Me and the wrong bus.
Some overdue posts!Last Thursday, I got up early and did the usual 20 minute trek down to the Monash Bus Loop to catch the free shuttle bus to Caulfield. The bus was already there, but it was early so the driver had gotten down. When he got up again, we lined up and showed him our cards to get inside.
I was thinking the seats were plusher than usual, and since it was early and I was tired I soon fell into a half doze. It usually only takes about 20 minutes to get to Caulfield.
I woke up after some time and peered out the window, wondering why we weren't already there.
Imagine my horror when instead of looking out at suburban buildings, I was staring out at increasingly sparse countryside.
(Caulfield is closer to the city than Clayton is)
I immediately deduced that I must be on the wrong bus (sheer genius, I know) and turned to my seatmate, having been fortunate enough to get one.
"Um, excuse me..where does this bus go? To Berwick?" Berwick was slightly further out than Clayton, so I figured it wouldn't be too bad.
"Uh, no, it goes to Peninsula."
Oh, joy.
Let me illustrate my horror.
I don't know if you can see it clearly enough, but the grey circle in the middle is where I stay, Clayton. The bus that I was supposed to take to Caulfield would take me to the purple circle, which is 20 minutes away. Instead, I had hopped onto a bus which would take me to Peninsula, which is near Frankston, the green circle alllllll the way down at the bottom.
Did I mention it was beachside, and Clayton was inner suburb?
After the initial 'oh my god I am seriously screwed' faded, I resigned myself to the fact that I would miss my first tutorial and instead set about asking my seatmate how I would get home. There were shuttle buses back to Clayton from Peninsula, but they were few and far between. Instead, I decided to take the shuttle bus from Peninsula to the Frankston station, and take the (long) train ride straight to Caulfield. It would cost me a ticket (about 10 AUD for a daily ticket..yeah I know) but that was the price to pay for stupidity!
The good thing is, immediately after the bus reached Peninsula the shuttle bus to the station was already there. I hopped on, and when we reached the station the train was due in 2 minutes, so I had no trouble there. I even managed to do some sightseeing while on the train (not that there was much else to do otherwise..it was about 45 minutes back) and here are some photos!
Here, proof I was actually at the Peninsula campus!
You see that blue spot in the very middle, where it doesn't match the light blue of the sky? That's the sea. That's as close as I got!
It was a fine day that day.
Another random picture. You can just make out the sea to the right there!
I didn't take a whole lot because the train was too fast and the scenery flashed by before I could snap much. I saw coconut trees and thought for a minute that it didn't look too different from Malaysian coastal towns, especially since on the outskirts the buildings are smaller and not that metropolitan.
Honestly so far my luck with Melbourne public transport has been mostly touch and go. Sometimes I get lucky and don't have to wait long, other times it ends up like this. I did miss my tutorial, if you must know, and the tutor was extremely sympathetic! On the bright side, it does make a good story for people to laugh at, and hey, when else was I going to see the Peninsula campus, I suppose!
Next blog post will also be related to me and public transport jinxes, so stay tuned.
posted by FluffyRed @ 11:19 PM
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