Welcome to Melbourne
Trip Start
Apr 30, 2007
1
5
69
Trip End
Nov 29, 2008
Melbourne,
Australia
Sunday, May 6, 2007
We landed in Melbourne at 5.30am on Friday 04th May. We are 9 hours in front of you guys so we managed to lose a day somewhere along the lines... all verrrry confusing this time traveling malarkey!!
We were going to take the train and/or bus to get to our hostel which Katie had very kindly sorted out but decided we were tired so we would splash out on a cab. Once at the hostel we had to sit on the sofa's in the hall and wait for someone to arrive and check us in as it wasn't 24 hour check in (how rude!). We sat there for 2 and a bit hours in the end.
Once checked into the hostel, we decided to get a couple of hours shut eye before venturing out to see the new world...
Fish & Chippery
.11 HOURS LATER!!!
We needed that sleep! haha!!
We put on our glad rags and went downstairs into 'The Beach' bar for a bite to eat and a glass of wine, then we jumped on the tram that conveniently stops right outside our hostel and headed into Melbourne town (Flinders Street Station). I can only explain Melbourne to be like London to be honest, high buildings and an assortment of shops. We had no idea where we were or where we were going but headed off in a direction that looked almost right! We walked for about 20 (verrrry long) minutes until we found or first bar called 'Links'. It was downstairs, all open plan and more like a wine bar than a pub. Very modern and clean.. no smoking though. Although saying that i am barely smoking now adays, 'well done me!'. We had a glass of wine and an offer of a massage there and then moved on to another bar. Another 20 minute long walk to find the next one which was called 'The Apartment'. Again, another trendy wine bar. Surprise surprise, a glass of wine later and we wander what felt like a million years for to find what seemed like a funky little club called 'Club Retro'. Turned out to be more like a crack den.
Federation Square
. although i dint know what one of those actually looks like!!! I've only seen them in the movies! haha! Rick Astley was blaring out as we got our first drinks! Then a bit of Wacko Jacko and a few more wine's and we relaxed a bit more. The last tram home was 1.30am so we left a bit earlier in hope of finding our way back to the tram station and grabbing a very much needed bite to eat. By the time we had found the tram station though it was 1.40am so we missed it. We got talking to three lads who were also late for the tram and decided to head over to a bar called 'Transport' for one last drink before having to pay for a cab home. Along the way we randomly chatted to people wandering the streets, mainly to find out where the pubs were as they are so sporadic. Once they found out we were English they started to call us POM's. Me being so very naive didn't know what a pom was.... back in the 1800's when Captain Cook discovered Australia, the English took over prisoners to help build on the land. Rumor has it that our prisoners raped the Australian women and therefore English are now called Prisoner's Of her Majesty. Needless to say the Australian's dint think too much of us and therefore we ended up being called 'slags' and 'slappers'. Nice. We went home feeling a bit deflated and unsure of our new found home which was a shame but soon got over it.
Federation Square2
Saturday 05th May 2007
We got up and decided to head back into Melbourne center to see the sights and find our way around. We stopped at the tourist information center first to pick a million leaflets then stopped at Subway to have a read and something to eat. Then we literally walked the whole way around Melbourne aimlessly as we had no idea where we were or where we were heading. Melbourne is great if you are looking for a fast food restaurant or a 7/11 shop as there is one every 3 shops but if you are looking for something specific you literally have to make a plan of action as the shops are so randomly placed. There isn't a stretch of shops or a line of bars etc, they are just so randomly placed. Anyway after about 4 hours we got bored and decided to head back to the hostel.
Once back at the hostel we sorted out our new Ozzy sim cards and sorted ourselves out and then headed down to the 'Fish & Chippery' next door for some good old fish and chips.. without the chips... and a sausage instead. Then disaster struck. NO CURRY SAUCE. Can you imagine the strop Ben?!?!?! hahaha! The dear old man in the shop warmed me some red Thai curry sauce though for me bless him. He also deep fried my saveloy as well though...
