Melbourne, November 15: Getting Back on Track

The time had come to take the trip from PAUSE to GO. After a quick flight to Brisbane we would be reconnected with Andrew and Jo. Andrew and I met in 1988 when we were high school exchange students in Belgium. That year the Rotary exchange students gathered about once a month for a cultural event. I don't remember exactly on which event we met, I'll guess the weekend trip to Amsterdam because that seemed to have the biggest turnout. It might have been a Mardi Gras trip to a small village that celebrates big. In any case, Andrew and I managed to keep in touch, at first through Facebook then through Messenger then through trips. When we started to plan this trip, Don told me a highlight was spending time with Andrew and Jo, certainly our vocabulary now includes more Aussie slang thanks to Andrew.

But first we closed the loop on something. As we walked to our AirBNB in 2023, we spotted a tramcar that was being converted into a café on the campus of a culinary school. Fresh off dining in a tramcar in Christchurch, New Zealand we were curious. As with life in the States, they were being held up from opening because they were still waiting for their permits to come through. We checked in each day and were told "soon." We had to leave without eating there.

This trip we stopped by on Sunday, only to learn their hours are Monday-Friday. The timing did not work out for us to visit until that Friday. By timing I mean me remembering when they were open. On our way to the airport we walked to the café to sit inside and enjoy tea and a muffin.

Located on the campus of the William Angliss Institute (a culinary school), the green and yellow tramcar is visible just inside a fence. All the food on the limited menu is made by students. 

Taking this down an internet rabbit hole, this article said five years ago there was a tram restaurant that ran through town, but closed due to food safety reasons in 2019. The article also said this café opened in January 2024, but when we were there they said they just celebrated their first anniversary having finally opened about three weeks after we were there.

We flew Jetstar because it was the cheapest airline. They allowed Don to board first. Also in the early boarding category was an autistic man in his mid-20s (as a guess) with a backpack filled with toys and a cell phone. His sister had walked him to the gate and left before boarding took place. I was impressed with the level of patience the gate crew had with him. The dark-haired tall and lanky many could not find his boarding pass or ID, kept wanting to show them his toys. Rather than losing their patience, they figured out how to contact his sister and figure out what she did with his boarding pass. As we had a flight delay, they took their time working with him. In the end, I did not see him board, but I suspect he must have.

Though this time we were at a major airport (unlike in Ayers Spring), we had to walk up a flight of stairs to board the plane. No elevator was offered. Fortunately Don's injury is about 10 days old and he could manage the flight. Once in Brisbane, our bags were waiting for us. The Brisbane airport is going through an expansion in anticipation of hosting the Olympics. The advice the airline sent out was to allow extra time.

We took a city train to downtown to meet up with Andrew.