Monday - 1 day before starting

Wow, for a dumpy motel, I sure slept well!

In the harsh light of the morning, this place looks even worse. Perhaps I had my sleepy goggles on when I checked in.....eek!

OK, Melbourne apparently has the best public transport in the world, so I decided to test the theory. I was originally going to do a test run as if I was going to work, but I slept in until 10am - so that was off the cards. Off to Reception where the lovely Greg told me to catch the tram at the end of the road to the Footscray railway station and then jump on the train. Ooh, first Tram experience.

Nobody told me that you have to pre-pay your tram tickets - got my first freebie ride in a tram. I wonder if the tram driver went to the same driving school as most of the Brisbane bus drivers. Considering its on a track, this guy was the V8 supercar Tram champion. Gravity never felt so fun! At the train station, I managed to get a monthly Metlink pass for about $25 per week. This allows travel on Zone 1 Monday to Friday and Zone 1&2 on weekends. Bargain! I did notice that not a lot of people were "validating" their cards.........seems that fare evasion is a global pandemic!

Ok, so I catch the train called City Loop - it stops at Flagstaff station which is where the Law Courts are located (I work around the corner). Unlike Brisbane trains, you actually have to wrench the door open yourself (felt foolish at this point) - it only closes automatically. Lots of travel time between stations, wide carriages and lots of hold on to rails. Similar to Brisbane, train timetables are extremely negotiable and to be used only if you have nothing else to read. Quick trip, took me 7 minutes to get to Flagstaff. Wow, what a station, it is underground and takes 3 flights of escalators to get to the surface! Got to admit, the speed at which those escalators travel, its like a mini facelift!

Checked PO Box, sussed out a couple of coffee spots. Found my building, then did the same in reverse. Melbourne is trying to role out a concept similar to Brisbane, a pre-paid transit smart card. Apparently there have been problems, and nobody really uses it yet - its called MyKi - god only knows what that means, but it probably cost Victorians about 1 million dollars in governmental funding to get there. Politics for a later post.

Quick visit to the local shops, and then prep for work tomorrow. I agree about the public transport claim, pretty much you have a choice of bus and tram, then trainline. Things seem to be duplicated though. Apparently, the ranking of choice is: Bus, Train then Tram. This is something I will have to discover why.........

Adam