Wow I haven't posted in a long time.  This is what happens when work and school are really busy.  That being said, hopefully soon I'll have some good news...

Queen Victoria market

A quick piece of advice (after a year's absence).... at the Queen Victoria Market , if you want a smoke free experience avoid the bathrooms near the deli and meats/seafood section.  Oh yes, the water at the sinks is hands free in that you are supposed to push a button with your thigh.  There's another set of bathroom at the intersection of Queen and Therry Streets.

P.S. In this case: bathroom = restroom.

Student Concession rates

If you are a foreign student - either a foreigner studying at an Australian school or a foreigner who is a student in a school outside of Australia you need to be aware of the concept of Student Concession rates.  These are student discounts.  But not all student discounts are equal opportunity so to speak.

Some student concession rates are only for Australians who are students (e.g. public transportation) yet other student concession rates (e.g. at museums) are open to students studying at an Australian school.  I haven't really run into much in the way of student concession rates for foreigners who are studying in a non-Australian institution, I'm sure they are out there... maybe?  
Addendum: 12/18/2012  Well they are alot closer than I thought... there's the Melbourne Museum which is FREE for students and the National Gallery of Victoria is free for everyone (except for the special exhibits)

The Customer Experience.

If you are from Massachusetts, you might find the shopping experience different in Melbourne.  You might find that there are many items where the price isn't labeled, or that are seemingly always on sale or on special, (then what is its normal price?).  I have more than once encountered where an item where there are two different prices listed listed on the display.  I won't argue what practices are unfair, deceptive or misleading but I'll offer an opinion on the last instance.

I kindly pointed out to the shopkeepers that they had two different prices prominently listed on display.  The price tags on the individual items were at the lower price too.  At which point one of shopkeepers took the item, scanned the bar code, and said it was the higher price.  I offer that the difference is that in the U.S. (or in particular, Massachusetts stores), the shopkeeper might have said something like "Thanks for pointing that out to us, though it's really at the higher price, to show our appreciation we'll sell it to you at the lower price."

The advice I offer is to be prepared to be more demanding  and assertive to merchants.

When coming to Australia, international travellers should always have a pack of tissues or a few pieces of paper towels on them.  In many airport restrooms (and many public ones too), there are no paper towels.  This is probably done in an effort to be green.  However, hand dryer blowers can only do so much.  For instance, they can't be used to wipe your face or towel off your neck and head after a long plane ride (remember sweating on the uncooled plane while boarding).  The hand blower dryer can't help clean up a bloody nose caused by dry sinuses or wipe up liquid soap that has accidentally spilled over the side of your travel bottle.  I suppose one could duck quickly into a toilet stall and grab some toilet paper but who wants to rush into a smelly stall right after someone has done the no. 2 (is that roll of toilet paper really clean too?).

 

Winter is here or almost here depending...

For Australians, the seasons start on the first of the month.  Hence winter started on June 1, instead of the winter solstice for the southern hemisphere.  While I have gotten used to the idea of colder weather in June (this was challenging being a northern hemisphere person), I still haven't acclimatized to the winter here - though I feel cold just looking at how the Victorians are all bundled up as if the next ice age is around the corner.  

A word of advice when crossing streets.  Many streets do not have crosswalks and drivers "enforce" that they have the right of way.  Now technically if you are crossing a street and a car turns onto your street it is supposed to give way to you by law... except many Victorian drivers don't seem to know that law.