My Australian Journey (Part 13)

DAY 13 June 30, 2010
§ Pasar Rebo vs Victoria Market §

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
(Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi; 1962)

Today might be one of the silliest days in my life yet I liked it very much. In the morning, as usual, after having a cup of hot chocolate and free doughnut at the bake shop I went to Ormond station. But this time I went there a bit late. I took my backpack, an umbrella, and on my right hand side there was something that I might think as something funny for a man: Annie’s foldable trolley. A trolley? Yes, sure it was….. My plan was going shopping to Vic mart. Going shopping again??? Wait a minute, this was just an extraordinary shopping coz I had to buy things for my fellow teachers at Tarnus …. No..I mean I wanted to help the students buy the souvenirs for their teachers. As listed, there should be 50 souvenirs not to mention the ones bought by Sarah Akip on weekend.
Confidently, I dragged the trolley with its cracking sound to Victoria market. Along the way, some people stared at me, but I didn’t give a d@#$. Finally, I arrived at Victoria market… but there was something strange there…it’s so quiet..not as hectic as when we were here couple days ago. I kept on walking through Mac Donald resto and headed to the souvenir section. Then…the nightmare came… I stopped from distance and saw the section was empty. No people at all..just covered stalls, public cleaners, and some rubbish trucks. Then, I asked someone who cleaned the market if Wednesday was holiday for Victoria market. He told me that Monday and Wednesday were the day offs for Victoria market. I just laughed at myself…So far away I came and here what I got… NOTHING!!! Now, I know why the market was called Victoria market and not Pasar Rebo, because if it’s called Pasar Rebo, then it will remain open on Wednesday.
I went back …. and I moved directly to Flinders… and again..many people stared at me with this empty trolley. Catch the train to Kooyong on platform 7 and I was sure that I had to go back the next day. I wish I could be like Spongebob’s friend, Squidward who has more than two legs…so that I can used them in turn because these legs felt so tired.
Arriving at Hawthorn, some students asked me what I have been doing with the trolley and I told them the history…but still I had to keep on dragging it throughout the campus.
Now, we had a question: Why did we go to Aussie? Of course we wanted to have a vacation. Okay…you want it, we give it. Today’s lesson was, of course, travel and tourism. Students were given new knowledge about tourism in Australia but…you know…they know more about that by exploring Melbourne… exactly like Dora the Explorer…
Then..it’s time for us to “taste” what a big bus was like. We went to Robinson Road (at the back part of Hawthorn campus) and there waited for us a big bus that would take us to St. Kilda. St. Kilda??? That’s one of the most interesting places in Melbourne.
St Kilda was a harbor with some luxurious houses along its way. It has some fancy and expensive restaurants. Yachts and some surfing equipment became very common things there. By using Panorama Coach, the big bus, we parked the car near one of the most popular parks: Luna Park. The students were free to explore the harbor and beach..but still with the assignment from their teachers….
This beach should have been very beautiful, but the freezing wind made us uncomfortable. Summer should be the best time to go there. However, we still tried to explore it. As any other beaches, it has soft and white sand. The pelican became inseparable creatures there. As we walk along the path, we came to a wooden – structured area which was beautifully arranged. There were also some parks and benches around the area.
I myself walked along with four or five students, while the rest were gone exploring the place by themselves. Then, we came to St. Kilda Pier. It’s around 200 meters long concrete structure which went out from the beach. I walked through it and the wind’s blow got stronger and stronger. I finally reached the end of the pier. It’s an old restaurant…but of course the menu was quite expensive.
I took a left turn and walked along the rocks behind the restaurant and I was surprised because there were some people gathered on a rumble of rocks taking pictures of something. As I approached, they were taking pictures of Rakali, water rat. I was so curious, but I was unfortunate as the Rakali has already gone when I tried to push the button of my camera.
Then, I went back to the pier where I still saw some students there and of course some fisherman with their boats. Finally, I stopped at a bench next to the pier and took out my packed lunch: Doubled Size Fried Indomie. I ate there with birds flying around my head, hoping I shared mine to them. Sorry…. I was hungry, so this was just for me…just for me!!
Then, some boys came and we continued the journey to the upper part of the area. We crossed a bridge flying over a road. From this bridge, we could see St. Kilda’s beauty. That was awesome!!! As we continued walking, we finally reached Luna Park (one of the most recommended POI). It’s basically like an amusement part with some rides there. But, I decided not to enter coz the entrance fee was quite costly.
Feeling tired, I went directly to where the bus was parked. The driver opened the door and I slept inside while listening some oldies songs from the radio. Soon, some students showed up and this was the first time we were on time.
There’s funny thing, some students had to go back to McDonald as they felt very hungry. I was wondering what was in their belly, was it worm… or dragon??? Then, the group was complete and we headed back to campus.
For me, this was one of the most interesting places in Melbourne I have ever visited. Everyone got off on campus. The next journey was up to them, while I myself, I thought it’s better for me to just go home and have a rest. And still, with the folded trolley, I moved toward Kooyong Station to Richmond, and then to Ormond. Trolley… oh trolley…