Here is a list of the different ways in which one (*cough, cough* me) has discovered a brand new city:
- Hit the ground running amid 45 degrees celsius heat, while wearing skinny jeans.
- Been in a hungry daze and started off on a rampant daze-induced culinary trail.
- Been the only child in an unofficial couples-only cruise.
- Tricked myself into thinking that four adjacent coastal states are simply interconnected beaches.
- Scouted for a seagull.
When it comes to planning a trip, I come from a line of travellers who make it their life’s ambition to discover every crevice of a new place preferably under twenty four hours.
I mean, who knows when the aliens will take over and colonise the planet, right? Might happen any minute.
Being a ‘whirlwind traveller’, as I like to call it, comes with a detailed, step-by-step itinerary.
When I visited Melbourne for a nine-day trip last year, I had, in my trusty cartoon-print diary, nine whole itineraries, with every step accounted for.
Since it was a longer trip than most of my other ones, each day was filled to the brink with all sorts of ticketed personal experiences, nature indulgence, hiking, culinary treats and shopping.
So, my first day in Melbourne, according to the itinerary, involved visiting the Melbourne Zoo.
Now, one of the things that I really loved about the Melbourne Zoo, was that every section had a souvenir shop which had soft toys of every animal that lived in the zoo.
The bond between soft toys and myself has proven to be a rather interesting aspect of my travels and I will let the reader pick the right choice as to why that is.
- Extra baggage
- Tracking the exact location of toy in a packed mall and calling the shop owner to save me a piece.
- Learning the local language from asking questions about availability of toy.
- All of the above.
Bonus points if the reader picks option (D), for that is the correct answer.
Call it holding onto childhood or just a fantasy for soft, colourful hugging buddies, soft toys have always been a memorable part of my trip and getting a soft toy has always been a part of the travel plan.
The same was the case in Melbourne.
I had, in the aforementioned cartoon-printed diary, made a list of all the soft toys that I wanted to get from the various places with souvenirs, after a thorough research from every gift shop website.
The Melbourne Zoo was one of the places where I had planned on buying nearly 60% of my soft toy haul, but the one thing that skipped the pages of my cartoon-printed diary was the protocol to be followed if I found an unlisted soft toy that would catch my fancy.
Here I was, like any excited child, skipping through the zoo toy shop with my mum and ticking of my soft toy list, when my eyes fell upon, drumroll….A seagull soft toy.
Seagull Soft Toy.
Unlisted. Unexpected. Unique. Ultimate Need of the Hour.
I took one look at that wee plush gull and I could sense that it was the kind of toy that I would grab, but there was some technical error with the payment pathway which made me look at the seagull toy for one moment of sheer yearning, before walking out of the shop and migrating to another zoo area for more animal watching and gift shop raiding to check out the rest of my list.
Now, given the wildlife in Australia, I was absolutely awed with the soft toys that I got, so the seagull which I didn’t get, took a seat at the back of my mind.
I went about the rest of my diary-noted itinerary, when, on the wee hours of a Thursday, I found myself staring at the ceiling, my mind just a little away from sleeping easy.
It was to be my penultimate day in Melbourne, and I had planned to go to the Old Melbourne Gaol, window shop at the Block Arcade, go to the Monopoly Dreams Park and see AC/DC lane, but all I could think of, early that morning, was the seagull soft toy that I had so yearningly left behind at the Melbourne Zoo.
So, being a sort of a veteran at tracking soft toys, I launched an extensive online search for other shops selling the same seagull soft toy as the Melbourne Zoo, because I could not got back to the Melbourne Zoo because I was rather late to get a ticket and I couldn’t enter its shop without a zoo ticket.
Once again, I brought out my trusty cartoon-printed diary and got to making another list. A list of shops where the seagull soft toy has possibly made an appearance. I also timed my plan. I made up my mind that I would have the seagull with me before noon, after which I would go about my plans as usual.
This bit of delusion brings me to the fifth point of my first list of the ways in which I have discovered a new city, i.e. scouting a seagull.
According to my list, the first place where I might have found the gull plush was the Emporium Mall, so I took the tram early and headed to my destination.
I must have looked like a knight on a daring heist, with the way I strode into the toy shop to claim the seagull. I had done my research, I had checked all websites and here I was, approaching destiny. I could literally feel all the other toys parting to make way for me, only for salesperson at the shop to stop me in my tracks and tell me that the toy that I was looking for was, unfortunately, not available.
That was the first time, in my personal experience, when something on my to-do list went unchecked.
I did spend a few minutes reeling under the impact of the whole mission failing on my first try but then, I brought out my diary once again, determined to get the seagull.
My next stop was Woolworths, two of them, in fact, and both in very different localities, i.e Woolworths QV and the one in Southbank
The website clearly showed that the seagull was very much in stock at Woolworths, but two hours of scouring through the racks and the only seagull that I came across was a live one squawking right outside the store in Southbank.
The clock was inching towards noon, by the time I got out of Woolworths and neither had I glimpsed my prized seagull, nor had I visited any of the places initially planned, even though I passed the Block Arcade during my gull hunt.
