Melbourne
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2005
1
41
65
Trip End
May 11, 2006
Melbourne,
Australia
Thursday, February 2, 2006
I arrived here on Thursday, a week ago today. Upon checking in to my hostel I heard something about a bar crawl and there not being enough people on it due to the lack of Brits in the hostel. Not wanting to let the side down I made myself known. I dropped my bag off in my room and headed straight out with some others from the hostel
01-Pedestrians crossing Flinders Street
. I made friends with another English guy, a Swiss guy, and the Aussie girl who was organising the bar crawl. After the bar crawl the four of us and another girl left the big crowd from the hostel and went on to a club for the rest of the night.Friday was a write off but I still managed to get out and wonder around the city for a bit and find a record shop that was selling tickets for the Big Day Out festival. Saturday I walked through the botanical gardens on the edge of the Yarra, the river that runs through Melbourne. I placed a sign on the notice board in the hostel asking if anyone wanted to meet up to go to the Big Day Out festival on Sunday, when I returned to the hostel I found that someone had replied, Mike from room 33.
I met Mike in reception on Sunday morning a few hours after breakfast. We walked down to the nearest tram stop but it soon became apparent that there was no way we were going to get onto any of the trams that were going to the festival. We ended up walking all the way there and when we arrived were confronted by a large queue that stretched for quite a way along the outside fence. Mike had a back stage pass and didn't want to queue to get in so left me to battle the crowds. Cheers mate. The queue moved quickly and before I knew it I was inside the gate and legging it across the festival site in time to see The Subways open the Converse stage
02-Graffiti building
. I remember The Subways from a couple of years ago when they'd just won the battle of the bands competition and played at Glastonbury to a sparse crowd standing in the pouring rain. They've come a long way since then. The tent they were playing in was packed and the crowd were up for it. I pushed my way to the front. It reached fever pitch when Billy Lunn, the lead singer, kicked over the mike stand, threw his guitar in the air, and dived off the stage into the crowd. I came out the tent dripping with sweat and totally satisfied, in a musical sense of the word.I had agreed to meet Mike before a band called Wolf Mother were due to play on one of the main stages. I was hoping that I could prove that mobile phones are not a requirement of modern day life by meeting him without any hitches, sadly this was not to be the case. There were a lot of other people where we had decided to meet and I didn't see Mike again for the whole day. I did, however, make friends with some Aussies in the bar and hung out with them for the rest of the afternoon. In the evening I went to see 2 Many DJ's in the Boiler Room, aka the Dance Tent, who were on top form as always. Me and 5000 others didn't stop dancing for the whole set. So at the end of a very hot day the scores were 2 Many DJ's, ten, people who think they're cool and wear big aviator sunglasses, nil, and Mike, knob.
03-Buildings at night in the mist
Before meeting my old school friend, Andy, I went to the Victorian Art Gallery and spent a good while taking in the colourful pictures, photos, and sculptures in the collection of 60's art from the Tate. It's well worth a look when it returns to London. Andy and I had a good chat over a few pints before he had to head home. He's invited me round to his place for dinner tonight.
As of a few hours ago I'm am now the owner of a ticket for the cricket, a one day international between Australia and South Africa at the Telstra Stadium tomorrow. I'm going with Al, the English guy I met on the pub crawl on the first day. Sadly it's not at the MCG as this is currently being converted for the Commonwealth games but we got to see the stadium on a tour we did this afternoon.
When we lived here when I was younger Mum used to take us up to Lygon Street in Carlton, just to the north of the Central Business District, to drink possibly the best milkshakes that exist. The area was settled by Italians in the early 1900's and as a result there's lots of Italian cafes and restaurants. I remember one particular one we used to go to and I walked up and down the street searching for it. I think I found it but naturally it's changed a lot over the years. I drank a chocolate milkshake and they're still as good as ever.
Melbourne is a great place. I think I've been out more times in the one week I've been here than I did in the whole of New Zealand. Some of the bars have a great offer on a Saturday night and the guy who thought of it should be awarded a Nobel Prize or something
04-More buildings at night in the mist
. Free beer. No catches, absolutely, totally free. As long as you are a backpacker you get in for free and get to drink free beer from 9pm to 11pm. Someone obviously worked out that backpackers don't have much money and by offering them free beer they can fill up their club really easily thus attracting more paying patrons. Genius!I've stayed here far too long meaning the rest of my trip up the east coast is going to be very rushed. I've not been able to do everything and sadly missed the Kubrick exhibition and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. I leave for Sydney on Saturday, but not before I get to play a bit of football against another hostel. It got cancelled last week due to rain. P(A)ussies!!
