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Melbourne.....The Big debate
Okay I know I got a bit behind on the blog front so I aim to catch up as I have been working in Sydney for 5 months now and could well be continuing the travels any time soon and if not, well lets be honest the job I'm doing, I've done lots and got lots to tell you about lol...
Back to December...
Several of us had decided to head down to Melbourne to suss out whether we preferred Sydney or Melbourne, an age old debate that mirrors the whole Marmite/Vegimite love it or hate it argument. You either prefer one or the other. Apparently.
Paul from my OzIntro group and I decided the nicest way to travel and have the freedom to do our own thing was to hire cars. There was enough of us to get 2 cars so, that's exactly what we did. As a bonus when we got to the airport to collect the cars the next morning, they had run out of the models we had booked, so both of us got a free upgrade. I was pushed from a 2 Litre Toyota Corolla to a snazzy Ford falcon
XR6, 4 Litre V6 monster of a car. A fuel guzzler but heyho I had 3 other people to split the fuel with and I was the only one old enough to drive it. Bummer!!
The 1000km ++ journey took a good 11-12 hours with the odd stop off here and there. It was a stunning drive through remote parts of countryside and we made good progress before dark. We hadn't booked into any hostels, not knowing just what time we would finally arrive. Once it got dark, the only challenge was the physical battle to keep the eyes open. Believe me, a hard battle. After a bit of debate on location and finding the majority of the big hostels were fully booked, we came across the Nunnery in the heart of Melbourne. It was a race to the finish as the receptionist had agreed to stay an hour late for our arrival, estimated at 1a.m. Five past one we were driving around in circles but soon came across our bed for the night, an old convent. Spooky.
The next morning we set off to the beach resort part of Melbourne called St Kilda where, we had booked
a dorm in the Base Backpackers Hostel. One friend Paul had gone of to stay with friends leaving Chris and I to share a dorm and the 4 girls in another room. The hostel was what they call a flashpacker hostel, having air con, key operated lifts and every amenity possible. I knew from the very moment I entered the room and saw I was on a top bunk, this was going to be an interesting night especially as we were going out for Chris's birthday!!
We had a good walk around St Kilda which had the air and vibe of a 70's throwback holiday resort, the rickety old theme park, the continental style street cafes and the small beach complete with hundreds of beach huts in an array of reds, blues and yellows. I took a nice long walk along the promenade being refurbished with brand new decking to begin the process of dragging St Kilda into the modern day. I was most suprised to see electric street lights, I honestly thought they would be either candles or paraffin lamps!!
That night we went out for Chris's birthday, starting in the bar below the hostel where we
stayed for a stupid length of time and to be fair, shouldn't have left either. In our infinite wisdom we decided to go and sample other Melbourne bars with people in various states of innebriation. Somehow one of the girls managed to drop her phone into a public bin which was basically a wheelie bin locked in a steel casing. The next hour was a mixture of absolute hilarity watching 8 adults attempt to locate this damn phone in the bin and sheer annoyance at 8 people trying to simultaneously tell each other the best way of doing it and trying to do it themselves at the same time. Needless to say that after an hour, we had moved from hysterics to being somewhat annoyed until one genius had the idea of reaching into the side of the bin and unlocking the bolt and simply wheeling out the wheelie bin. I say no more...
On the second night in St Kilda, we met up with an Aussie friend of one of the girls in my group. She took us to a Carols in the Park concert where we laid in the warm evening sun listening to Christmas Carols, eating
crisps and watching some brilliant fireworks. It all just felt so strange seeing people walking round in Santa hats singing Christmas Carols, dressed in shorts and t-shirts. Surreal. My first reality check that I was actually going to be spending christmas in Australia. Bonza...
The second part of our week we had decided to book into the City to really experience Melbourne. Our first taste of a YHA hostel and very similar to Base, only somehow a million miles from anywhere. Melbourne is, or at least seems a lot more spread out than Sydney. It is a very aesthetically pleasing city, with very few high rise buildings, a beautiful river and a lot more history and culture than Sydney (dare I spark up the debate). There is a great free tram service that runs the entire loop of the city so you can hop on and off and catch all the sights that Melbourne has to offer including the prison that housed the famous bandit Ned Kelly who was hung from the gallows within the grounds, the museums, the stadium, the harbour and so on.
We actually spent the majority of our time on this occassion going back
down on the trams to St Kilda. It felt more homely with the live bands scattered across various pubs and the atmosphere of all the street cafes and 70's style theme park. We went to Brighton (see the picture with the beach huts!!) to visit the girl who had taken us out to the fireworks and had some fish and chips on the beach, even though it was stupidly windy and there were several million flies who had decided to try and join us for dinner. Not nice...
For a couple of days I felt really under the weather and to be honest it was probably to be expected from trying to keep up with all the guys in their early twenties. I'm not such a young man any more LOL. Everyone had gone out and left me to sleep in our dorm which was utter bliss after sharing rooms for the past few weeks. I decided to venture out in the afternoon and take the tram around the city. I felt totally free just wandering round the city wherever the wind took me, just as I had done in Asia. I went up to the Skydeck to witness
first hand the truly amazing views across Melbourne. From the tower you could see right over to the beach resort of St Kilda and the Grand Prix track, Albert Park. That was when I made the promise I would be back for the race, the first 2008 Grand Prix in March. I stood in a cube of glass that hangs off the side of the skytower giving you even more fantastic glimpses of the, I have to say, pretty city.
