Walking in Melbourne: an adventure in itself

Having no car and no idea which buses, trams or trains would offer me the shortest/ quickest route to the office,  I did what any good Londoner would do when the trains inevitably stop working. I looked up the simplest route and walked the 2.5km to the office. The fact that the sun was beaming down and it was a balmy 24 degrees made the walk just that much more pleasant! And the fact that Loryn accompanied me 3/4 of the way like a proud mom taking her kid to school made the walk feel effortless.

The first thing that anyone coming to Melbourne or Australia in general will notice, whether driving or walking around the city, is that the traffic lights take foooooorrrrrreeeeevvvveeeerrrrr to go through the rotation. Add the crisscrossing trams to the equation and the walk took around 25 minutes. 15 of which were spent just waiting for the familiar tick ticking of the traffic lights to let you know that its relatively safe to cross the street. I say relatively safe as you still need to watch out for the trams which run down the middle of the main roads.  These 'rhinos on skateboards' posters on all tram stops give you an idea of what we're dealing with...

So the first time you cross the road you might have a mini heart attack.  You'll find yourself wanting to hurl abuse at the driver trying to mow you down when its your turn to cross the street, but he also has a green light and although you have right of way as a pedestrian, he might or might not actually stop...