In Search of Pinchers and/or Pinchy

To celebrate my trip to Christmas Island, I've been playing the Beach Boys on repeat in my head because of this final scene from "The Summer of 4 ft. 2" episode of the Simpsons.

Anyone who is a nerd like me will know that scene.

I'm currently at the Perth International Airport. I must say it's a quite a grim place. It's vacant – physically and emotionally. There's not a lot of choice of food places or news stands. In the centre is a tacky gold, sparking Christmas tree. It's the aeroport love forgot.

Speaking of which, it feels weird to see all kind of Christmas decorations around Australia when it's 30C outside and everyone's in boogie shorts and Hawaiian shirts.

During my 16-hour layover adventure in Melbourne yesterday, I passed by a lot of Christmas wreaths and lights in the eastern part of town where all the high-end Gucci, Hermes and Dior stores are. I also passed by a lit up theatre resembling the Elgin that was playing King Kong. I just started enjoying attending musicals and I think had I had another day, it would be worthwhile to see.

But with limited time, I chose to spend it at the Queen Victoria Night Market, which was fantastic. Next to the one on Temple St. in Hong Kong, it was my favourite one.

I arrived there around 7 p.m. and it was just packed with people. There were long lines of people at the rows of street food stalls and many who sat on the ground with friends, chomping away on the yummy goods.

Whenever I travel, I try and bring back things I couldn't find back home.

There were tons of vintage clothing vendors, handmade goods and stuff you'd find on Etsy by independent retailers. Look! An echidna next to a wombat! Big fan of flea markets. I was in heaven.

My Marine Monkey tank is one of my favourite pieces of clothing. I found a nice compliment – the detective rhino.

A lot of people recognized my TD Visa as a Canadian credit card and struck up conversations about Mayor Ford with me. Strange.

There wasn't much more to my time in Melbourne, unfortunately. I went to a recommended Mexican restaurant and discovered what Horchata was, then took a cab back to the Space Hotel hostel where I was staying.

Two ads at the Perth airport bathroom:

1.  Did you know the emergency number in Australia isn't 911, but 000. If you call 911, a kangaroo will come and kick you in the face. Really. Not even joking. What? You don't believe me? Dial it, then. But then have 000 on speed dial. But not 001 – that's for pizza. And 007 is for spies.

2. Aussies want you to get laid on holiday. I will tell you I'm not seeking that out, but good on the government for wanting to increase its population. It's already 22.6 million, let's make it 22.7, people. Get busy.

Can't wait to see the millions of crab. It really is a wonder.

There's apparently no cell reception there unless you have a Telstra phone, so I'll be out for a while until I get to Sydney on Saturday.

Watch this video in the meantime:

Behind the scenes of the red crab migration – Christmas Island 2012 from Parks Australia on Vimeo.