The one with the normality
Trip Start
Sep 10, 2008
1
33
71
Trip End
Sep 03, 2009
Melbourne,
Victoria,
Australia
Thursday, January 15, 2009
The bars had an undeniable air of cool. First we headed into one that resembled a sort of boudoir with plush red curtains and sofas mixed with a grungy atmosphere. We were promised that the toilets here were something else. Unfortunately, the ladies were nothing other than toilets, apparently the mens incorporated some sort of impressive design with the urinals. We were most disappointed. Toilets aside, we were led into bar after bar, each with their own distinct atmosphere, each in even more obscure locations. Apparently its a bit of a competition between Melbornites as to who can find the coolest/obscurest/newest bar, and something that seems to be taken fairly seriously.
The next day, Anna's fiance David went to watch the cricket, so me and Anna had a girly day out. Only problem was, we didn't actually know what we should do. The museum turned out to be a dud, because you actually had to pay for it, the cheek! And so we sat on a free tram that circles the city, and didn't see anything because we were too busy chatting! We strolled around and sat in the beautiful botanical gardens for a while, admiring the black swans and stuffing our faces with ice cream.
Melbourne 1
After a lovely evening meal we headed to the cinema. This may not seem exciting to you, but to us who have been traveling for a while, this was the best day ever because it was so normal!I'm not proud of this, (well OK, maybe I am a bit), but the day after I headed off down to Ramsay Street on "The Official Neighbours Tour". Joining a bus load of other English people, all either backpackers or far too elderly to be cracking jokes about how much the old man fancied Izzy, we were first greeted by the actor who played Max. Apparently he left about 2 years ago, so I'm not really sure why he still did the tours (other than money!), but the main thing I ascertained from him was that he liked talking about himself a hell of a lot! After a photo call, we headed down to the main studios where the show is filmed. We weren't able to go inside, but we did see all the famous exteriors, including Lassiters hotel, the allotments and the park/pond. I was most disappointed to find out that Lou's pub and Harold's cafe had burned down.
We then piled back on the bus and headed down to Ramsay Street. Apparently the people who live there are paid rather handsomely for the privilege, get their gardening done for free and have a 24-hour security guard on site. Not bad eh?! The street itself is actually tiny, so much smaller than it looks on camera, and nearly all the driveways slant steeply down to the garages, which you also don't see on film.
And that was pretty much the extent of my Melbourne experience. We all got chucked out on Sunday as the tennis started the next day and everywhere was fully booked and double the price. It would have been great to see the Australian open, but Cairns was calling. The crowds were starting to form as we left and all sorts of street performers were drawing in the crowds in Federation Square.
