Melbourne!
Trip Start
Jan 17, 2006
1
22
59
Trip End
Jul 14, 2006
Melbourne,
Australia
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
After dinner, I went down to 22 Heaton to drop off Hitch for Muscles and hang out with them for a bit. Tina had a relly really bad sunburn from sitting out in the sun for 5 hours with no sunscreen on. They were all going out to Finnegan's, and were getting dressed when I was there. The best part of the night was when Tina was figuring out what to do with her hair.
AM on the plane
Lia was in her room, and Tina called her out for her opinion. Before Tina had asked the question, Lia blurted out "You'd better put blush on your face." And that's all she said. We all had a good laugh. Around 9:30 I realized I still needed to pack and shower, so I said my goodbyes. I took a nice long shower (because I could) and began packing. My History of Sport prof had said Melbourne weather is completely unpredictable, and I believed him so I had about 10 outfits laid out on the bed for my four day trip. I squished everything I could into my bag, and checked that it still zipped shut. Paul and I still hadn't figured out when and where to meet, so I stayed up for a while watching footie with the roommates (Jen, Fonsi, and Lito were still having beers) on the patio. Eventually I decided to try to pretend to sleep, but of course I didn't. Around 12:30 Paul sent me a text and I was satisfied enough to turn off my light and try sleeping again. I must have fallen alseep eventually, because I was startled at 4:15 by my humming cell phone alarm. I got up, threw my pillow in the bag, locked it, and walked out the door. Then I walked back in and put the envelope with this week's rent money in it on the dining room table and walked out again. The shuttle driver came around 4:35, and we flew to the airport (some pun intended). I checked in, went through security, took a "This is me" picture, and listened to Rent until the plane was ready for boarding.
I snoozed for a little bit, but just the kind where you're still aware of everything going on.
Athletics
At 7:15, the plane commenced landing.Fortunately for me, the Skybus station was right outside the door I chose to leave. For $15, they took me to the CBD! It was kind of a grubby place they took me, but it was still 8am, so there were no thugs out to get me. It took me a few minutes of staring at the map and repositioning myself to figure out where I was meeting Paul. However, it was up the street I was at about 6 blocks. So me and my luggage began the trek up Bourke St. Not too shabby, I reached the corner or Bourke and Swanston at 8:45, sent an SMS to Paul, and chilled on the benches reading about Melbourne. When he said he was going to be late, I decided to add Rent to the diversions. At some point I looked up and realized a strange guy was staring at me. Thank god for recognition centers in the brain, because it was Paul. He's changed a bit since I last saw him (think a changeover from Harry Potter to a rock star and you should get the idea).
We had about a half an hour before we could meet his friends (they were still sleeping), so I suggested we go to Macker's for coffee. The guy that served me told me the record for sugars in a small cappuccino was 11, but he only gave me four. It was alright...could've used a few more though. Paul and I caught up for a while, then we got up and headed out. I can't remember how we got there (I'd only had a little sleep at the time), but we showed up on Fiona's doorstep. She let us in and went back to bed. We ate breakfast and turned on the boob tube to watch the games.
Athletics-2
After a few hours, we were both passed out (Paul was up until 4ish and got up at 7). Finally, we pulled ourselves together, and his other friends came to get us. We were moving into his apartment a short drive away.Well, Paul's not got much stuff, so it took us one trip to get everything in there. We put it all down and hopped back in the car to get to the rail station. We were goin to squash. Melbourne has three types of public transportation: trains, trams, and buses. As of now, I have been on all three to varying degrees. I'm not sure how many it required for us to get to the squash building, but it took a while. When we finally got in, the match was about to start. New Zealand v. England.
Squash is a fantastically boring and interesting sport all at once. After the first game, I would have said, let's go. But at 11:00 when the last match started, I was totally into it. It's like a mix of raquetball and ping pong (table tennis according to Paul). They play to 9 points, and it's the best of 5 sets.
English players tend to be more likely to yell at the refs, but the refs hold their ground, so there's no point in it. New Zealand won the first match (they play best of five, so it was really like the first three games). The second game was England v. Australia, and thank goodness the Australian won. Paul and I decided we were sitting in the only English section of the stands, but everyone else went crazy. After the girls played, we went over to the other courts to see the less exciting games (the consolation pool as far as I could tell).
