My Australian Journey (Part 10)

DAY 10 June 27, 2010
§ Edward Stone §

The artist is not a reporter, but a Great Teacher. It is not his business to depict the world as it is, but as it ought to be.
(H. I. Menchken; 1880-1956)

I didn’t have specific plan for today. But still I wanted to make the most of my time in Melbourne an adventure and unforgettable. Like yesterday, I cooked noodle for my breakfast and ready for the unknown adventure. I let my feet guide me. What I had in mind was going to city. On the way there, I decided to GO BACK to Vic mart. Hei…what do you want to buy?? I dunno..I said to myself. Just wait and see.
Arriving at Flinders station, I directly went upstairs to the place where the tram was waiting. Before getting on the tram, I saw two Indonesian-like families. Yes..that’s right..they spoke in Bahasa Indonesia. In the tram, I asked them and had a small talk with one of them. The world is not enough….that’s the title of James Bond movie because the one whom I talked to was Mr. Puji Santoso, an army officer. He happened to know the husband of my colleague at TN. What made this more interesting was that he asked me to follow him because I would get discount if I went shopping with him. Thank you, Sir!!! Why hadn’t we met the day before? I said to myself, so that I could get MORE discount!!
At Vic mart, we came to a T-shirt stall whose keeper was Indonesian and I bought some with discount….even it was not too much…but..it’s okay. After saying thanks to Mr. Santoso, I was off to the city. That was the plan…but I thought for a moment that I need to go to the zoo as some students had been there couple days ago.
The journey to the zoo took about 20 minutes. I had to go there with tram passing through some woods and silent and hilly places. Finally, I arrived at the zoo..but….it’s impossible to enter because I was running out of money. I had spent the money in Vic Mart yet the entrance fee stated AU$ 24 for adult. So, what could I do??? Of course asked someone who wanted to enter the zoo to take my picture…hehehe..at least I had been to Melbourne zoo, even only in front of its gate.
I went back to the city and planned to have lunch at Nelayan resto. On the way there, I met “Edward stone”, an art performer. He was someone who was standing on a small box and his outfit was designed to resemble stone…so he was just like a “moving” statue. He moved his body so slowly and his right hand held a bubble blower. Once a visitor came, he would blow the bubble and smiled. If he were silent, nobody realized that he was a real living man. In front of him, there was a box full of coins. So many people gathered around him and observed his action. Giving him 1 dollar, I asked somebody to take my picture with Edward stone. Walking in a rush (just like most Australian) my feet led me to one of the most adorable places in Melbourne: Nelayan Resto. Again, some students were around there…they were like real Australian…conquering every single inch of the city!!!
As always, the Tidar-like portion was ready to serve and this time was Gado-gado. Being full I decided to just quickly go home and have some rest, even the clock still showed 3.00 or 4.00 pm. I caught the Frankston train through Flinders station. Then I had to stop at Glenthuntly and went straight to the Asian grocery to buy two bottles of Saos Pedas ABC. As I have got what I needed, then the journey continued to Ormond station where I ended my today’s journey. After dinner, again I tried to mix and match for the luggage. After making sure that everything was okay, then I went sleeping. What a tiring day it was. Okay…see you tomorrow!!! Then I hid myself under the warm bed cover with Celine Dion’s songs in my ears through my iPod.