Melbourne - Australia's Cultural Centre

Hey Blog Fans!

I'm sure you'll all be very pleased to know me and Claire arrived safely in Melbourne on Friday, without having been to Torquay, as our driver was nearly two hours late. So by the time we got to Torquay all the outlets had shut. After grabbing a room at our hostel we met up with Jenny and Becky (who've been in Melbourne since Tuesday and have managed to bag jobs AND a flat already!). It feels really weird to be back in a big city again. I suppose Adelaide was the last city really, but it didn't feel that daunting. Melbourne feels just as daunting as Brisbane did. I think it's cos I'm somewhat vertically challenged, but big cities tend to make me feel uneasy. It doesn't seem to bother anyone else! Also, Melbourne is weird for drivers. Because of the tram system, you have to get in the lane furthest to the left at some intersections if you want to turn right. I still can't figure that out.

Anyway, we headed to Chinatown to get some food, and settled for a Taiwanese Cafe as it was only about $10 a meal. I had black-bean beef noodles with salty egg roll pancakes on the side. It was interesting, but not as interesting as Becky's pork ball soup, which looked like grey spam balls floating in green water! After bloating ourselves on the unusual cuisine we headed to a bar near Becky and Jenny's hostel, where some dodgy local made a big deal of coming to sit next to us, to which we moved quickly to the free pool table! We had a game of doubles, then a guy from a nearby table challenged me and Becky to play him and his mate at doubles. That was a very tedious and strung-out game. A drunken Japanese guy at a nearby table had a bet going with his mate that we would lose, and everytime the guys potted one he would do this hilarious victory dance. We actually won cos one of the guys potted the white as he potted the black. Hee hee. Then the drunken Japanese guy wanted me and Becky to play doubles with him, which they won. Soon after that a big argument broke out as to who's table it was next - another couple of Japanese guys, the drunken ones, and a pair of Indian guys who'd been eyeing us to hurry up. As soon as it started to look ugly we ran off! Silly men.

I had a broken sleep last night cos someone had left a light on in our room and I can only sleep when it's really dark. Got up about 10:30 and set out to explore the city. First we went to the Rialto Towers Observation Deck, where you can pay $11 to go up the lift 55 floors and be rewarded with a 360 degree view of Melbourne. Got some good photos (I think) but I was a bit pre-occupied with the busted zip on my rucksack to enjoy it to it's fullest. Next we went into town to do some shopping (with the intention of coming away with some warm clothes but we did nothing of the sort!). I bought a new rucksack as the zip on my little blue one has been broken for days - it won't zip up - and reluctantly threw my old one in the bin. I hate throwing stuff out! My new one is a baby pink Puma one. We also bought a Jack Johnson album each from HMV (different ones so we can swap!) cos they were on sale. Jack Johnson is a Hawaiian artist who plays easy listening music which is pretty good, and I don't think you can get his music in England.

After a Subway dinner we made our way to the Fitzroy Gardens on the free tram to see Cook's Cottage. This is a small house that belonged to Captain James Cook's mother and father and was first built in the small Yorkshire village of Great Ayton in 1755. It was bought by a Melbourne man, Sir Russell Grimwade, in 1933, dismantled brick by brick and moved to Melbourne for it's reassemblement ceremony in 1934. We also found a Model Tudor Village in the gardens, which was a present from the people of Lambeth, England, to thank Victoria for the food they shipped to England during food shortages in WW2.

To be honest, that's pretty much everything we've done all day! We've pretty much scrapped the idea of travelling down to the Mornington Peninsula (or at least I have) as there's far too much to see in Melbourne alone and we've only got four days. We're a bit gutted as well as the pre-season matches of Aussie Rules Football have finished and the new season doesn't start until Saturday. So the only way we can see a match now is if we catch one in Sydney. Also, we rang Gelantipy today, our stop in the Snowy Mountains, and it doesn't look like we'll be able to do white water rafting as we need a group of 8. Our only hope was to get in with a school group but they only come on Tuesdays. It seems that we're out by a couple of days for everything! So feeling a bit disillusioned at present really.

Plans for the rest of our time in Melbourne are to go to St Kilda tomorrow, Melbourne's beach suburb which is supposed to be really nice and where there's a craft market on tomorrow night, and on to Phillip Island on Monday where we'll be seeing penguins and supposedly have the chance to cuddle a wombat! Then on Tuesday we'll either go to the Mornington Peninsula or, most likely, do the parts of Melbourne that we've not managed to fit in today - the Queen Victoria Market, Old Melbourne Gaol and the War Memorial (from which you're supposed to get a good view of the city).

So yeah, feeling a bit gutted today about various things - my bag breaking, not being able to see a footy game and possibility of not rafting (cos I was really looking forward to that). So I guess I'm hoping a day out to St Kilda tomorrow will cheer me up. So far though, I like Melbourne a lot, but if I'm honest I don't think it's really much better than Sydney. I guess I'll have to wait and see until I've seen a bit more of it.

That's all for now, I'll post again when I've a bit more to report. Take care!

PS. Afternote - After posting this me and Claire went to find a supermarket, but on the way noticed hordes of people gravitating towards the Telstra Dome. Upon enquiry we found out that there was a Christian Rock Outreach Concert on, so we ventured in with curiosity. There was one guy playing who was a legend - he played guitar at the speed of lightning! Anyway we stayed for an hour then went to buy some tea. That's the most exciting thing that's happened to us in the past few days! Dear me.