Sand in my shoes.

I've still got sand in my shoes
And I can't shake the thought of you
I should get on, forget you
Why, why would I want to
I know we said goodbye
Anything else would've been confused, but I wanna see you again
- Dido


The Melbourne weekend again compelled me to draw parallels with my previous weekend in Sydney. The entire city was on the move here. Families, teenagers, tourists, travelers. The trams were full, the restaurants were crowded, and you couldn’t walk the Yarra river without literally bumping into a few people. Of course, part of the excitement and buzz could be attributed to the Moomba water festival, and the car show preceding the Melbourne Grand Prix. And incase you didn’t know, ‘Moomba’ is an aboriginal word meaning ‘let’s get together and have fun’. And fun, I had!

I took the tram to St.Kilda beach, in the southern suburbs of Melbourne. I must say, when it comes to beaches, Sydney wins hands down. The beach stretches for quite a handsome distance, but doesn’t come even close to Bondi or Coogee or Manly. Oh well. I spread myself out, got a substantial tan (because the sun was out and the sky was clear) and then cooled myself with a tropical juice. When the skin couldn’t get any darker, I decided to leave the beach and roam the rows of shops and restaurants in St.Kilda. One thing is certain. Melbournians have a sweet tooth. Endless number of bakeries, with endless supply of fresh pastries and cakes, line the streets. Once in a while, you spot a pizzeria. And just once, you spot a Nando’s and walk right in. The outlet was run by a friendly Indian family who decided to interrogate me, albeit very sweetly, about my whereabouts. They satisfied themselves with my stories. I, with their food. And I even bought a bottle of their famous Peri-Peri sauce for consumption later. You think I am a glutton? Wait till I tell you about my food frenzy in a while!

After a good tan, a good meal and a good shower, I headed to Federation Square to watch Melbourne come alive on Saturday night. It was a visual treat. The crowd is colourful and loud, just the way it should be on Saturday. There was movie screening at the arena, fireworks over Yarra Rive and shopping at Flinders street. The fireworks were magnificent, and reminded me of Chinese New Year displays in Hong Kong. After that, I headed to Transport, a chic bar next to the river, with good music and great crowds. And that was that – my last evening in Australia.

I had an afternoon flight to catch on Sunday. I decided to check out in the morning and visit the Queen Victoria market to ‘just have a look’. Well, I have never, ever, been so attracted and awed by food before. I simply went berserk! For someone who has had years of packaged food and supermarket shopping, a fresh food Sunday market was such a treat. There were fresh cheeses and warm cookies and falafel balls and humus dips and irish cream chocolates and nougat and nuts and gnocchi. I bought them all! And then I bought some more. I have never been such a foodie, so I totally surprised myself. With a hefty shopping bag, and a light wallet, I headed back to the backpacker. Being totally uncharacteristic of me, I had just enough cash in my pocket to pay for my airport transfer. And I had more than enough food to feed half of Somalia. I managed to pack it all up, and headed to the airport. But well, how does one resist last-minute airport shopping? Especially when they accept credit cards. So then there was wine and mugs and paintings and boomerangs all over again. Yes I am crazy like that. I was almost thankful that the flight made the last call for passengers and I rushed to the gate just in time.

Seated between a sleepy gentlemen and a blue whale from Sri Lanka, I spent most of my 8 hour flight reading (and completing) Seth, followed by writing and movie-watching. Sleep evaded me. After all, in all my forgetfulness, I had left it behind in Australia.