1 May 09

23 April: I met my friend James at the train station in downtown Melbourne. It was great to see him because we hadn't seen each other since 2001. Before we even went back to his place, we met up with some of his friends, Dave and Stacey for dinner at the Vegie Bar on Brunswick St. I had a tasty burrito and a beer. Dinner was followed by some gelato that we got across the street.

24 April: Walked around in the center of the city again. Didn't really even see a whole lot. The weather was pretty crumby. Later that evening, James and I went to a couple parties at friends' places. This was the latest I had stayed up in a very long time.

25 April: Recovered from staying up too late. Later James' sister Georgie and I went to walk around the local Saturday flea market. I didn't buy anything because I already have enough stuff. It was ANSAC Day also. Which is kind of like Memorial Day for the States, so nothing was open.

Later that evening, we had dinner with Liz' (James' mother) sister, Angela and her husband Charles. We had steaks which were very tasty. This was the first actual steak I had eaten since between Christmas and New Year's of 2006. After dinner, James and I headed out again to another house party. That was fun, and we stayed up even later. I don't know that last time I stayed up until 4:00. It was actually kind of fun.

26 April: We didn't do anything. The weather was blah and there wasn't much going on so we just hund out at the house.

27 April: I went for a run for the first time since I was Te Anau. That was kind of refreshing. After my run I went into the city and checked out the Melbourne museum. They had the largest selection of bugs I think I have ever seen in my life. The only place that my have had more is the Museum of Natural History in New York City.

On my way back to the train station, I heard some jazz playing in Federation Square, so I headed over to see what was going on. The Melbourne Jazz Festival was going on, so I stood and watched Hoodangers play for about an hour.

Once I arrived back at James' place, they were getting ready to have Marie and her boyfriend (both coworkers of Liz) over for dinner. We had a lamb roast that was delicious also.

28 April: I went to the Queen Victoria Market this day to wonder around. It's pretty much a big flea market only instead of used things, they're new things. I ended up buying a new wallet. I have been looking for a wallet exactly like my old one for several months now and couldn't find anything. Then, out of the blue, there it was! Exactly like my old wallet.

I walked around a bit after that and walked to the Shrine of Remembrance. The Shrine is to honor all the fallen soldiers of Australia over the years. While walking back from the Shrine, I walked along the Botanic Gardens. I didn't go in, but they were still nice looking. I stopped at Federation Square again to watch FLAP! play for a bit before heading back to the house.

29 April: I went to the Center of Contemporary Photography with Georgie. It was really nice and it's nice to see the work of other people. It just reminds you how many, better photographers there are out there. Perhaps they're not better, they're just different.

After checking out the CCP, I went to the National Gallery of Victoria, International. Here I looked at some really old Egyptian and Oceanic artifacts. The more I see artifacts from Papua New Guinea, and the tribes in that area, the more I want to go there. We'll see what happens:)

30 April: I had a little bit of a head cold so I stayed in the whole day. I did go for a run later in the afternoon which felt really good believe it or not. Later, James and I had $4 pizza at some restaurant with Dave, Stacey and some other people he knows.

1 May: I won't be doing a whole lot today either. Just resting and recovering. I feel better than yesterday, but still not 100%. I fly to Sydney tomorrow to meet with another friend that I worked with more than 10 years ago at Camp Michigania. That will be pretty fun. She said she may have some work lined up for me, so I'm going to see what it's all about.

I decided to fly to Sydney instead of take the bus. It just doesn't make that much sense to me to pay AUS$77 to sit on a bus for 13hrs when I paid AUS$82 to sit in a plane for an hour and twenty mins. Does that make sense to you?