Last (Oz) stop, Melbourne!
Trip Start
Nov 11, 2007
1
17
26
Trip End
Feb 11, 2007
Melbourne,
Australia
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Hope you've all recovered after your new year celebrations and that the year has started well for you. Ok so to get you up to speed I'm not in Melbourne, or St.Kilda to be exact which is on the outskirts of the city and is the beach area! It's tres cool!
When I last posted it was new years day, I felt a little weird and we were off for a BBQ in Manly that night. Turns out my feeling weird was just because I was so dehydrated from the heat and being out all day on new years, even though I was drinking pop all day! I just drank lots of dilute and took some pain killers and I felt realtively normal by tuesday evening. We caught the ferry from Circular Quay over to Manly for the BBQ. The apartment was overlooking Manly beach which had been closed for 2 days because the surf was too rough. Something to do with the cyclone that was over the west coast. We had a really nice evening and a friend of Jen's dad also came with his wife and little girl. He lives in Oz now but was originally from Ipswich and even went to Nottingham Trent (well Poly) and so we chatted to him about what he remembered of nottingham. He even has an aussie accent now, sounds like he was born here! We left to go back on the ferry after some yummy food and crawled into bed around midnight exhausted once again.
On wednesday we had to get up and check out of our rooms for 9am, so I took all my stuff and dumped it out on the balcony to pack later lol! We had all day before the 8pm overnighter to Melbourne. I did nothing all day excpet go on the internet and then we went to the $5 a meal pub for our tea and met jenna and her sister christina there as she was planning on coming down for a few days and experiencing a bit of the travelling life. We headed down to the station for our 8pm bus and it was a right shambles! The driver didn't have a list of people who were supposed to be going on bus 1 or 2 and we didn't know which one we were on either. Thankfully a bloke from greyhound came and rescued the situation with the list from the office and we were on bus 1. We settled in for a long night, I managed to get myself a double seat - bonus - but I didn't sleep until after our truck stop at 3am where I had the stodgiest pie in the world! Managed to get a couple of hours sleep after that then when I woke up we were nearly there. Thank goodness cos those seats are not made for comfort.
We pulled into the station and found that there was soemone there to drive us to St.Kilda which meant we didn't need to get the tram with our bags! Yay! This guy was really cool and pointed out some places in melbourne that we might want to see. We got to our hostel and got checked in after a bit of a wait because it wasn't quite 10am. I had a much needed shower and then I called Pete! His hostel is just up the road from ours so he said he would see me outside in 2 minutes. I was sooo excited to see him, it's been ages! I went and waited outside and then he appeared walking down the street so I started walking up to meet him. Atr which point he started running with his arms out so I started running too (although I was screaming a little bit aswell)! He picked me up and swung me round then gave me a big hug and kiss lol! It's so lovely to see him again!!
I took Pete in to see the girls in our room and we had a big catch up session before he took us out and showed us around St.Kilda. We ended up on the pier, which is lovely and has great views and then onto this little boardwalk where we could step off onto this tiny little bit of sand and have a paddle. At night time there are these little penguins that come to this place and I plan on going to see them one night. It was a boiling hot day (just like today actually) so it was nice to cool down in the sea. We had a few photos and then wandered back to this little cafe where I had a gorgeous melon fruit salad. We went back to the hostel via coles and arranged to see Pete later for a meal and a night out.
After a lovely, and quite long, nap I called Pete and told him to meet us as the thai place we were going to at 7pm. We got down there and waited for the stragglers (jen, jolly and christina) to catch up and had some yummy thai curry. Possibly the nicest since I've been in thailand. We then caught a tram into town and went to a bar Pete knew called 'Cookie' which was lovely if a little expensive. It was a bit like Brown's in Nottingham inside but much bigger. After the expensive drinks we wanted some cheap ones, so we caught the tram back to St.Kilda and went to a place called Traffik, just a few doors down from our hostel. They did $2 champagne till 1am so we made the most of it lol! It was great to be able to have a drink and a dance with Pete again. And it was a Thursday! About time too!! The music was a bit dance-y but the campers was flowing so I didn't care hehe! Had a great night and ended up rolling home about 2ish.
Yesterday (Friday) we had a lie in and then Pete took us into Melbourne before he went to work. We walked round the main areas of the city, taking in the sites and trying to stick to the shade because it is ridiculously hot in melbourne at the moment. Think it's 30 odd degrees today. We went down some cute littl backstreets and I had a lovely chocolate milkshake in this tiny little cafe called 'the little cupcake'. Had a lovely time wandering around the shops and bought a few things to send home. Pete had to be at work for 5pm so he left us to make our own way home which we did on the tram. We had planned to have the hostel's BBQ for tea so we bought tickets for it when we got back and went up to the roof. It was the best hostel BBQ I've had out here because it wasn't just burgers and sausages, they had massive marinated chicken breasts and drumsticks too. Plus a big salad and onions! It was yummy. After that I had a shower and got ready for bed as I was shattered. The extreme heat totally wipes you out over here.
Today jen, jolly and christina have gone to the neighbours set so me and mel had a lie in then we're just pleasing ourselves. Planning on a night out again tonight with Pete but gonna do some cheap drinking first! Goon here I come! Then we're gonna go to a place called 'the espey hotel' in st.kilda as it's rock and indie night with live bands! Can't wait for some proper music!!
Anyway I'm gonna go cos my tan is in dange of fading if I stay inside for much longer hehehe! Lots of love everyone and hope it's not too cold at home! Just think of me sweating it out over here and I'm sure you'll feel better!! ;o)
Love and hugs, Smiffy xxxxxx