Best not to ask
We watched that for ten minutes, then headed back for men's Australia v. England. I hadn't gotten any food yet, so I was getting hungry, but I figured by the end of this match I'd be rarin' for a good baguette. LIttle did I know this game was going to drag out into the late night hours! It took over an hour to play this one game, where the other two had been played in the same amount of time! Australia lost, but he didn't give up even though in the last set he was down 8-1 and it was match point. He wasn't giving up. I was even cheering for England at that point. Anything to make the game end and get me food! Well finally it happened (and the crowd wasn't really amused). Food time! It was the best $7 baguette I'd ever eaten and I'm not talking about it quality. It filled me up and that's what mattered. Now for the laast match of the night: Australia v. Scotland. Scotland won the first two, but the Aussie made a huge comeback to win the next two! This was around 11:30, we had one match to go, and we weren't sure if the public transport systems were going to be able to get us home this late. Such a toss up! Paul called the transport company and decided we would make it. The very last tram towards his house left at 12:30. Fortunately, the final game was pretty quick and the Aussie won! We caught the tram to the train station, checked the time for the train and actually caught the last tram out anyway. It was a short walk to his place, then we set up camp for the night: he was on the blow up mattress and I was on the camping mat and we were in his living room sharing sheets and the quilt.
Sunday morning we got up and went shopping for groceries.
Bourke Street Mall
Well, we were going to go for groceries, but we wound up buying kitchen supplies first and walking around the entire shopping center. Lunch was grilled cheese and ham sandwiches (to which I added an egg).Then we set up the beds as a makeshift couch on the wall and put in my Dress to Kill DVD. I'd say I made it about a half an hour before falling asleep. We slept until dinner time, when he made pasta. We watched Pirates of the Caribbean, then set up camp again and passed out.
Monday morning I had to get up early to shower, and Paul made us pancakes and some sandwiches for lunch. Then off to the games! Athletics at the MCG at 10 am. As it turns out, athletics weren't real popular (whoda thunk it). The top third and the bottom third of the stadium were kinda full, and the entire section in the middle was almost empty. In addition, one half of the stadium was in the shade and our half was in the sun. And being an idiot, I didn't bring sunscreen! I sat for a while with my shirt over my head (I had a tank top on underneath), then some nice lady behind us offered me some sunscreen. We saw high jump, the long jump and shot put in the decathalon, EAD shotput (elite athletes with disabilities), about 10 400m heats, and a few 1500m heats. Around 2, a guy came around and told us it was time to leave.
Obligingly, Paul and I left and headed back to town. We were walking along the street when I noticed Haigh's, a chocolatier. Paul told me Haigh's was better than Darrell Lea (which I was eager to test out), so we stopped in.
Drummers
I got some black licorice, and a free sample of chocolate-covered pineapple. Not too shabby, and the licorice was good (better than Darrell Lea, not sure). Then we headed to Federation Square to watch some of the games on the big screen. I had a sandwich. Sadly, it switched to lawn bowls and we had to get up and leave. I had read that there was a Border's in Melbourne, and my trusty tourguide actually knew where it was. So I spent a solid ninety minutes investigating most of the music selestions and many more books while munching on my licorice. By this time, it was about time for hockey, so we headed out. We got on a super crowded train and squished together. I noticed a guy in Kiwi attire and figured he would know when to get off the train, because he was right by the door. As it turns out, most of the people on the train were going to hockey, so it was really easy. We had to walk a bit to get to the field, and the game had just started when we got there. However, we were in the third row and in the sun. Not too shabby! The only plays we couldn't see were when it was in the corner of the field where the sun was going down. First was the men's game: New Zealand v. Scotland. All through the game the kids behind us gave each other (and those around them) a full commentary on everything from sticks to the US. At one point he got to talking about how hockey must have come first or they would have called ice hockey hockey and they would have to say field hockey. I restrained from pointing out that that's how it is in America, and our country is older so we're probably right (haha).
Drummers-2
At the half, New Zealand was up 1-0, and nothing interesting had happened. The second half was a little better, and in the end New Zealand won 5-0 (youch). We had some time before the women's game, and the kids in front of us had gotten fried food (which I smelled a mile away). I was also FREEZING (ps it's a touch colder in Melbourne than it is in Newcastle)! Not literally, I couldn't see my breath, but I was cold enough to warrant the purchase of a jacket. Paul told me it was going to cost me a fortune, but I was prepared with my credit card and a strong desire to be warm. Boys sometimes don't understand the seriousness of a girl being cold. So we walked to the buy-stuff-here area and I hopped in line for the jacket while Paul went off in search of fried goodness. I wound up spending $60 on a sweet fleece-navy with a red front, stitching on the chest and down the sleeve. Now I'm all trendy-like. Paul had located fried fish and chips (ie french fries), and we headed back for the women's game: Scotland v. Canada.Paul has family in Canada, so he was cheering for them. Naturally, I picked the Scots just to be difficult. Instantly, this game was heaps better! Canada was sliding everywhere to get to balls, and scored first. At the half we'd seen a few cards. The second half was even better...apparently Scotland is a second half team. Everybody was into it, even the fans who had clearly been cheering for New Zealand in the last game were now taking sides and being rowdy (if mildly intoxicated). In the last 15 minutes or so, Scotland converted their first corner of the tournament and then came from behind for a spectacular win-2-1.