By then, every seagull that flew past me or screamed in my face filled me with a strange emotion. I wanted to cry, I wanted to pet a seagull and I also wanted to laugh at the whole ordeal, but what I did was visit every departmental store in Melbourne CBD, before getting onto a train and heading towards South Melbourne Market.
So, the South Melbourne Market is the city’s oldest continually running market and it was not on my itinerary until I started researching my seagull’s availability. The moment I stepped into its cosy interiors, I felt like I had somehow time travelled in my quest for a seagull and before I knew it, I found myself strolling through the market.
The whole set up was like a mystical market which sold magical wares and when I turned into the lane for soft toys, my heart skipped a beat, because the first shop was one which sold soft toys from the brand that manufactured my seagull.
I literally jogged into that little shop and asked the shopkeeper whether he had my wee gull in stock and he told me something which was both, an ecstatic aria and a melancholic ballad to my ears.
He told me that he had seen that seagull and was sure that he had it, which launched the two of us into a mini store reshuffle. Somehow, the vibe of the market made the whole thing feel like a treasure hunt, but that’s when the ballad in the memory of the shopkeeper’s statement rolled in like a slow, lapping wave.
The seagull was out of stock.
The South Melbourne Market began to feel like a kaleidoscope, with all its wares glimmering in its warm lighting, and the seagull’s image in my mind was starting to feel like a mirage.
Emotions were at an all time high, but then, I sat down to have a juice at the South Melbourne Market and simply let the Market rub off on me, with all its vibrance, bustle and a sense of comfort.
I left with a promise of returning to that treasury of a market on my next trip, and headed back to my hotel to gather my wits and my phone’s charge.
My little device used its remaining battery to tell me that the only two places where the seagull was available in Melbourne and perhaps in the state of Victoria, was a Big W store in CBD and in Middle Brighton, which is kind of on the outskirts of Melbourne.
The Big W store had me rather overwhelmed, especially since I glimpsed the Block Arcade again, en route the store.
My initial itinerary made me feel an inexplicable guilt. I had spent nearly the entire day, searching for a toy which was exclusive to the zoo and I felt so helpless when I saw the tram that would eventually stop at the Melbourne Zoo. Besides, every time I saw a seagull in front of me(which was very common), I felt this yearning and a rather strong feeling of endearment, almost as though I was failing to get something that was actually such an easy buy, if it wasn’t for a technical error.
The folks at Big W told me that if I placed an order online, I’d probably get the seagull but things weren’t as easy as that because there was no way for me to get the seagull internationally delivered and that was my penultimate day in Melbourne.
So, it was with a rather exhausted mind that I boarded the train to Middle Brighton, another place which was not in my itinerary, to take my last shot at getting the seagull.
The sun set at the horizon as I alighted at the station and my mind drew metaphors at every phenomenon at that point, but when I saw the town of Middle Brighton, I couldn’t help but smile.
The town was so full of such amusing contrasts, that it looked straight out of a dreamy toddler’s imagination.
There were somber mansions, followed by a very jazzy market place and then, there was a school, where children in uniform finished for the day to head home. The school was a rather disciplinarian one, but I loved how the children transitioned from obedient pupils to simply youngsters having a lark, all in the range of a single gate.
If I had to draw a picture of Middle Brighton at a glance, one would think it is a whimsical portrait, but there was something so comforting in that chaotic arrangement. I had a good laugh when I saw myself through an external lens, wandering through a town I had never heard of before, searching for a seagull toy which, as luck would have it, did not grace the toy shop at Middle Brighton.
On the train back, I had the opportunity of listening to a detailed account of a sweet old lady’s day and then she said that her grandson actually visited the Monopoly Dreams Park that day, which made my mind scramble back to that feeling of having missed out on my itinerary.
I carried that feeling for a long time, until late that night, when I looked at the pictures that I had taken that day and saw a list of discoveries.
I had seen every departmental store in Melbourne.
I knew most of the tram route by heart.
I knew of shortcuts to get to places which no itinerary would have prepared me for.
I discovered street art, diverse and beautiful, each one representing a different aspect of Melbourne.
I interacted with people with so many quirks that reiterated my awe for the things that make us all a big human family.
I discovered a whole new town, filled with contrasts.
I visited a piece of Melbourne’s history in the South Melbourne Market.
I did not, however, get my seagull and for the first time ever, my planned itinerary remained without a check mark.
That night, I went to bed with a sense of balance. My day had been filled with discovery and so much learning but I had also seen a plan completely unravel.
The next morning, I made peace with the fact that I was going to have to get my seagull on my next trip to Melbourne, before setting out on a road trip on the Great Ocean Road. I knew that the place is solely nestled in nature and there was not much scope for retail other than Great Ocean Road souvenirs(according to the list in my diary).
With that state of mind, I entered the tiny shop at the Great Apostles Viewing Point to buy a magnet and a tote bag.
I spent a lot of time picking out magnets and amidst my selection spree, my hand touched something soft, nestled in a basket, away from view of the customers.
My first instinct was that a cat had fallen asleep in that basket, so I crouch down to look at it and smile as it purred but the moment my eyes adjusted to the comforting shadows of the roomy basket, I saw that my fingers rested on a single seagull soft toy.
Unlisted. Unexpected. Unique. Ultimately found and bought.
Author: Samiksha Deshpande
