G'day from Melbourne!

Go Cats Go!


That's Australian Rules Football...and today is Grand Final Day and two Melbourne area teams are going to bash the hell out of eachother in a sport that looks like rugby-in-double-quick-time-with-the-rulebook-chucked-out-the-window.
And I'll be here in my friend's house on my last full day in Australia - while a houseful of Aussies eat "snags" (sausages) in bread rolls, salads and cake and many, many other goodies.
Or maybe I will be eating all the goodies and they will be shouting at the TV screens, because I'm pretty sure I won't understand what is going on! ;-)

At the end of my holiday. Dawn tomorrow I start the trip home to Japan.

Been a great holiday - a real variety of experiences and sights.

Dried out rainforest and coast near Cairns.
A peaceful little beach resort and walks on the sand, dips in the pool.
A huge bowl of mud crab in chilli sauce.
Lots of TV I can understand....old BBC rerun dramas.
Muffins: raspberry, triple chocolate, cheesecake and cranberry.
Snorkling on the Great Barrier Reef.
A little apres-snorkling cry..."Dad and Jane, I did it! Snorkled on the Great Barrier Reef. Thankyou for the money for this holiday. I wish you were here too. I wish...."
Train ride and forest canopy skycabin. HUGE butterflies.
Pecan Pie with Cream. For lunch.
Sunshine ;-)
Worried email from home: Chichi hasn't come home for 48 hours.
Trees, flowers, birds and bugs I have never ever seen in my life.....amazing!
Finished Holiday Book No. 1: Tokyo gangsters' history. Ordinary Japanese people have no hope against the gangs/government/business cronies.
Chichi found at a neighbour's home...where he is known as...Hanako. Bloody roaming cats.
Melbourne. Loretta, my old mate from early Sapporo teaching days.
Chardonay and Memories.
Days...and days of rain and wind and craziness.
Bungalows and gardens in the vast Melbourne suburbs....Kylie? Madge?
Eureka Tower views over Melbourne.
Melbourne Cricket Ground tour 2 days before THE FOOTY FINAL!!!!!!!!
Houmous. Taramasalata, Feta Cheese. Curries. Stuffed vineleaves. Lamb roast.

Izumi in Tochigi has had her baby boy safely - the BEST email news. One of my Japanese sisters becomes a mum at last. Welcome to the world baby Takeru.:-)

Australian wines. Beers with different tastes.
Fat people. Crazy-looking people. Druggies. Asians. Blacks. Arabs. Whites.Indians.
Melbourne graffitti central.;-(
South Melbourne Market and veggies/fruits/meats/fish/olives/cheese heaven.
$20 palm reading - long, clear life - no alzheimer's....change of career to come???
Windy, cold afternoon at Melbourne Zoo...what ARE all these trees and birds???
Down memory lane with Loretta's box of old photos - was that only 13 years ago...who ARE these slim people?
Gordon, Saori and Sola's home in the Dandenong eucalyptus forests. Gorgeous.
Wild cockatoos and parrots make good shoulder pads.
Think I want to move to Upwey in the Dandenong Ranges National Park.
Nite Out in Melbourne: curry and Melbourne Theatre Company.
More rain.
Finished Holiday Book No. 2: gory murders all over Europe, excellent read.
........
Australian Football Final!!! Cats! Magpies! Um....

Photos of all of this to follow when I make it back to Sapporo Monday night.

How do I make all this writing BIGGER on a stroke-it-mouse-keyboard?
Sorry. I don't know.

Time for FOOTBALL. And Food.

;-)