Furnace

Today, we touched down in Oz. The heat hits you like a wall of molten lava smacking into your body and incinerating you. It is that hot. However, I am getting ahead of myself.

So, yesterday after returning the tent to Jodi and checking our post (nothing, doh), as well as sorting our return flights with Quantas (eeep!) we had a tasty 'Farewell Auckland' dinner involving noodles and sweet potato, pickled ginger and salads, green tea and deep-fried bananas. Then, we retired early so as to have three hours sleep under our belts before we had to drag ourselves from the comforting pillows of the Mercure to find and board the AirBus to the airport.
At 3am then, we awoke and checked-out, wandering the deserted streets of Auckland, the Japanese-influence neons glowing and the street cleaners the only presence. We arrived at the airport, checked in, waited around for a while, got progressively hungrier. We spent some enjoyable time trying to spend our NZ dollar change, which totalled 9 dollars which equals practically nothing in real life, let alone airport prices.
Eventually, five hours after we woke up, we boarded the plane and set off. This plane was in a whole different class to the one we travelled out on - a vast, vast selection of movies, tv shows, radio, music videos, games - there was so much to do we were having serious decision issues trying to best fill the suddenly measly-looking four hour flight. We were served breakfast (thankfully, or my stomach may have eaten me in its protests) and occupied ourselves with the entertainment system.
Upon landing, checking-in, going through customs, being singled out and scanned AGAIN (just me, Alex is apparently not as suspicious looking as I am) and picking up the bags, we were in Oz! Officially! We wheeled the trolley out the doors and that brings me to the start of the blog, with the incinerating heat and all that.
It was amazing. NZ was by no means cold, but Oz has taken the idea of heat to an entirely different level. It reached 37 degrees today. The wind is no cooling breeze, but a baking hot swish of air that literally causes you to gasp for hydration.
We checked into the hotel (after issues with getting there as the driver got lost, and then, issues with checking in as their database was blanking us...) and then headed out. We walked to the Docks and admired the bizarre modern art sculptures (square cow stuck in a tree, anyone? Silver pipecleaners? Maybe some giant plastic white mushroomy things called 'Silence'?) then chose a cafe to provide lunch. We had half a generously loaded pizza each in the ingenious portion where they put a different topping on each quarter of the pizza. Then, stuffed once again, we returned to the hotel for water, naps and showers.
This evening, we headed out to the Suzuki Night Market, a phenomenon I discovered while trawling through Melbourne websites and so awesome it was definately worth the visit.
Imagine, a 2 or 3 acre space, most covered by a gigantic arching red warehouse, chairs spilling out and filling a makeshift square in front of a stage. Live music pumps out as thousands of people mill about, clutching cold juices and ice creams to keep cool in the insane heat, plates balanced in the crook of an elbow as people chose dinner from the myriad different international food stalls - Thai, Szechuan, Vietnamese, Indian, Malaysian, Spanish, French, English, American, Mexican, African - every country in existence appeared to be represented and the smells and sounds and colours were intoxicating. Along the other side of the warehouse, stalls upon stalls on bright clothes, jewellery, art, carvings stood arrayed. The smoke from the cooking hung in the rafters, the evening sun (still hot enough to feel like it is burning you instantly) shining through it...such as awesome market! We bought a giant carton of freshly squeezed cold mandarin juice and drank it as we perused the stalls. I bought an earring, Alex a cap and we both had a go at the lucky dip stall, each earning a bracelet.
Having enjoyed the sights and sounds, we sat in the park for a while and decided that we like Melbourne. We have planned (loosely) our itinery for tomorrow, so now we are just off to bed - we've been up almost 23 hours after all!