Day 5 - Australia here we come....

The flight from Singapore to Melbourne brought with it some shaking again. We skipped the evening snack and tried to get 2-3 hours of sleep. We took off at 10pm (Singapore time) / 12am Melbourne time and were supposed to be woken up 2 hours before landing for breakfast. With 7 hours of flight time, 2 hours of waking time for breakfast and clattering to the food delivery at night, there wasn't much time left to get sleep.

When we were cleared for entry through the Australian immigration authorities, we were once again amazed at the demands and reality.

On the one hand, warnings and announcements are thrown around in advance of the trip (bio-security, hiking poles and shoes must be free of dirt, only bring permitted food into the country, dogs will be used for sniffing...) on the other hand, you will , even if you tick that you are importing drugs or medical substances, not really checked but just briefly asked what it should be and then waved through.

On the other hand, we had the impression that today, of all days, was the student internship at immigration control at the airport. Maternity shopping led to a turnaround time of more than 1 hour for us just for passport control (digitization works differently - every ID photo was carefully checked by the “interns” through visual inspection) and so our eyes almost closed because of the lack of sleep (see above). - and so we just fool around by giving people funny names, making up stories about what fate brought people here or wondering whether some turbans are just there to cover up a bad hair day.

When we arrived at the hotel we couldn't get into our room until 3 p.m. We left our luggage there and walked through the city.

The contrast to Singapore literally jumped out at you. The street scene is rather worn and outdated, it smells, somehow stinks. Our hotel is located directly on the Yarra, the river in the south of Melbourne. So we headed north of the CBD to the Queen Victoria Market to get a taste of the atmosphere of normality as we know it. In terms of buildings, the city sometimes seems to be overwhelmed by the pace of modernity - the building structures don't fit together at all. Skyscrapers and 2-3 story buildings are in constant disarray. It gives the impression that children designed the cityscape.

We took a free tram back that goes past almost all the important points in the city.

We had our dinner at Vapiano. From ordering to payment, everything is digital. The waiters just bring you the stuff. However, there were problems with the payment process, so the waitress had to take our order herself and the payment process was carried out via the appropriate device. It turns out that when you pay online, the tip does NOT go to the staff, but is apparently retained by the app provider :((((

Since we feel a lack of sleep again due to the flight and the time differences, we're going to bed quite early again today (9.30 p.m.).

We have only managed a few pages of our reading material so far.