Melbourne - Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne, Australia
Day 1 I arrived late afternoon. It was raining and it took me ages to find my hostel with all my bags so I was exhausted when I arrived. I checked into Greenhouse Hostel on Flinders Lane which was a really central location. The hostel was really clean and modern but when I checked into my room I found that I was the only non-Japanese person in the room! I went to the common room which is a huge open plan kitchen, lounge and tv area. The internet was free so I took advantage of the opportunity to catch up with emails etc. Then I got ready to go out and Patrick came round to my hostel to pre-drink. We went out to a bar called Naked for Satan on Brunswick Street which I really liked. After that we went to another bar whose name I can't remember, where there was a live band and had a really good night. We met up with a couple, Kate and (can't remember his name) who Patrick had met while travelling. Kate introduced Patrick to Yvette who was looking for a tenant, Patrick was looking for somewhere to live so it looks like they both might have got a result! Day 2 The next day I was feeling hungover, I met Patrick for lunch. Melbourne has lots of little cobbled alley ways with Mediterranean restaurants and they all open out onto the street with outdoor seating and heaters. It's a really nice bustling atmosphere. We found a nice place and had breakfast. Afterwards we went to St Patricks Cathedral and had a look around. They had a huge pipe organ and a number of organists we're practising for a concert that night so we listened to them for a while. Then we went to Federation Square which is full of bars, outdoor performers, art galleries and exhibition centres. After that we were both feeling tired from the night before. I went back to my hostel for a nap but accidentally slept for about 5 hours. When I woke up it was dark and I felt really disorientated. I went for a walk around the city, read my book for a few hours then went to bed as I had an early start the next day. Day 3 I was picked up at 7am outside St Patricks Cathedral for my Great Ocean Road day trip. When I got on the bus it was already full so I took a seat next to a girl called Carrie in the front seat, who was also from England. We got chatting straight away and I spent most of the day with her. The day trip took us to the 'great ocean road' arch where we stopped to take photos. Then we drove passing through coastal towns of Lorne, Apollo Bay and Port Campbell. We made a toilet stop where we also saw lots of wildlife including birds that people were feeding, koalas in the trees and kookaburra's. As we got closer we drove past Cape Otway Lighthouse which is the one that features in 'Round the Twist'. Then we made a stop at Otway Rainforest. We took a walk on the rainforest floor and looked and the huge trees and the wildlife. We had lunch and then carried on going to the 12 Apostles, driving along the shipwreck coast of the Loch Ard Gorge and Gibsons Steps before finally returning to Melbourne. It was a lot of driving and the weather wasn't great but I'm still glad I went and I enjoyed it. That night I met up again with Carrie and we went out to two really cool bars. Melbourne is really quirky. The first bar we went to was The Workers Club on Brunswick Street. Then we went to a place called The Croft Institute which is set up like a science laboratory. They serve the drinks in test tubes and syringes and use liquid nitrogen to make it bubble! Day 4 In the morning I got up and went on a walking tour. It was really good and gave me a good perspective of all the areas in the city. I used the afternoon to organise my travel itinerary for NZ. Then that evening I met Patrick for dinner. We found a cool place near my hostel, had some dinner and drinks and I had a good last night.