So.....Melbourne.....

Harri and I have been here for a week, and maybe it's because it was put up on a pedestal, maybe it was the weather, but sadly it did not captivate us. It should have, it has plenty of music, cafe's, clubs and food, but we fell so in love with Sydney that Melbourne paled in comparison. Plus everyone thought they were ever so cool. Far too cool for us.

I'm also a little bit bitter about missing out on what i'm sure was an incredible gig. On Friday night I found out that Little Dragon were playing in the East Brunswick club for a mere $30. I decided against going- it was cold out, I didn't have much money and I had planned to have a BBQ. Foolish mistake. I've only started getting into them recently, but there's nothing like a good gig to accelerate the love, and I KNOW they would have been great. They have such a unique sound, they capture that quirky electronic sound like no one else- and i've heard a fair amount of both the quirky and electronic. Their singer, Japanese-Swedish Yukimi Nagano, has such a sultry,  grainy yet elegant voice, and she knows how to use it in a way that completely captivates you. This song is a favourite at the moment:

And then there's the first song I ever heard by them, a great dubstep remix by 16bit. It's a beautiful song, one that once I found the original I would listen to on repeat at work sitting at my desk, and I would be transported to a different world, one that involved no soul destroying cold calling.

What really made our stay in Melbourne so great was staying with Brydie and Paul. We met Brydie in Chiang Mai a few months earlier, and after only knowing us a couple of days, she insisted on having us stay with her. We took her up on her kind offer, and it was brilliant! And this is one of the best things about Australia so far, the overwhelming generosity of people - The couch surfing host Zsolt in Sydney, Brydie in Melbourne, and now Mark in Adelaide (who we met in Bali on a random night out) - this kind of thing really restores your faith in the generosity of people for generosity's sake. Its the way it should be, and I implore you to consider more random acts of kindness in future. You end up having wonderful people like Harri and I to stay in your flat and eat all your food :P