Arriving in Melbourne

Wel gday folks! Weve finally arrived in Kangaroo land and loving every second!

The day of our flight from Singapore was absolutely awful though! Got to the airport a few hours early to check in and relax with some shopping. After a couple of hours we were promptly told that our tickets were not valid as some of the writing on them had dissapeared! Can you believe it. Each ticket had an individual barcode but apparently this wasnt good enough even though we had phoned up before and had been told that it would be ok. An absolutely miserable bloke representing Emirates was really rude and unhelpfull and started to really piss us off as we got more and more annoyed with him. He told us that we would have to go back to Singapore city to the Emirates offices and pick up new tickets there... now this was going to take some time and we didnt have much left!

Rushed back onto the metro to head for the city and 40 annoying minutes later we arrived at the offices only to be told that the emirates tickets werent even paper anymore and that they used e-cards instead... huh? The woman there checked our passports and sent us back to the airport.. absolutely fuming!

Finally got back to the airport with about half an hour left to face this bloke and we went for him! In fact i had to stop Frances jumping the counter and ripping his head off! We had been sent away and stressed out for no reason at all just because he wouldnt look at the email ticket i had been sent previously. The office faxed back to the airport copies of our passport., which he had in front of him! And copies of our flight itinery which i tried to give him! Aghhhh...

Anyways ... finally got through to departures and ran around picking up some mags before jumping on our flight...

Singapore airport by the way is top notch and definitely on par with Dubai for the best airport we have bene to.!

The flight over to Australia went really smoothly but the service on this occasion from Emirates was terrible. (again)

We asked for tea and coffee so often but knowone came back with anything for 5 hours! We asked a stewardess to get us some water and were told could we get it ourselves as she wouldnt remember! I mean come on!!!!

So all in all we had a really crappy experience with Emirates on this occasion but ever other flight weve had with them has been superb so weve let it go!

Chatted to a Melbourne ozzie about how much we will love it in Melbourne and how much we will hate Sydney... the rivalry is riddiculous! And arrived into Melbourne 8 hours later at 1:30am in the morning.

Grabbed the shuttle bus to the city centre and then a taxi to the youth hostel in the north of the city. This YHA looked really nice, and couldnt wait to explore... although we were absolutely shattered. Finally got to bed about half 4 in the morning and passed out!

Weve got a kitchen! Superb. We can at last to some home cooking and promptly hit the supermarket to get some gear... After then we have been busy exploring the city.

Melbourne is a small place and reminds me very much of Manchester because of its arty farty quality. The best thing is though that the weather is much better here but not too hot. The day we arrived, universities were just starting back so these guys are heading into their Autumn when back home you guys will be heading into spring.

The time difference has certainly hit us. Although we are only 4 hours on from Singapore time the jet lag has got a grip on us and took a good few days to let go! It feels rather strange, especially when ringing home that you guys are going to bed when we are getting up!

Have met a great British couple, Dave and Kate at our hostel who we have bene out for drinks with. One night an Auzzie guy and his g/f came over for drinks and we were soon laying into each other... bloody poms.... bloomin crims type banter. This happens all the time! Anyways a good time was had by all and we hit a nightclub later on that evening..

Melbourne is a really easy city to get around in. We bought a week long pass to use the tram from the YHA and they come ever few mins, arriving in the city within 15 mins! The city Center has loads of shopping malls and the place is especially busy given that the commonwealth games are just around the corner!

The games are going to be fantastic here and the ozzies are going to put on a real show! Weve been strolling down the river several times and gazing out to the preperations for the opening ceremony.... a river of fire is all i will say!

Visted the really brilliant Melbourne Museum on one of our days which had loads of ocal insects and spiders in! Check out a picture of a 'thorny devil' on google images... these guys are really perculier and strangely cute! The place also has loads of spiders and show some of the ones that crawl around residential buildings and beds..... some of these guys are huge... ive already spotted one hanging on the ceiling at our hostel and im sure hes headed for our bedroom!

There was even a Neighbours tribute section at the museum which housed the original Robinson household kitchen... before the Scully family moved in and ruined it.. (they changed the decor!).. i know far too much about this.....!

Anyways.. for those of you that didnt know.. the real Ramsay Street (actually called Pinoak drive) is a real street in the suburbs of Melbourne and by the time you read this we would have been there... how sad is that! You can even meet the cast at a local boozer and have your pics with them... tragic but it has to be done doesnt it!

We have also visited the well documented Melbourne Prison,, famous for housing killer Ned Kelly and finally executing him... we visited the cells and stood on the very scaffold where they hung him... strange it was... there were loads of death masks you could stare at... not a pretty site!

One night we hit the Melbourne Casino with Kate and Dave. What a place.. It actually took 40 mins to walk from one side to the other and a great plave to have a beer. It also houses 24 hour shops, restaurants, night clubs, bowling and cinema. Fantastic.. as tempting as it was to have a little flutter on the black jack stands.. i resisted and left the joint with only a loss of a few dollars thanks to Australias famous home brew.. Fosters.

Walking along the city's south bank in the evening is beautiful. Seeing all the skyskrapers start to light up and the fountains shoot up is a real site. The bank leads over to some lush green parkland with great views over the city and then on to the sports complex housing all the large stadiums.

Writing now.. it is our final night in the city and we're heading over to the Casino area to hit the cinema. The YHA is getting quite crowded now mostly with people of retirement age coming over from Europe or West Aussie for their holls.

The Casino has huge flames bursting out of the building... the seem to be scaring the life out of everyone as they walk past!

Tomorrow we pick up our hire car and hit the highway for a three day, Great Ocean Road.. rd trip! Cant wait.. should be a real laugh!

On our way to the GOR we stopped at none other than the real life Ramsay Street... aka Pinoak Close. Its actually located about half an hour outside the city in a quiet suburb and is really tiny... how all the cast play cricket on it i will never know!

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