Back to where it began

It's Australia Day. That's its official name. Also called Invasion Day. Either way, it commemorates the First Fleet's landing in Sydney Cove. Or, on a personal note, our return into Sydney back from our holiday in the south.

Basically the only nod we made to the date was sharing a lamington for breakfast. A pink one bought from the Beechworth Bakery in Bendigo yesterday. You could say we spent the rest of the journey back from Gundagai celebrating the Australian countryside, but we didn't really. It's a route so familiar that it was basically let's just get home with some remarks about sheep the colour of the dry Patterson's curse in the fields and the elegance of the spinning wind turbines past Yass.

We hunted cheap fuel and were surprised to find the Caltex at Marulan even less expensive than Sydney. It is another town that mainly seems to exist as a service centre for those passing through.

I don't know why I find such places so attractive. Maybe it's the dream that I'll have nothing else to do and just be able to stay in the motel and relax.

That doesn't happen. I always seem to end up watching some sport on television and typing this blog.

Maybe I need to stay more than one night. Consider being stuck in Gundagai, Hay, Marulan or Meningie for a few days. Nothing to do but try the local eateries or make do with the small supermarkets and a microwave and take walks around the town. Yeah, I could cope.

We return home to find the very big thought-to-be-pregnant guppy has died in its own tank and a couple of others are missing from the other. Other than that it's just bloody humid. Already I miss the dry heat of the interior and the south.

I enjoyed this trip. Though short, we saw, ate and experienced a lot. What's more it was a chance to gaze upon vast vistas and appreciate the colours of the countryside. There's plenty of space to isolate out there.

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Asagaya and heading home

How can I be happy? I am about to return to a country where the toilets have at most two buttons and no seat warmers. But the tickets are booked and there are no cyclones, typhoons or other disasters standing in our way. It's almost time to go back to my first home. First B wants to do some "local shopping". So we catch the Chuo Line up a few stations to Asagaya, a residential area with a number of Shotengai, covered and uncovered arcades leading away from the station and narrow alleys lined with bars. It is an interesting area for a wander around. We are mainly looking, do some shopping for toothbrushes and sweets from Seiyu, a Wal-Mart owned supermarket/minor department store. We skipped breakfast and lunch is ramen and gyoza at a small restaurant near the entrance to the Pearl Centre shotengai. With the help of a staff member, I manage to purchase tickets at a branch of Lawson to the Ghibli Museum for a friend travelling to Japan in May. There are some...

IKEA Museum

We have a packed itinerary today. Flat packed and assembled with an Allen key. There are patches of snow on the ground that weren't there the previous evening. We are a bit sad to leave the Duxiana after the comfy beds and the breakfast of cold cuts, fruits and hot waffles. I tried the Swedish caviar on my boiled egg. It was... Interesting. I was very disappointed to realise that, after talking it up for months, I had forgotten the Disgusting Foods Museum in Malmö yesterday. Too late now. We catch another Oresundstag train, for a bit over an hour. Past yesterday's Lund, past increasingly white fields and towns to Älmhult, home of IKEA. The conductor warns us that the train will split in two so we have to move carriages forward. Unfortunately, there we no spare sets of chairs for all of us. The IKEA Museum showcases the history of the furniture company, along with temporary exhibitions. One of these was "Hacking IKEA," about using IKEA ob...

To Melbourne on the XPT sleeper

Excited by the prospect of reliving the experience of seeing my very first movie and hearing the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra perform it I bought tickets to The Empire Strikes Back in Concert in Melbourne back in February. Then I did nothing about actually getting there. Much as I love Melbourne, due to family commitments I didn't want to spend more than the Sunday away. Flights there and back made sense, but my flight down to Melbourne in late October reiterated the fact that I usually don't enjoy descending into the city. And the concert was in December, a season of summer storms. I really didn't feel like driving the whole route alone and in a hurry, so that left one choice. The train. My very first trip up to Sydney from Melbourne was aboard the luxury Southern Aurora. Or it was supposed to be luxury. I wouldn't know because I spent the whole ride up very sick with the flu lying in the top bunk, unable to stay awake for my whole of night vigil. Now only...

travelling allrite

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