Federation Square
The card total was four green cards and a yellow. Paul was a little sour.Everyone started crawling out of the stadium and hopped on the tram to the train station. True to form, the train was going to be five minutes late. Huge sighs from the crowd. However, the volunteer there was a good sport and played games with us (cheers and the wave and stuff). In actuality, Thomas the train was about 15 minutes late, but we had a good time, staying behind the yellow safety line for our own safety. We took the train home and passed out.
Tuesday morning Paul got up early (poor chap had to go to uni). I slept in a little while longer then got up and had some eggs for breakfast. Today was my tourist day. I walked to the bus station, just in time to catch the bus to the train station, where I arrived just in time to catch the train to the city. I don't know why Paul has such a hard time with them, it was like clockwork for me. I got off at a stop that looked like it would be easy to work out. Alas, it was nearly impossible to find the street from wherever I was. I came up in the mall where the Border's had been the day before, then wound up in Myers and tried in vain to get out from there. Apparently this building spans three blocks, and I'm quite incapable of making knowledgeable decisions inside buildings about directions. So I wound up coming out near Swantson and Bourke Streets again. I knew I had to walk up Swanston to get to the Queen Victoria Markets, which was this morning's first goal.
I walked and I walked, and I walked past several RMIT buildings, which I took note of because that's Paul's uni and I thought it would be helpful for meeting up later in the day.
Federation Square-2
From there, the markets were just around the corner (and impossible to miss). They're about four city blocks worth of little shops, and tents and fruitand veg and meat stands. Sweetness! I walked around everything, stopping to look in places I thought had potential for presents. In the end, I did buy one present, and if you count the fact that I bought Paul some apples and each of us a mango, I bought six presents. Without any real goal in mind, I started to head back to the city center. However, I got distracted by a sign that said Old Melbourne Gaol with an arrow pointing left, up the hill. Now I thought about that word for a long long time, and no kidding, two minutes later decided to head on up to this jail and see what's up. I walked up the hill and I found another sign which made no mention of such a place. However, it did have an arrow for an information center, so I headed that way. I walked around a few blocks (and several more RMIT buildings) and wound up at the Old Melbourne Gaol sign again. I took one more trip up the hill and stopped at every intersection to look around for a Gaol. The second block, I found it. I walked on over and headed in the shop area. $12.50 to go in. Hmmm, and I didn't know when Paul was going to be done but I knew it was soon, so I decided to skip it, I'd been there, that's enough.
Having satisfied my curiosity, I thought I'd head towards the Greek district and Chinatown (which are conveniently right next to eachother. Mmmmm the food smelled so good! I didn't get any, but that's not the point.
Flinder's Street Station
I decided I'd only seen about half of the city and started walking in the direction that I had not yet explored. Now I know why, it was completely boring! As I came up to the train station, Paul called and told me he would be about an hour (he's not in the city campus as it turns out). So I walked around to the tram catching place and found out that the free city circle tram goes by every 12 minutes and takes about 45 minutes to go around the whole city. What coolness, the next tram that went by looked exactly like the one in the picture, so I hopped on. After a block, I saw the tram behind me said "City Circle" right on it. I pulled the little cable and got off in the next block. By then I was too lazy to be bothered catching the other, so I walked down to Federation Square to watch some of the Games. I remembered that I needed to get to the airport the following day really early, so I stopped in to get some help. Never go in the Melbourne Visitor's Centre. I went downstairs, and a gentleman asked me what I needed help with. I told him and he said just go stand over there by the lady in the black shirt and she'll help you. So I did. A few minutes later, a little lady in a red vest came by and told me that if I needed help, I had to go get a number and someone would help me. So I went back over towards the first guy and took a number. He said, "yup, just grab a number and the next person will help you out." Indeed, the next person did call me up immediately. I told her what I wanted to do (take a train to the Skybus terminal and take that to the airport).
Great Scot!
