probably end up in subway tonight, hoping it’s not so much more expensive than the, in my opinion, expensive pre-made sandwiches in 7Eleven. In general, prices for food and drinks in Berlin and Manila have spoiled me and I will probably think everything is expensive travelling the western world.
After my feet decided to go on strike – I could hear them screaming “no more walking today!” and threatening to run amok if I do – I spent the late afternoon getting the rest of my formalities of the day done. I have now officially applied for my Australian Tax File Number and, slowly but surely, have gained an overview over my funds for this trip. Major downside: After being away from home (meaning Berlin) for so long, I have forgotten my pin numbers for my ATM cards and now have to go out in the dark later to make a call to my bank and see if they can give it to me. Cross my fingers.
Note: Melbourne is smaller than I thought. MUST see Tim Burton Exhibition. I am hungry. I’m an idiot for forgetting pin numbers.
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