Melbournianism!

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G'Day folks! How's it going? Welcome to Melbourne!!

Melbourne was my last stop in Australia so I'll have to say G'Day for the last time... G'Day!

I only had 2 days here in the capital city of Melbourne but certainly made the most of it and saw as much as I could in my short time space.

After my previous night without sleep I think I managed to get a bit on the 12 hour overnight bus journey from Sydney. It's not easy though, and not the most comfortable place in the world to get some shut eye by a long shot. I think I tried out about 30 different positions during the night, struggling to get comfortable. Oh well, I must have got some as I eventually woke up to the sounds of the bus radio as we approached Melbourne at about 5.30 in the morning.

After forcing myself to retain some level of consciousness I hauled my bags off the bus and headed to the taxi rank. I was unsure where the hostel I had booked was located but assumed the taxi driver would know - he didn't. I gave him the phone number and he called the place. Off we went and after a few minutes we appeared to be lost, the taxi driver got out his A-Z and phoned the place again. We eventually found the street but the taxi driver didn't seem to know where he was going. Useless! After driving up and down a few time's he phoned again and eventually we found it to the amusement of the receptionist who saw him drive past 5 times. Probably the worst taxi driver in the world!

After a refreshing shower to wake myself up I put on my glad rags and headed out to explore. Melbourne is a very cosmopolitan city, has a great atmosphere and I found it very appealing. I headed into the city centre on foot, in search of a nice place to have breakfast. Taking the advise of the lovely receptionist I headed to some backstreets not far from the train station. Here there were a collection of little streets full of nice little cafes and bars. Walls decorated with graffiti art, small cafes with tables outside and outdoor heaters, and a wide selection of people out for breakfast on this sunny Sunday morning. I found a pretty cool cafe and sat down to enjoy a bacon and egg focaccia and freshly squeezed juice. Yum.

I then headed out on my mission to explore the place. Federation square is opposite the train station and used to be an old rail yard. It has now been transformed into an interesting and somewhat appealing area with abstract buildings of glass and steel surrounding a courtyard which is a lovely place to relax in the sun. The square was designed to create a new central focus point in Melbourne and join the city with the Yarra river. Housed at Federation square is the visitors centre, a gallery, cafes, and the centre for moving image. Melbourne is a very lively city and has a busy yearly event calender with sport, art, cinema, music and a whole load of other events. Basically, there's a whole load of stuff going on. If you are interested in music, film, sport, food, comedy, or any other activity you will probably find that it's going on in Melbourne!

After some time in the visitors centre and relaxing in the square I headed across the Princess Bridge to the Queen Victoria and Royal Botanic Gardens. Again, a wonderfully landscaped place complete with lakes, statues, a music bowl, and a government cottage. Still pretty tired out, I ended up spending a while here lying on the grass in the sun. A lovely day for it as well!

It was then time to walk back via some rather interesting and attractive buildings including the Victorian Arts centre, and the Theatres building and its Eiffel tower inspired spire. I was then back by the river on the Southbank where there was a market in full flow. A walk along the Southbank took me past some nice bars, shops, street performers, and perfect area's to stop and have a smoothy!

In Australia they take their smoothies pretty seriously. Smoothy shops are on nearly every street in towns and cities and there's a wonderful selection to choose from. In the place I went you order your smoothy and can then have all these extra additives and supplements put in it: Protein, Vitamins, Energisers. I went for an energiser smoothy with extra energiser additives. It tasted lovely as well.

With my body batteries recharged it was time for me to visit St Kilda, one of Melbourne's most lively area's. St. Kilda is also a very cosmopolitan place, has a location right by the sea and in the hay day's was a seaside resort for those wanting to escape the city. These day's it has a collection of trendy bars, restaurants and clubs and is also popular with backpackers. I jumped on a tram and 10 minutes later I was there. The place was pretty busy with people on this Sunday afternoon. At my starting point, Fitzroy street there are a large collection of shops, restaurants and some nice looking bars. I then headed along the esplanade soaking up the atmosphere and colours of the arts and crafts market, before arriving at Acland street famous for one thing and one thing only - Cakes! There are some superb cake shops with the biggest selection of cakes and treats I've ever seen. If you like cakes you will love Acland street!

