Melbourne - Surprise, it's hot!

Spending 10 days in Melbourne taught me a few lessons:

1. The Oz summer is hot
When I stepped out of the air-conditioned airport hall at 11am on January 20, having flown in from Auckland, a decent wind blew into my face being so hot that my nose immediately started bleeding. However, the first day was relatively cool with a high of 34 degrees - it was up to 44 when I left! In fact I experienced the first time in a hundred years that Melbourne had three days in a row over 40 degrees. As long as your in the shade - as I was in the 2nd week, reading and listening to music in the botanic gardens or near Albert lake - you have a chance to survive. But if your unlucky to be a tennismaniac and don't want to miss out on any second of Grand Slam action...

2. I love the Australian Open
The tournament has been my favourite sports event for a long time. I was in Melbourne Park on six days, watching around 70 hours of livetennis. The crowd is amazing, the matches are fantastic, the venue is beautiful, the city is great and it's incredibly cheap: I paid just 160 Oz-Dollars for all days and have been several times in the big stadiums, seeing some of the most amazing five-set-battles and players like Federer, Safin, Roddick, Tsonga or Murray.

3. No worries
In Australia, such a thing as a problem doesn't seem to exist. The whole holiday went absolutely smooth. After living with my billet from Auckland and a friend of hers in a flat with the perfect location near the MCG, I was supposed to move into the apartment of a friend for the last three nights. After a misunderstanding, I was left with my luggage but without accommodation at 10pm on the streets of Melbourne, a hopless time to find a bed in the city. I called up the only person I knew and had the number of and asked whether I could spend the night on their sofa, and despite barely knowing her, she gladly welcomed me. Many thanks for that and another example of no need for worries in Australia.

4. There are weird people in every city
As every big city, Melbourne has got some seriously weird people, and I happened to meet two of them within 12 hours. The first meeting was in a tram, where the - beyond doubt - gayest gaylord in the whole gayworld started talking to me. I got off the very next stop!
The second meeting was somehow more pleasant, since it was an extraordinarily hot Indian girl, making me beautiful eyes and starting conversation. She was worringly straightforward - until she found out that I'm not having a flat in city for her to stay overnight. We were talking in a park when I went off to pee, and coming back she was gone, and I was glad that I had decided not to trust her and take my bagpack with me.