While this was the end of the Contiki part of my vacation, my trip wasn't over. I was to fly out to Melbourne, Australia for a couple of nights, mainly to visit a couple of friends I had met on my two previous tours. Also, I figured I travelled so far to New Zealand that I might as well make the short hop over to Australia, even if it was for a very brief visit, to at least say that I had stepped foot there. As my flight out of Christchurch wasn't leaving until the afternoon, I had an opportunity to sleep in this morning. By the time I woke up, John had already left, Matan was just getting up, and David's bed was still untouched from the night before. As I was packing my luggage, David did finally come in. He obviously was somewhere else during the night. He packed his things, we said our goodbyes and he left. I walked around into the reception area and saw some people from our group. Many of them were headed into the city for a while as they weren't leaving until much later in the day. I said goodbye to the ones I never got an opportunity to speak to the night before. I went back to my room as Matan was also packing up his things to vacate the room. I grabbed my stuff as well and dropped it off in the temporary luggage storage room next to reception as I met up with Indrani. We wandered around close the hotel to find a place to get something quick and small to eat. We didn't have much luck as most places were closed on this Easter Monday. All we saw, as we walked back to the hotel, was a convenience store. We picked up a few snacks as well as had our last taste of hokey-pokey ice cream. We got back to the hotel were we met up with Mike who was going to take the same shuttle van Indrani and I were booked on to Christchurch International Airport.

Indrani was dropped off at the domestic section of the terminal by the shuttle, as she was flying back to Auckland and then to Fiji to continue her vacation. Mike and I were dropped off at the international section of the airport terminal. As Mike and I had some time until our respective flights were to leave, we both took the short walk to the International Antarctic Centre. Despite there were paved blue footsteps that lead from the airport to the centre, we took a quicker shortcut that our shuttle driver told us about.

The Antarctic Centre was interesting as it had much information on the Great White Continent, from expeditions to research to just plain interesting facts and trivia. There was a "Snow and Ice Experience" area that allowed you to enter a simulated Antarctic environment, complete with snow and ice, albeit the temperature was only about -5ºC, for obvious reasons. There was also the Hägglund Ride which was an all-terrain 16 passenger vehicle that would take visitors on a 45 minute behind the scenes look at the Antarctic Centre. However neither Mike or I had the time to jump on that ride. As his flight was leaving before mine, we said our goodbyes and he left the Antarctic Centre to head back to the airport. After looking around some more and taking in "The Great White South" audio visual show of images from Antarctica, displayed on a wide movie screen, I too headed back to the airport.

I checked in for my Air New Zealand flight 193 to Melbourne, Australia. I passed through security and up the departures area and saw Damien and Tina. Tina was headed off to Sydney, Australia to continue her vacation on another Contiki tour, while Damien was flying out on the same flight I was. After an overnight stay in Melbourne, he would fly back home to Tasmania. When the boarding call was made for our flight, Damien and I said our goodbyes to Tina and boarded the Boeing 737-300 aircraft.

In less than four hours, we landed at Melbourne Airport. Damien and I said our goodbyes as I collected my luggage and headed to the customs and immigration area. I was delayed in customs for approximately half an hour as my carry-on backpack was searched and swabbed for any traces of narcotics. The same was done with my wallet and all the cards in it. All the while, the customs officer was very friendly, asking me how my holiday was so far, although I'm sure there was a purpose in that to see if I would stumble with any of my answers to his questions. I was finally let out of customs and walked out to see Mandy waiting for me. I had met Mandy on my previous Contiki tour of Spain & Portugal in the late summer of 2000. She had arrived not too soon before me from visiting relatives in Adelaide over the long holiday weekend. We hopped on the airport parking lot shuttle bus that took us closer to where Mandy had parked her car. From there, using Mandy cellular phone, I called another friend, Melissa, whom I had met on a Trafalgar Club 21-35 Taste of Europe tour back in the early summer of 1999. We had arranged that we were all going to get together for dinner the evening of my arrival in Melbourne, a reunion of sorts for me. Mandy highly recommended the Prahran Hotel Restaurant, so it was decided. Mandy and I got there first, so we each got a drink at the bar, catching up on old times, as we waited for Melissa and her partner, John to arrive. When they did, we proceeded to the dining room for dinner. I left the decision of what Australian wine to have with dinner up to Mandy, as I would for my whole stay there (and every choice she made was excellent). Dinner was very good, as was catching up on old times with my former travel mates. Melissa and John left after dinner, while Mandy and I headed off to a bar where I met her brother, Jay, and a couple of their friends, while taking in some Australian beer. There was also live music courtesy of another friend of theirs, Matt, and some guy that sang very badly. Mandy and I stayed for a while and then left, her brother and a friend tagging along for a short ride to the next bar to continue their night of bar hopping. Mandy and I then continued on to her place. Her parents were already asleep, so the only other family member I got to meet was their dog, Mia, who barked at me a little, but mainly kept following me around wherever I walked. Mandy showed me to the guesthouse where I would stay, complete with television and pool table (although the pool table never got used during my short stay).

I woke up the next morning, very refreshed from an excellent night's sleep. This was my free and only full day in Melbourne to explore the city. Mandy left me her cellular phone for the day as she went into work. As I sat and ate breakfast, Mia just sat at my feet and stared up at me most of the time. Once in a while, she would run into the family room, then back and sit at my feet again. After breakfast, Jay drove me into the city and dropped me off at Flinders Street Station. The weather was warmer than any of the weather I experienced while in New Zealand; it was around 23ºC for pretty much the whole day, and sunny with a few clouds. The very good weather continued with me right into Australia. I spent the morning and part of the afternoon walking around the centre of the city, with the help of my Lonely Planet City Map of Melbourne (which also contained a suggested self walking tour) and plenty of prior research conducted months earlier back home. I took a break from my walking tour in the Australia on Collins shopping centre to get the photographs I had taken so far on this trip developed. As it was to take an hour, I had lunch in the food court, picking up some Thai food. There were some televisions in the food court broadcasting, of all things, a Major League Baseball game, between the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers. After picking up my photographs, I continued on with my walking tour. What was surprising about Melbourne was how very similar it was to Toronto (except everyone drives on the opposite of the road and sits in the opposite of the vehicle). Even the trams were very much like the streetcars we have in Toronto. I went up to the Rialto Towers Observation Deck, the tallest office building in the southern hemisphere, for spectacular 360º views across the entire city. Upon entrance was a display of many of the world's other tall buildings and towers, with statistics and background each one. The tallest, The CN Tower back home in Toronto is the tallest at 553m/1815ft. The Rialto, in comparison, is 253m/830ft, while the other tower I visited on this trip, Sky Tower in Auckland, is 328m/1076ft. I ended my visit to the Rialto by watching a 20 minute film, Melbourne: The Living City, in The RialtoVision Theatre. The film highlighted many of the tourism sights and sounds around Victoria and specifically Melbourne, shown on an extra wide screen. A visit to Melbourne wouldn't be complete without a ride on the tram, part of Melbourne's extensive public transit system, called The Met. I boarded one of the trams and purchased two hour Metcard (allowing me to travel for up to two hours on the tram network). I took the tram right across the centre of the city, making one interchange until I reached the Melbourne Museum, the largest museum in Australia. A very modern museum, it very closely matched Te Papa back in Wellington in terms of the quality of its exhibits and galleries.

Dinner in Melbourne: Melissa, Me, Mandy and John (behind the camera)

Flinders Street Station

Gog and Magog ready to strike the clock on the hour

Views of Melbourne from the Rialto Towers Observation Deck

Skeleton of a Blue Whale in Melbourne Museum