Goodbye Melbourne

So I ended my program having accomplished a good bit of progress in my work, gaining great insight from discussions with different folks in Melbourne about my approach, and set to head home to a productive final year of my doctoral program.  It was a really good experience that allowed me to step away and gain some perspective and I am really happy to have been given the opportunity.

I am, on the other hand, really excited to head home!  I feel rejuvenated as far as school and work and life at home is concerned and I can't wait to get back.  But before that happens I have to suffer through a few weeks of relaxed travel about Australia with my love!  This is going to be rough!  Kara got into Melbourne last Friday, and despite being crippled by a last-minute Australian flu-bug, I was able to pick her up and we have already made our way to Tassie and back and just yesterday flew up to Brisbane and are now exploring the Sunshine Coast.  More bloggage to come!  I said goodbye to my little shack yesterday, and was kind of thankful to get out of there!  It got a bit maddening at the end!

The following is just a slew of pics from around town in Melbourne that I hadn't posted anywhere else.  Enjoy!

Monument in the heart of Kew, where I did my shopping.

Cafe window succulents.

An Australian McDonald's, known locally as Maccas, complete with bistro style cafe.

They follow the American election here quite closely.

Grafitti is ubiquitous in Melbourne, celebrated almost, and is a trademark of the city.

Directly connected infrastructure, 100%.

City skyline from local park.

From Sutherland Ave Knoxville to Sutherland Ave Kew East.

A delicious hoppy beer from Perth in Western Australia.

Church downtown somewhere.

Animal-style in a bar in Fitzroy.

Greek foods where I had souvlaki and took home some baclava.

Tasmanian smoked salmon. Really good!

The rhino on the skateboard is kind of a symbol of the trams in Melbourne and is used in a bunch of signage to warn of them in traffic and such

The door handle of the Local Taphouse.  I like those initials.  Such style.

Funky apartment building, St. Kilda Beach.

Old clock towers are pretty common in Melbourne.

Door to Dave McCarthy's lab.  He has his own logo, an angry bacterium!

Outside the GIANT Queen Victoria Market: Fresh produce, meats, seafood, prepared foods, trinkets, baubles, and oddities.

Leather animal purse collection.

Many of the posts and trees near the market have been "yarn-bombed", an international movement where knitters wrap things in pretty and colorful  handiwork.

A view of some of the produce.  Beets are popular here as are all the various squash.

The market contains a HUGE indoor deli area with hanging cured meats, cheeses, olives, and anything you can think.  So overwhelming I never actually bought anything there!  It all looks SO GOOD!

"Succ it up" with succulents.

A BBQ brisket sandwich.  They got crafty with their sauces (apricot-scotch bonnet and coffee-molasses) and it detracted a bit from the meat but was good nonetheless.

Flinders Station, a huge junction for train lines and popular meeting spot downtown.  A true Melbourne landmark!

I never considered that our "National Geographic" was not worldwide, but Australia has their own and it had great articles on the whales which Kara and I will be attempting to see as well as the Southern lights I witnessed in Tassie.

Another riff on Tim Tams.  Good, but give me the original!

Easily my favorite local beer, not as ever-present as VB or Carlton, but tastier in my opinion.  A bit like Yeungling.  I REALLY wanted to find a T-shirt with the logo on it but never did.  I really like the colors.

As a true fan of Tassie, I had to drink the Boags!

Selfies from the shack.  The beard is longer and wilder and more red as I fried my trimmer charging it here and have not been able to tamp it down.  I'm just embracing the bush-life and going with it.