Arrival in Australia

It was, as usual, a long, tedious trip from Madison to Melbourne, but all went well.

 The first evening, I had dinner with a Melbourne ham operator, Ernie, his wife Jan, and their family.  I'd only made a few contacts with him, but he invited me for dinner, and we had a great visit. 

The following day I must have walked 15 km around Melbourne's CBD (Central Business District) doing my shopping.  The Australian Open was about to start, and I walked by the tennis stadiums, but too early to see any of the top players practicing.

Australian Open Arena

The crowds of pedestrians on the footpaths in the CBD are just mind-boggling.   In the afternoon I assembled the bike, got the gear organized, and shipped the excess to Brisbane.  I had to carry the bike up the fire escape to my room for the night, as the lady running the B&B wouldn't let me put it in the empty garage.  It was a tight fit in the room.  It was a mild evening, so I walked to the neighboring suburb of Yarra for dinner.  Bridge Road is lined with open-air restaurants and pubs.

Then Saturday I packed everything up and rode along the Yarra River to the railway station, and took the train to Kyneton, about an hour north of Melbourne, where I'm visiting another ham radio friend and his family.

Unpacking Bike in Melbourne

Ready to Roll

Ian has what must be one of the largest ham radio antenna systems in Australia.  He lives just 1.5 km from the train station, so I've ridden my bike a grand total of 9 km so far, not nearly as far as I walked in Melbourne on Friday.  Ian's daughter is a violinist, home from university for the holidays, so I'm hoping I can talk her into playing some duets before I leave.

Ian's 60 Meter Tower