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Published: February 27th 2007
Scary....
...this is a gun shop on one of the main streets near my hostel in MelbourneAfter my dad & Wendy left Melbourne on thursday I checked into a dorm room at the same hostel & chilled out for the rest of the day as I was pretty shattered after our 4 day whirlwind tour of Melbourne!
That night two sisters from Birmingham arrived, Alice & Sophie who are really nice & really up for a good night out so I knew we'd get on quite well!
On Friday I wandered around town in the sun, it's been really hot & sunny the whole time I've been in Melbourne, & did a bit of shopping. That night I met up with Niomes sister Charlene & her friends for some drinks after her work which was really nice & me & Charlene ended up going on for a few more drinks to a bar called Transport which is in Federation Square right in the middle of Melbourne. It's a nice bar but was absolutely packed because it's so central. At one point when we finally got a seat there was this little older lady sitting on her own looking very prim & proper next to us as if she was waiting for someone but she never
actually met up with anyone before we left, we couldn't figure out if she was waiting for anyone or not or maybe she was just checking out all the young guys! After that Charlene took me on a bit of a mystery tour to her favourite bar called Madame Brussels which you would never find if you didn't know where it was as you go into this building which doesn't have the name of the bar on it anywhere & then you get in this not very fancy lift & go up to the 3rd floor & you're suddenly in the middle of this really nice bar thats like a 1950's english garden with astroturf on the floors & everything! Honestly all the good bars in Melbourne seem to be hidden down alleyways so it looks like you're being taken somewhere really dodgy & you end up in some really nice bar full of people. They made great cocktails in Madame Brussels with champagne in them so we got a jug & drank it outside on the roof terrace in the middle of the city...very nice. I even managed to make $5 as me & Charlene were standing up with
Chinese New Year
This guy was giving out free incense that you could place on the shrine & make a wish for the Chinese New Year so I did our drinks but these guys beside us were leaving so they gave us their table but one of them picked up my drink by mistake thinking it was his so when he left about 10 minutes later he came up to me & gave me $5 to buy another drink even though he hadn't even drunk any of mine!
On saturday I headed down to Chinatown as it was Chinese New Year & they had all sorts of stalls & stuff so I just had a wander around. There was one stall with what looked like a Chinese shrine with a bowl with burning incense sticks in it & there was a guy next to it giving out free incense sticks for you to place in the bowl & make a wish for the new Chinese Year. Just along from Chinatown in the main shopping centre I stopped to listen to this incredible busker from Japan who played sort of blues rock n roll music, he played the steel & slide guitar & a harmonica & a foot drum....it sounded amazing so I bought his cd to bring home (I'm such a tourist but he's apparently the Japanese
Blues Cowboy!). Then I went along to see the outside of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (the infamous MCG) & Melbourne Park where the Rod Laver Arena is that holds the Aussie tennis Open every year (Lleyton Hewitt was playing there just a month or so ago!!).
That night me and the girls I was sharing a dorm with, Sophie & Alice who are the sisters from Birmingham & Mary who is from Munich, headed out to the Crown Casino after a few glasses of wine at the hostel & had many many more drinks! The Casino complex is absolutely huge, lights everwhere when you walk in, it does make you feel like you're in Vegas or something. We didn't do any gambling though we saved our pennies for some drinks in the bar then upstairs to their nightclub which wasn't nearly as nice as the rest of the casino but was still good. Although strangely they were holding some sort of girls modelling competition complete with swimwear comp but oddly enough it was sponsored by Chuppa Chups who make the kids lollies! We decided not to stay in that room of the club (it also played really old cheesey
dance music...not really my thing!) & we moved through to the R n B room which was a definite improvement. I even met some guys who liked proper football (or soccer as they call it here) & they'd even heard of Liverpool! They were all warming up for the big Melbourne Cup football final the following day between Melbourne & Adelaide. (Melbourne won by the way so there were probably lots of sore heads on monday morning, there were definitely lots of people out in the streets celebrating on sunday & even on monday!)
On sunday we all had a long lie recovering from the night before! When I finally dragged myself out of bed I went along to the Melbourne Museum to check out the original set of the Robinson's kitchen from Neighbours which was pretty cool but pretty old looking now, I even got to look in there fridge where they had a model of Scott & Charlenes wedding cake...awwww! The rest of the museum was actually really good, they even had a living forest in a sort of atrium in the middle of the museum where you could walk underneath the stream running through it
to see the fish under the water, I've never seen anything like it before. After that I went for another wander around Chinatown as the Chinese New Year celebrations were still going on & I managed to just catch the last 20 minutes or so of the dragon parade through the streets with all the drums beating which was fantastic, so many colours & jewels on the dragon costumes. That night me & the girls from my room just chilled out & watched a movie on the TV in the main lounge (still recovering from the Casino!)
On monday I went for a wander down Melbournes sort of quirky trendy shopping street, Brunswick street but I managed to not spend any money this time! Then I went for a wander along the Yarra River which runs through the city & walked past all the very posh designer shops on Southbank, obviously again not spending any money! On my way through the city though I noticed smoke & when I turned around I saw a McDonalds employee ushering everyone out of the Federation Square McDonalds as it was actually on fire then about six fire engines came streaming around the
corner. When I walked past it again about an hour later it was still all cordoned off & the fire engines were still there...some kitchen employee must now be in real trouble for starting that fire! That night I went to stay with Charlene & her housemate Alex who live in Toorak, a suburb just 15minutes or so outside the city by train. They have a flat with a little balcony so we sat out there for an hour or two having a few glasses of wine & then we watched a dvd....it was so nice just to relax in a flat instead of a hostel & just watch a film.
On tuesday Charlene kindly let me have the run of the flat for the day & her housekeys so I just chilled out & wandered around the main shopping & bar street in the area called Chapel Street. That night we went to the local Irish pub on Chapel Street called Bridie O'Reillys(!) for her housemates birthday with his friends. We sat outside in the beer garden in the sunshine so not very Irish but still really good & then a few of us ended up
playing a few games of pool....boys Vs girls & unfortunately even though the boys weren't very good either they still beat us girls...damn it!
Wednesday, my last day in Melbourne. I left Charlenes really early with her & then checked back into the hostel for one last night. I went for a last wander around the city centre & then I went on my Neighbours Tour to Ramsay Street...very cheesey but very exciting!! We saw the high school & we went to the studios where we met one of the neighbours stars (Janelle for any of you that actually watch neighbours) & she told us some of the gossip about future storylines so I know whos going to die next but I wont say & spoil it for you all! Finally we went to Ramsay Street which is actually really tiny & they now have a security guard who sits in the street day & night to protect the local residents from avid neighbours fans who steal stuff from their gardens & one couple who were even caught having sex on one of the front lawns!
Tomorrow (thursday 22nd) I get picked up at 6.30am (just not
right) to go on a 4 day trip back up to Sydney via the Snowy Mountains & Wilsons Promontory National Park.
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Katie
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I'm sooo jealous - again!! I want to go to Ramsay Street, hehe xx