There's also a big amusement park here called Luna Park, it reminded me a lot of Blackpool, not that I've ever been. There was a pretty mad, crazy, foolish, happy, colourful, loony, ghost train style atmosphere there anyway. The beach here is nothing special but still pretty cool - There was a chilly wind so I didn't really fancy a swim, but the kite surfers definitely appeared to be enjoying themselves. After chilling on the grass, checking out the kite surfers in action and some browsing of the local shops I headed back to get my free meal at the backpackers. A beef curry that was more like beef stew. Oh well, it was free.

The next day was Melbourne Cup Eve! What's the Melbourne Cup I hear you cry?? It's the biggest horse race in Australia! Not that I like horse racing, but it's an excuse to celebrate so I'll definitely be going along with this one! As Melbourne Cup day is a bank holiday there are lots of event's and stuff on Melbourne Cup Eve... even though it's a Monday night! Good news for me! Three days after they played in Sydney, Sasha and Digweed are here in Melbourne to play on this special eve. When I found this out I couldn't really pass on getting a ticket could I? Especially when I'm here in Melbourne anyway. Actually I tell a lie! I was supposed to be flying out to New Zealand today but managed to change my flight for a day later. Perfectemondo!

Whilst on the subject of clubbing I have to tell you something else... When I was in Byron I met this girl from Melbourne and she told me about this legendary dance that all the Melbourne club kids do.. It's called 'The Melbourne Shuffle'. I asked a few other Australians about it and they all knew what I was on about. Apparently it is easy to spot a Melbourne shuffler and when one sees another anywhere around the world they instantly know they are from Melbourne. I'm not quite sure what the Melbourne shuffle involves but I've been looking forward to seeing it ever since I found out about it! But here's the funny bit... Apparently some of the kids even take talcan powder with them into clubs and poor it on the floor where they are going to dance! It enables them to move their feet quicker I think. Amazing! Pretty funny!

But anyway, as you can imagine I woke up on this day a very happy boy, extremely excited. It was time to explore this city some more and get myself ready for the nights party. Get in!
Time to use my navigational skills and find my way to Fitzroy and more importantly, Brunswick street. Brunswick street is a pretty cool and crazy street. It's got loads of cool cafes, bar's, some weird and wonderful shops including some pretty mint clothes shops, and a mixture of artistic, alternative, crazy, musical, trendy, twisted, and abnormal people. It's a lively, colourful and interesting street, with lots to look at. Graffiti art, crazy seats, loads of tempting places to eat, vibrant colours, strange designs, wonderfull back alleys, mosaics, stand out advertisements, music culture, backwards clothes, mad buildings, and a pretty laid back atmosphere. I liked Fitzroy street and a spent a good few hours here, using my eyes to enjoy this visual extravaganza, and my mouth to munch on some pretty fine pizza and other edible liquid and solid delights. Oh yeah, and not to mention my ears to absorb the mix of music, chatter, pollution, traffic and the general mix of random sound waves heading in my direction. Perfect!

It was then time to visit a few shops for some random Australian gifts before heading to the Rialto towers, Melbourne's second tallest buildings. It was the tallest until some building named "Eureka" grew taller than it. Gutted! Oh well, after riding the ear popping lift up to the level 55 viewing deck, there were some pretty cool 360 degree panoramic views, giving a birds eye view of the whole city and out 60km into the distance. Lovely!

I then decided to go back and prepare as Melbourne Cup Eve was reaching that time of night when the club kids go out to play and the hermits go to their hideaway's. I headed back to base via a takeaway, and gobbled down some free Taco's at the backpacker place I was staying at. If there's free food going, I'll eat it. After a shower and after putting on my outfit it was time.... time for Trumpton!

