Well last night I lay down after I put my computer away and fell asleep, and awoke several hours later with no progress on the discomfort in my belly, so went for a walk for maybe an hour or maybe not, and found a shop that sells RPGs but it was closed of course, and then went back to the hostel and slept for the night.
I arose this morning at about eight o'clock and went for my breakfast, which was a couple of slices of toast with peanut butter and jam (a habit I picked up in the States years ago) and then had a shower and set off to do the walking tour of Melbourne centre suggested in the Lonely Planet Australia book. To get there I had to pass that gaming shop, so I stopped in for a look, and it had a good selection and some old stuff reduced, so I bought a couple of things I'd wanted and then did the walking tour. It brought me along narrow streets filled with cafes and delicatessens and through Victorian-era malls and past big churches and to Chinatown, and was therefore good because for some reason I tend not to wander down narrow things unless I specifically make a point to. Melbourne really is a nice city, I'm quite impressed.
I got a bit lost on my way back to the hostel so once I found myself with map and compass and made it back, I changed the payload of my bag and checked the white-board in the lobby to see what's going on today. Apparently in the Centre for Contemporary Photography there's some guy's work relating to horror movies, or something, so I asked the way to that and apparently you should get the tram, but I reckon if I walk along the tram line I should be fine. I'll do that tomorrow, anyway, to ensure I have enough time.
After that I went to the Queen Victoria Markets, which is kind of like an organised and less threatening Moore Street, with all sorts of stuff for sale - leather goods, clothes, toys, lame Australian souvenirs, fruit and vegetables, flowers, hats, your name in Japanese characters, dog tags (like for actual dogs) and so on and so forth. I bought a bag of chocolates that I assumed were pineapple chunks covered in chocolate but turned out to be vaguely pineapple flavoured chewy foam covered in chocolate-flavour spooge, which explains the low low price. Still, I ate a bunch of them when I got to this park and had my sandwiches, and they're probably forming a ball of goo in my intestines which'll still be there in five years as I type. But they were sugary so that's okay by me. So I'm passing the afternoon under a gum tree reading about a pirate RPG, which is a nice way indeed to pass time. It'd be even nicer if I had a cushion or something, but war is hell.
The temperature in Melbourne is pleasantly mild - the pilot said it was 16 degrees when we landed (that's in Celsius, folks) and today it's mostly overcast and breezy. Which is all very nice after the two or three days of hot in Sydney. Tasmania will be cooler again, but after that it's gonna be constant sweating until I hit Japan, or even Ireland.
Right, a quick leg-stretch and then back to my book.