Took a train from Sydney to Melbourne. It took 12 hours and was a nice trip. The train was comfortable and the scenery was beautiful. Rolling, grassy hills with lots of Eucalyptus and other flora which I couldn't identify. Have seen some funny names for towns: Buryip, Nar Nar Goon, Wamambool, Mooroopna, Port Fairy, Diggers Rest, Junee. Spent three days wandering around Melbourne. It's a beautiful, cosmopolitan city. Beautiful, sharp dressed people everywhere. The architecture is amazing, different, daring. Almost every new building is eye-popping. The old ones are just beautiful. Spent a day at the Royal Botanic Gardens. Fabulous. There were plants from all over the world and a great many varieties of Eucalyptus. The Blue Eucalyptus is especially fine. It's trunk is smooth and a shade of blue/lavendar. Took a free city tram tour which covered a large part of the city. The food is great! There are small passageways/alleys off of the main shopping streets and they are loaded with funky restaurants. You really have to look for them, otherwise you'll pass right by. The Yarra River runs through Melbourne and there are trendy restaurants and shops all along the waterfront.

Just Saying:

A very popular brand of cereal here is called "Sanitarium" - "For Health and Wellbeing". I'm eating as much of it as I can for obvious reasons.

Butter is more yellow here. Don't know if that means it's more buttery or it has more food coloring in it. I'm going with more buttery.

Bathroom stuff (sorry but I like bathroom stuff):

Have not seen one seat protector in the bathrooms here. Not one! I miss them! The TP here is thinner and more see-through than ours. I suspect that this has to do with Australia's big push to recycle. They really have it together in that area along with water conservation. Also, the toilets have two buttons: half-flush and full-flush. There are signs over the toilets that say "Please use half-flush if you can." So basically, the half-flush, which is all over in a couple of seconds, is for the not-so- serious-stuff and the full-flush...well you know. There is also a bin in the ladies stalls for sanitary items. It has a company name on it and they come and pick them up when full. Good idea, saves money on toilet plug-ups I'm sure. I've only seen one bathroom so far with paper towells. They all have hand dryers which I was annoyed about until I needed to dry some undergarments and then I realized how handy they are!

Dumb stuff I brought:

Sleeping bag - Got a great deal on it and it's super-lightweight but should have bought it when it came time to needing it.

Gloves, warm hat - Will be useless to me for many more months.

3/4 of my toiletries - Using them up and not buying more.

Jeans - Wore them on the plane without thinking about having to haul them around. Can't bear to part with them, they're the most expensive jeans I own! I'll see how much I still like them in steamy SE Asia when my pack will feel especially heavy.