Melbourne and more rain

Up early and out of the hotel by 7 am, we had a flight to catch to Melbourne. Today's airline was JetStar, and not at all like the Quantas experience when we flew from Sydney to Cairns. JetStar allows less baggage weight and we were over the limit by a few kilos. The agent said we could pay $40 extra or take stuff out of a bag and carry on to lighten the suitcases. I had my backpack packed in a suitcase so we took that out and stuffed it full and made the weight limit.

With all the food provided on the earlier Quantas flight, we 'assumed' that would be the case today. WRONG!! Nothing was provided free of charge....well I did get a glass of water from them but they got it from the tap. A cup of coffee would have cost $6.50. Needless to say, we and most everyone on the flight, had nothing.

Speaking of coffee, Australian coffee is a bit confusing. The Aussies love their coffee and they load it with cream and sugar or have cappucinos or lattes. There is also long black and short black and white flat to choose from. After experiencing a long black, which is NOT a large black cup of coffee, I searched on the internet and found this explanation:



"culinary adventures in the city by the bayFeeds:PostsCommentsHow to Order Coffee In Australian

January 21, 2007 by Micki
If you thought Starbucks was a confusing place in which to order coffee, you’ve neve tried in Australia. They don’t seem to call it the way we call it in America, and it took us a few days (and a few misordered products) to work it all out. Of course, once you learn the lingo, it actually makes quite a bit of sense.

Short Black: This is a single shot of espresso.

Long Black: Espresso with water (1/3 espresso 2/3 water). If you want a close approximation of a regular cup ‘o joe, order a long black. It’s equivalent to a Cafe Americano ordered in your local coffeehouse.

Simple, yeah? Well, I hope you didn’t want milk with that. That’s where the confusion starts.

Flat White: This is a popular drink in Australia and New Zealand. As far as I know, it’s not served anywhere else in the world. A flat white is an espresso with steamed milk (about 1/3 espresso, 2/3 milk). The closest approximation in America would be a no foam latte.So, what if you want a regular cup o’ joe with milk?You order a Long Black with Milk on the Side. This gives you cold milk to add to your long black.Thankfully a latte is a latte and a cappaccino is a cappacino."


Well, we landed in Melbourne and it is once again RAINING! The forecast doesn't look good for the next couple days either. We enjoyed wonderful weather in Cairns but found out that 8 days ago, the rain was causing flooding there. We lucked out!

Melbourne has been in a drought the past few years......I think it's over now. This weekend happens to be the Melbourne Cup, a horse racing event that is one of the biggest in the world. Maybe we should have gone to Brisbane, instead.....

Oh well, the city is beautiful and easy to walk around. Hopefully we can do that. We will have a city driving tour tomorrow afternoon so at least we'll be in a car then.

Our hotel is right downtown and is in an historic sandstone building that was formerly a bank. Our room is spacious and beautiful....and it includes a microwave, refrigerator, and a washer/dryer (no cost to use) Yippee!!

Our hotel room

View from our hotel balcony