We were still two hours away from Melbourne (which is also called Batmania after John Batman, the successful farmer who explored the area first) but slowly a landscape started to form outside the window.
To be honest, it was not really a very exciting landscape but it was something to look at for the next hour or so.
When the sun was high enough, so that I could see the isle of the train carriage ok I made my way 3 cars forward and got a cup of coffee.
It did help a bit and soon we were in the suburbs of Melbourne. Not a very beautiful city, judging by the suburbs.
Anyway at 7:30, right on schedule we rolled into Southern Cross station and I got of and met a Canadian dude with a big backpack and who also was looking to get some breakky.
We went to PieFace for some food and a coffee. It turned out that his parents have cattle ranch somewhere in the wilderness of Alberta, Canada.
He came to Australia to help out on a cattle ranch here. So I met an actual cowboy...
Anyway, a mate picked him up shortly after and I was on my own again.
Brad, my former colleague from Canada Life, who is now back, living in Melbourne, was still at work and I should be coming around in the afternoon.
So, I had another 7 or so hours to kill.
I spent some time reading my book in the shopping mall but this got tiresome after a while and I went out on the search for some lockers.
These were quickly found but the shortest possible rental time was 24 hours which was 12 $.
I decided to be a cheap-ass and went out of the station with both my bags, determined to waste some time in Melbourne until it was time to go towards Brad's place.
The only famous thing about Melbourne I knew about was the big yellow train station called Flinders Station.
So I walked there. Not too far at all.
I took a picture of the front with all the little clocks showing the departure time of the different trains, rather than the time.
Right across from the train station is the Melbourne Tourist information which gave me some idea what to do.
I like walking tours and there were 8 to chose from. Considering I had the big backpack I chose the shortest called "Walk in the Park".
There were a few interesting information on my walk around the Western part of Melbourne CBD.
I walked through the Treasury and Fitzroy Gardens and past a botanic garden with nice flowers and also James Cook's Parents house, which was shipped over here from England.
It was a hard walk with the heavy backpack and I had to rest a couple of times before I got back to the trainstation where I picked up a sandwich and got a Myki (another sort of Oyster Card) Card for the Melbourne trains.
The first train I got on was going into the right direction but was an express train and would not stop at Brads Station, so I had to get off and wait for the slow train that would stop everywhere.
I eventually got to Brads stop and he picked me up at the station, from where it was a very short walk to his house.
He introduced me to his family, consisting of his Wife Kerry, his son Jerry and daughter Alanna.
The next surprise was just around the corner: for the evening they were invited to a party for Brad's niece who was celebrating her 21st birthday.
I was invited as well and soon we were off to her house a few km out east of Melbourne.
They were very nice people and quickly I felt at home and part of the gang.
A couple of beers and a big plate of roasted lamb later some of the guests tried to explain Cricket to me.
It was pretty much hopeless but entertaining none the less.
Funnily at the same evening the AFC Asia Cup (very much like the UEFA Eurocup in Asia) was opened in Melbourne Stadium, just a couple of kilometers down the road and no one cared about it.
Cricket was more interesting.
It was a great evening nonetheless especially since I kind of crashed the party and still felt very welcome.
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