The next excitement was of course the OFFICIAL 'Neighbours' Tour. I don't know why at 30 years old, that was a highlight but nevertheless it was!! Admittedly when the hospitality bus arrived with NEIGHBOURS TOUR emblazened on the side and the theme tune blaring out from a dvd player mounted precariously above the drivers head, I did feel a little bit tacky. Okay a LOT tacky but I was about to go to the Neighbours set. Ramsay Street. I grew up with that rubbish, it was like my mecca, I HAD to do it...
The bus took us to Erinsborough High School and on past the recording studios where Lassiters Complex is situated. We pulled in there and
were greeted by Susan Kennedy (her real name escapes me) which brought it all home to where I actually was. In Australia, the other side of the world, on THE Neighbours Set. Get in. The next part of the tour was up to Pin Oak Lane which is the real name of Ramsay Street. After waiting half an hour (a halfa in Australian) for filming to finish and the road to be cleared of all the characters cars, we were allowed up the street (with a rather naff Ramsay St road sign to carry!!). The road was so, so much smaller than I had ever envisaged and it was really spooky seeing the houses of characters such as Harold Bishop and Toadfish!! It was actually a really good trip and well worth the 50 bucks...
The last part of the trip was to drive out of Melbourne and the few hundred Km's out and across the Great Ocean Road. Once out on the coast road we were greeted with some breathtaking scenery and views. The winding roads lead down to various beauty spots, secluded beaches and landmarks. Along this road are beaches where you do not even see another
person, just untrodden sand and beautiful blue ocean. The roads were often long and sweeping, with the cliff edges just a few feet away from you, giving panoramic views straight up the coast and into obscurity.
We stopped at several places en route, to walk around and get out of the car. I was the only one to walk across to a lighthouse and climb up into the very top section to get even greater views. The warning sign upon entry to the land around the lighthouse was a little disturbing simply reading 'Warning - Snakes are active here at this time of year'. Nice. My favourite reptiles...
The last stop before heading back was the 12 apostles. There are only 5 or 6 left due to years of erosion but they still looked spectacular, these jagged, karsk islands protruding from the depths of the sea. Looking back I would so have loved to have done the helicopter flight along the coast line but I guess I have to save some sights for another year!!
Having driven several thousand Km, Paul and I were quite pleased that we had not so much as seen a police car.
Yep you got it, should have kept my mouth shut. The next town saw a roadblock set up with standard breath tests. No problem, we hadn't had even a sniff of hard liqour. We passed through safely and saw a group of people from our group that had left Sydney just before us and randomly ended up in the same hick town as us. We passed them, waved, performed a U turn across a massive open road with not other cars in sight and pulled up next to our friends. I must admit I couldn't help but notice the police car drive past us and the officers glaring in our general direction. There was about 12 -14 of us at this stage and probably did look a lttle strange. The Police car turned round and drove past again, also performed a U turn as we had done and then put it's flashing lights on and pulled up in front of me.
"You're parked" was my greeting.
"Yes" my equally informative reply.
"You are parked illegally" he responded.
" I am in a space though" my confused reply.
Wait for it...
"You are parked facing the wrong direction"
he barked. WHAT!! The wrong direction. There was no other car in a space for miles and indeed no other car on the roads. It was a veritable ghost town.
"I'm Sorry" I retorted "wrong way round?"
"You wouldn't do that in America would you son" he said.
Obviously I couldn't wait to corrrect the dope that I was English and we could indeed get away with just that. He didn't like that. Anyway after threatening us with an outrageously large fine, we were let on our way. Lesson learned!!! Wrong bloody way! Fricking Aussies...
We drove from there back towards Sydnay and decided in our infinite wisdom to stop off and visit the capital of Australia. Canberra. One word of advice if you are ever in Oz - Don't!! It's tourism leaflets aiming to attract visitors, boasts thing like 'Government House' and 'A war memorial". I am suprised it doesn't list trees and the Post Office as feature attractions too. We stayed the night and were up, fed, watered and gone by 10am. Rubbish. They built Canberra after not being able to decide whether to have Sydney or Melbourne as the Capital. Genius!
The drive
back in the dark was unbearable and had us both stopping at regular intervals to fill up on junk food and sugar to keep us awake as weel as filling up the beast of a car I was driving. When the fuel gauge reads 30km left of fuel and the next sign says 'nearest petrol station 100Km' it is amazing how economical you can drive. Yes even me Dad.
Finally back in Sydney we all felt like we were home, strange feelings for somewhere we had only been for a week but there you go. We all met up with other people who were still around from our group and caught up with their tales from the last week or so. The agenda was all the same - our plans for Christmas. Christmas in Australia.....
I had a good long walk around the harbour and soaked up the vibe in the air of the festivities that were to follow. Although I have done a small New Years Eve Blog, I will write next about Xmas over here briefly and move on the the 5 months I have spent in an amazing city, living and working but definitely living.
Living the Dream....
Thanks for reading x
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Tracie T
non-member comment
Ah, Memories!
Loved your melbourne blog Gaz! It feels like such a long, long time ago since we were all there together! Cant wait to read your xmas and NY ones! So jealous you are still out there living the dream, Take care babes xxx