Melbourne 2009

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Day 1: Our flight to Melbourne is at 8.45am and our flatmate Jacki kindly offers to drive us to the airport on her way to work, even though it is in the opposite direction. We are cutting it fine as per usual and get there with only 5 minutes left to spare to check in. The airport is even busier than Glasgow airport and I have a feeling we won’t make it in time but then a guy from the airport asks if anyone is still waiting to check in for the Melbourne flight, and thankfully we manage to get through. The flight is a doddle and we get to Melbourne about 50 minutes later. We wait for our luggage to come off and start to worry when one by one the people around us start to leave until we are the only two muppets left standing there. Have to face facts that our case isn’t coming and make our way to lost luggage. I guess it’s the first time it’s ever happened to either Greg or I so can’t really complain. I’m actually quite calm about it all which surprises both Greg and me, as usually I would be having a strop about now. The woman on the desk tells us it hasn’t arrived but reassures us that it will no doubt turn up on the next flight and they will deliver it directly to our hostel. At least there wasn’t anything important in it, only Greg’s one pair of jeans he brought to Australia, which he is secretly hoping will go missing so they give us money to buy some new ones hurrah. We grab the shuttle bus to the city centre which only takes about 15 minutes. Once we get there we have absolutely no clue how to get to the hostel, which is in a place called Richmond and is apparently just outside of the city centre. We ask a guy at the train station the best way to get there and he tells us there is a train station right in Richmond and we should get that one so that’s what we do. We get off at Richmond as instructed and end up walking up and down the same street for about half an hour trying to find Hoddle Street. The guy at the station told us Richmond train station is on Hoddle Street (where our hostel is) but the sign says we are on Punt Street. Eventually we ask for directions (which is what we should have done in the first place) and are told that Punt Street eventually becomes Hoddle Street. So off we trot and lo and behold he is right and we find the hostel. The hostel is quite surreal as it isn’t what you would call a typical backpackers. It feels more like we have stepped into someone’s gran’s house. The guy who runs the hostel, Bob, is also about 80 years old and has a Jewish lisp. Our room is actually quite big and has a really comfy double bed and a fridge. The T.V has seen better days though and looks like it was made in the 1950’s. We shove our stuff down then make our way back into the city centre for some sightseeing. There is actually another train station right behind our hostel, West Richmond, which is much closer than the other one. Oh well, you live and learn.

We take a walk along the CBD and the outskirts of the city, which reminds me of somewhere like Amsterdam- quite different to Sydney. The place has a much more laid back feel too and everyone we meet is extremely friendly and willing to offer their help. We make our way to the Eureka skydeck, which is 88 floors high. Greg insists he will be fine, but once we get there he clearly isn’t and won’t go near the edge at all. The views are stunning. After that we head back to the hostel so we can get ready for our big night of meeting Dr Karl Kennedy. Greg is so excited I think he may burst. We get on the train and head for East Richmond this time. It takes us ages to get our bearings when we come off the train and end up walking in a circle for about 15 minutes trying to find the street our hostel is on. After checking the map again we realize that we got off at East Richmond and our station is actually West Richmond, doh. What a pair of ninnies. So we just head back to Richmond station and walk from there instead. On the way back we try to find an off-license to buy some drink. There is only one bar that we can see so we go in there. Greg asks at the counter how much a 6 pack of VB is and the woman behind the counter says she will just check with the other barmaid. The other barmaid then walks past and is completely topless! Greg turns to me in complete amazement, it’s not something you expect to see at your local boozer and completely random. She starts to serve some of the punters at the other side of the bar, topless, as if it’s the most natural thing in the planet. Weird thing is, all the other barmaids are fully clothed. Strange.

The neighbours night is held in The Elephant and Wheelbarrow pub in St Kilda and this time we manage to jump on the right bus and get there without any hassles at all. The place is completely full of English, Irish and Scottish people- not an Aussie in sight! We wait and wait until eventually Karl Kennedy, Declan and Connor (the Irish guy who used to be on it) make their way out into the crowd. They are actually very charismatic and the crowd goes crazy. They do a quiz while the neighbours cast make their way around every table and eventually it is our turn. Greg goes all coy and a bit speechless when the doc gets to us. He happily poses for photos and is a genuinely nice guy. God forbid if he had been horrible, poor Greg would have been shattered. Later on, Karl’s band come on and play a one and a half hour set which gets the crowd going. He even sings a song about susan kennedy which is really funny. Before I know it, we have drunk about 5 pints each and getting quite drunk. But still we keep going. After the sixth one I spill beer all down my denim skirt and have to hug the dryer in the ladies bathroom for about 15 minutes. At that point we think it’s maybe time to call it a night.

Day 2: Feeling a bit worse for wear the next morning we get up and make our way to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) to do a tour of the stadium. Its good value for money as it lasts for nearly two hours. We are chuffed as Greg and I are the only two on our tour, so it is very personalised. Our tour guide tells us the last tour which left only 15 minutes ago had 30 people in it so we are very priveleged indeed. Afterwards one of the guys at the desk tells us that our tour guide is actually an ex-coach in the AFL and he won the championship twice with his team during his time, which is a major achievement. The guy never mentioned it to us on the tour showing how modest he is, the only indication was when he said he knew ‘a small bit’ about the AFL! In the afternoon we head to St Kilda, which is next to the beach in Melbourne. It has a very European feel and quite boho. We head past Luna Park which is closed and then down to the pier. Bob at the hostel told us that apparently penguins march up the beach at sunset so we try to find out where it is. Once again we walk up and down for ages trying to work it out before finally admitting defeat and asking someone, who directs us to the end of the pier. After a good 45 minute wait we finally see something stirring in the water… It is a little penguin and he walks straight up onto the beach in front of us and under the pier to his nest on the other side of the rocks. It is amazing to see and a few more then follow behind him at random intervals. We leave once it starts getting unbearably cold but feel really chuffed with ourselves. In the hostel we watch some T.V and David Letterman is on. Suddenly have flashbacks of Margaret saying that she and Archie watch that on holiday and feel like we are slowly but surely morphing into them…

Day 3: We try to get up a bit earlier today so we can pick up our hire car and get away, as we have a lot to see and do. Once we pick up the car we head to Ramsay Street which is about 30 minutes drive outside of the city centre. It doesn’t disappoint and we get some awesome pictures of the street and everyone’s houses. We have to head back into the city to then head onto the Great Ocean Road which is a bit of a pain and eats out of the time we have to get there. By the time we get onto the Great Ocean Road it is nearly 3pm and it takes another few hours to get to the 12 apostles, bearing in mind the sun sets at about 5.45pm… Its gonna be close. Greg turns into Nigel Mansel all of a sudden and starts gunning it along the road. It feels like the road is never-ending and we aren’t going to make it, but just as it gets to 5.30pm, we see a sign for the 12 apostles, yippee! We rush over and manage to get some amazing pictures of the 12 apostles with the sun setting in the background. The sun sets 10 minutes later, so we are really jammy. It takes another 4 hours to get home so all in all we spent about 9 hours driving for a twenty minute stop at the 12 apostles. Quite crazy, but definitely worth it. We cook our dinner at about 11pm and Bob, our Jewish hostel manager isn’t very happy in case we leave the gas on and burn the place down. More David Lettermen and then bed for our extremely early flight to Tasmania in the morning…

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Comments

[Elizabeth]

Freedom Square???
Hey a Victorian here Freedom Square is actually called Federation Square, cheers:)