St Kilda Beach
. what's that about?! I took one bite and nearly threw up... eeeeww! I then discarded it and opened my red Thai curry excitedly to find out it was actually paste and not sauce. Therefore i ended up with chips instead!! haha! We went back to the room to munch on our chips and our room mate Shay (complete weirdo) came into the room screaming 'you guys are rank' hahahaha! Oooops! So we packed up our chips and headed to the verrrry exciting common room where everyone gets on well and sits around and talks... NOT. It's like you dint exist in this hostel... clean (well apart from the friendly mice they have roaming around) but not very friendly!! haha! After eating the chips we went and sat on the balcony to decide what to do with ourselves. We met two Irish guys on the balcony called Adrian and Barry who told us about a pub/live music bar called 'The Elephant & Wheelbarrow' in St Kilda (just round the corner from us) so we headed over there to check it out. This is home of the Neighbours cast, although i wouldn't know one if they walked past me!! The live band were really good so we danced and drank wine until the sun came up!! Then headed back to the hostel and devoured a whole jar of peanut butter on bread and on crumpets! mmmm! Watched a bit of Anchor Man, spent copious amounts of time on the phone to Ben and then headed back to my room to sleep.Sunday 06th May 2007
We slept in until 1pm then decided we didn't want to head back into Melbourne center, instead we would walk along the beach into St Kilda
Federation Square
. It took us about an hour but we stopped every so often as a bad choice of shoe was cutting into feet! haha! Once in St Kilda we stopped for something to eat.. my choice being a Ceaser Salad minus the anchovies!! Then looked around a few shops where i picked up a nice high waisted pencil skirt and then dropped by an internet cafe with computers dating back to the 1800's!!!Once back at the hostel we all laid on our beds and started trawling through all the millions of leaflets and tried to update our travel blogs... instead we fell asleep! We awoke at about 9.30pm and decided to stay in and watch some dvd's with the Irish lads and have a chilled out night... which turned out to be a late one. Ended up in bed about 4.30am! ooops!
Monday 07th May 2007
Headed into Melbourne center to get our passports stamped, sort out our tax file number and try and apply for a medicard. We managed to get our passports stamped after walking around the houses although we did walk up what seemed to be Oz's version of Rodeo drive! All the major designers have shops here, even Louis Bloody Vuiton Sarah! haha!! Found a very posh chocolate shop called Koko Black where Katie brought me a heart lolly as it had my initials on it!
Adrian & Katie
! Once we had our visa's stamped we decided to see on how much it would be to fly to Cairns. Melbourne is a lovely city (put your hands up! haha) but it's freezing and i want some sun! My plans have changed some what so i want do as much as i can as soon as i can so i can meet Ben in Singapore in November, where as the other girls have a year to do it all. I think Melbourne is the sort of place you want to come to once you have done some traveling and you want to get back to a bit of a routine like at home. Normal weather, 9-5 office job etc, which was the original plan. Now i am here though i dint want to stick to it. I really want to head up the east coast and do some tracking through the bush and swim with the dolphins. Katie is up for it but Stef doesnt want to do it yet, so looks like we are going to end up splitting. Stef has a few mates from Malia who are all up in Sydney at the moment so she's looking to go there. Looks like Katie and I will head to Cairns on Thursday 10th May and spend a few months backpacking down to Sydney via Brisbane.Update soon!
Keli xxxxxx
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Comments
Sooooooo Jelous!
Hey Baby.
Sounds like your having a great time. Looked @ ur pics too. Very good. Wish I was there with you rather than stuck in shitty britain!! Oh well, Ill cope!!
Glad you got ur flights booked after all the messing about. Please look after yourself and have a brilliant time
Hopefully speak to you soon.
Love you millions
x
You travellnig trio you!
Sounds like you have been trying to get around and see things. You will not need long in Cairns if you do go there.
There are some good live music bars there, where I was made very welcome. Large bar on the corner of a road I cant remember the name of. You can hear the music as you walk past. Again the bars are far apart.
Another good lively bar with a central island bar in the middle of the pub. Open fronted venue, lively music. Great lunch time food!! Must try - its just off the promanarde.
A very small man made beach......you need to see it to believe it.
From the Cairns port we had a trip to Green Island on a hover boat.......which was brilliant, I went on the glass bottom boat across the Great Barrier Reef. I panic under water but you can scuba dive if you want. Its amazing, the colours of the fish. I went in June, so should be as good now, if not better.
There is a very good zoo near by also, I got to bus to it and held a Koarla Bear, and baby croc.....really cute.
I know you've already done a zoo though. Lovely beach near by called Palm Cove.....very small place, just nice beach. Get there on the bus, which goes past the zoo too!
Any way, I must get on with some work. I look forward to hearing from you in Cairns, when you've tried the recommended bars!!
Take care, drink lots and be merry.
Sal xx