She gave me a city map and told me which station to get off to catch the Skybus and a Skybus information paper. I asked her what time the train would be able to take me there and you know what she said? Go stand by the lady wearing a black shirt and she'll help you out. So I did (I almost had a tear out of anger and grogginess and weariness and other nesses). Finally it was my turn to talk to the lady in the black tshirt. She gave me a Skybus information paper. I asked her what time the train could take me there, and she said she didn't know, that they didn't have any timetables, but she wasn't going to leave me hanging. She picked up the Metlink phone and got me the damn train times, which was all I had wanted. As she was talking to them, Paul called to see where I was. He was going to be another 15 minutes, and we'd meet in Federation Square. Okey dokes. I went upstairs and sat on the bench that was next to both cross walks into Federation Square from the Flinders Street Station. I swear I looked at every human that went by. About 30 minutes later, Paul called to ask where I was. Sitting outside the Visitor's centre, I said. Apparently he had snuck by somehow (and completely missed me) and was now over watching (what else but) lawn bowls. So I pushed through a million people, and found him standing there. Finally! We watched lawn bowls for a few mintues, then got up and went for a walk down by the river. Well, first we headed up Swanston Street again. If you are near a map of Melbourne, please look up the proximity of the river to Federation Square, and what going "up" Swanston street actually means.
So we took another tram down to the river.
Great Scot-2
There was free stuff going on, like a lame concert and stuff, so we walked around for a bit, crossed and headed back against the crowd that was heading to some event. When we got back to Federation Square, we walked right up to the stage, where there was a drums concert. Although there were some flags in the way, we were right up next to it, and it was awesome. It was five main people and a whole bunch of helpers doing really cool drum stuff. We stayed until it ended, then caught the train home again, hoping to catch the last bus back to his house.Now, I'm not sure I've mentioned this yet, but the Melbourne trains are always late. We clearly missed the last bus, and had to hike the 40 minutes to his house. We stopped by Safeway/Woolie's for frozen vegetables for a stir fry. I took a shower while Paul cooked, and we had noodles and veggies in satay sauce. A tasy dinner indeed. This being the day before I had a paper due, and Paul having just purchased his textbook, we started to be nerdy and do work. About 45 minutes later, Paul went to bed. 20 minutes after that, I went to bed too.
I woke up this morning at 4:45 to commence the day's travels. 4:50 I left Paul's house, 5:30 I arrived at the train station, 5:38 the train left (two minutes late already!), 6:05 I arrived at my train station, walked around trying to find the Skybus terminal, 6:10 got on the Skybus, 6:15 left for the airport, 7 am arrived at the airport and checked in (early boarding!). 7:40 boarded the plane and I think fell alseep immediately, dispite the screaming child across the aisle from me.
Great Scot-3
I woke up when the plane took off (evidence that I had indeed been sleeping), and when the pilot told us we could turn on electronics, but otherwise I was passed out until the stewardess came by and told me to wake up and put my CD player away, that we were landing. However, in the mean time, I had a really good snooze. 1.) There was nobody next to me, so I put my feet up and slept sideways. 2.) I could tell it was good because I drooled a little :-P We landed on time, and I found my luggage and went to the information desk. The only public bus to leave the airport for Newcastle left at 11:20 (ps I had class at 10). Screw it, I thought, I'll be back in time for my 12:00. I got started on my history of sport paper, and got a first draft written before I got hungry. I had a crispy chicken BLT from Hungry Jacks, which was awesome, but I'd avoid the value meal in the future, because the fries were crap. I went out and waited for the bus. Apparently it takes 30 minutes to get to Newcastle from the airport, so at 12, instead of going to class, I was waiting for the next bus to say Jesmond to take me home. The next bus that went by said Jesmond on it, so I hopped on. I was pleasantly surprised when we were at the shopping center 30 minutes later (it usually takes 40 minutes). I booked it home, unpacked my bookbag, pack my bookbag, and speed-walked to class, arriving in time for the 1pm break. Sweetness. Class the rest of the day was gentle enough, and apparently I missed part of a movie in Auslan this morning. Oh well. Don't care. I got home in time for dinner to an empty fridge, save bread and milk. I walked down to the shops and got a frozen pizza and cooked half of it (lunch or dinner tomorrow too). The roommates wanted to see my pictures, so I told them everything. I tried to work on my paper a little more, but I couldn't get into it, so I made some Nutella toast (on sale: 2 for $6), packed up my computer and went to 22 Heaton for what I hoped was going to be the last retelling of the story. Everybody was really excited to hear about Melbourne, and intensely interested in the nature of my relationship with Paul (only to be disappointed with no snuggling or holding hands or anything)...hahaha! I went back to my house later and finally worked on the paper seriously (after cleaning my room). I passed out around 12:30. 
