Australia, Part 2

I forgot to say in part 1 of my Australia trip that I unfortunately got sick. Like just a cold, but how much does that suck? I got this crappy sore throat and headache right when I was supposed to present my poster at the conference, so I wasn't feeling like really talking to people. Anyway, that was what I was focused on as I traveled to Melbourne. Actually, I was concerned about getting over it as quickly as possible so it wouldn't interfere with diving.
I found a little budget hotel in the Melbourne central business district, then headed for the closest doctor as a precaution. He said it looked like a cold but gave me a prescription for antibiotics I could fill if things got out of hand. And I stocked up on vitamins and such and then more or less spent the day in bed. The next day I got out a bit, but very low key and spent alot of time in my room. On the third day I was feeling better and Ann, a fellow HFSP fellow (ha!) I met at the meeting and an American living in Melbourne, offered for me to stay at her new rental house, which she just got the keys to, bit hadn't moved anything in to. Like, literally. So I helped her take a few things over and connect a washer and got to explore the neighborhood a bit, which was super-chill. Called Northcote, just a bit north of downtown on a hill overlooking the city. The buildings on the main road there were still kinda turn-of-the-century style packed-in, and they all had cute little places like shops and breakfast places and little stores which is what reminded my of South Congress and Brooklyn. And you could rent a two-bedroom HOUSE there on a postdoc salary. So I got to stay there for free on a inflatable mattress. That evening I was also invited by a friend of a friend of a friend (!) here in Dresden that lives in Melbourne and had a little dinner party. Again, chill neighborhood, cozy house, cool people.The next day I explored around town again. Started out down South to the beachfront area, then up to the botanical gardens, which were REALLY impressive, then kinda tooled around town some more, then met up basically with all the people I had met independently from Melbourne as a group for some yummy yummy dinner in Chinatown.
Over all, as I've said repeatedly, I was super-impressed with the city. I wish I had more time there and wasn't ill half the time. It was just four days, but from talking to people and exploring around, I could see myself living there.