arriving in melbourne

we arrived in melbourne at 7.15am on wednesday 24 september 2008. it was 8ºC when our plane touched down, having left KL on a 35ºC afternoon... i don't know if i can describe how good it felt to have the chilly wind swirling around my shorts-clad legs. i'll never complain about the cold again!

heading straight to box hill it was surreal to be reunited with my folks on the wrong side of the planet. with my aunt and cousin from the uk there as well, (photo L-R: 5-ee, jodie, petra, ah-kim, randolph, kou-kou, me) it was practically like we'd landed in london... the metlink system soon had us realising how far away we were from home, though!

so, here you buy either 2-hour or all-day tickets. 2-hour ones cost half of all-day ones but, you've guessed it, only last for 2-hours from activation - i.e. when you first enter the turnstile (which isn't a turnstile but one of those electronic ticket flappy-door newfangled devices that they've had all over the world for several years but i've never learned the name of). simple enough, except if you activate a 2-hour ticket after 5.30pm it turns into an all-night ticket that lasts until 3am... too clever by half.

in spite of learning the intricacies of the public transport system, we arrived in box hill and purchased a SIM card with relatively little difficulty. yes, we are seasoned travellers now!

we spend the next few days kicking around box hill with my folks and extended family, discovering how it's the chinese quarter of suburban melbourne in more than just the appearance of its locals... (photo: justin eating a hen foot - yummy!)