The Queensbridge hotel is situated on the Southbank, (the other side of the river). With my golden ticket in my hand I headed through the city as it was starting to liven up, and made my way across the footbridge as the lights of the riverside buildings reflected in the water. Down the Southbank I walked in search of the golden gates, or even better - the Queensbridge hotel. I had a good feeling about this night. There was a buzzing atmosphere in the air - I could feel it!

Now, I had been wondering why there was a club night being held at a hotel and as I arrived at this 'hotel' I saw the lines of clubbers queueing up waiting for the men in black to open the doors. On the walls there were posters... "This event is completely sold out". I took my place in line and when the clock struck ten, it began. The doors opened and I entered. Inside was a pretty big club, a massive dance floor, a stage/podium type area with 3 big screens displaying hypnotic visualisations, some cool lighting, and some nice bars and seating area's. Downstairs was another large warehouse style room, and up the winding staircase was a chill out area playing ambient sounds. I can only assume that this was once a hotel and was transformed into a club or perhaps they just decided to call a club a hotel. I don't know. It was nothing like a hotel, everything like a super club!

Again, I began the usual procedures, wondered around, and of course looked for some Melbourne shufflers. It didn't take me long to spot these crazy kids and their eccentric foot movements. I can't quite describe these special moves in words... you have to see it for yourself really! I didn't spot any talcan powder here though but I asked some people and they confirmed it was true! It took a while for the place to fill up but at around 11.00pm all of a sudden it was absolutely rammed. At 12.00 Digweed poked his head around the corner to be greeted by a massive roar from the crowd. The atmosphere was electric. The people I met here were by far the nicest I've met in Australia. All them were really sound people, loved their music, and were honoured to have these guys playing in their country. I met loads of cool people here including someone named Peter. He was pretty cool. There seems to be a really good dance music scene here in Melbourne, I saw loads of posters advertising other good nights, and after talking to the kids about music, I liked the place and the people immediately. I felt really at home on this packed dance floor.

Now, Sasha and Digweed were pretty amazing in Sydney but this night was something else! I had heard on the grape vine that they play better in Melbourne and they sure did produce a special set! The crowd were brilliant, loving every minute of it, lively, happy, loving the tunage and the brilliance of these two DJ's. All of the people I met here were Melbournian's or from somewhere in Australia and were all avid music and in particular Sasha and Digweed fans!

In Sydney Sasha seemed to dominate slightly over Digweed, but here Digweed was equally brilliant. Deep, building, hypnotic, melodic, futuristic, bassy, happy, hypnotic, uplifting, dark, electronic, bright, scary, emotional, wonderful, quality, beautiful music! The club was perfect for me - amazing lighting and multicoloured lazers, massive screens with crazy and weird visualisations and a DJ booth that was visible to the crowd so that you could see these two masters at work. Amazing music, amazing visuals, amazing people, amazing set. Perfect! One of the best sets I've heard! Loved it! Thank you!

After this amazing 6 and a half hour set I left the club as the morning was waking. The sun was reflecting off the buildings and made for a enjoyable walk back at the end of this special night. As with Sydney I had to check out of the backpackers at 10.00am so didn't really have a chance to sleep. Instead I put my bags in storage, laid on a big black sofa drinking cider and watched the race goers in their crazy outfits leaving for the Melbourne Cup. Mentalists!

And then in the afternoon it was time to get my flight to another country... New Zealand. I didn't have long in Melbourne but I certainly enjoyed myself and loved the city! if I had to choose a city in Australia to live in, I think it would be Melbourne. Maybe I'll be back to explore some more one day!

And that's it from Australia.

Goodbye from me... PeterPopper

Over and Out for now

See you in New Zealand!

Laterz :-)

P.S - 3 pages of photo's on this blog!

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Photos

Melbourne back street
Found some cool cafe's around these parts - honest.

Comments

[Erica]

Great reading!
I really enjoyed reading your Melbourne Blog. I am a Brit that lives in this city, and its good to hear another persons perspective