Melbourne day 1

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first things first I got up got ready and quickly went out to find a bank.

As I was walking up twards the centre, my first impressions of down town Melbourne (in comparisson to its arch rival Sydney) was its a lot spaceous, easier to get around and the avenues have trees!

Found a bank one street away from the law courts (very modern building, high consentration of lawyers wondering around still wearing there wigs). Tried the cash machine, still no luck, so went to the desk inside. What a releaf!! It worked, the lady typed in th numbers checked my passport and voila! 500 dollars please. Decided to treat myself to a chock chip muffin and hot choc in a cafe down the road. Unfortunatlly proved to be a choc overload so left half of the muffin (not choc chip by the way, they used choc buttons.)

Happy now I got on with the rest of my day.

Continued down town. Checked out the cathedral and town hall. The are so many shops, and all the small alleyways are crammed full of tables and chairs for the near by cafes/restaurants. There is more of a european vibe here compared to Sydney.

the sun was out and it was a magnificent day. Did a small loop taking in the parliment building then stopped off at the city library to use the internet (Ben at the hostel had mentioned it was free here.)

This area (surrounding library) is where the university is (many students, and street acts by poor students looking for an extra dollar or two) it also has the main central shopping centre. This is a very modern building (built around a listed building.) infact all the surrounding buildings in this area are architecturaly very interesting and more exciting then Sydney buildings. Most of the designs seem to have been stollen from somewhere but it made the walk far more interesting.

Had lunch in the food court of the shopping centre (chicken wrap) then wondered through it and popped out on the other side of down town (centre consists of 3-4 blocks connected by bridges.)

Went to Federation sq down the road. Again really cool buildings on the river, next to the catheral and main train station.

Now its incredibly hot (hottest day so far) so stupidly I chose to follow the walk sujested in the lonely planet. Most of it takes you through the Queen victoria gardens and kings domain.

You take in many statues (mainly of kings and Queen vic who rained during Melbournes existence.) Then came across the behemoth that is the war memorial. Having already done the one in Sydney it took me a little a while to decide to go in (hey, its free and took me out of the sun for a while.) The museum was good despite being full of school kids on a trip (similar to Sydney) but the main memorial atrium was very impressive. Sneakly 9or not so) I checked out the location of the security guards and tried to take a photoof the ceiling only to be stopped by the one behind me (didnt see him!) He curtly reminded me that I wasnt allowed and espesially if there are school children in the vasinity! My god was he calling me a pedo, I had my camera pointed at the ceiling at the time!!! But he told me it was a local law (brought this up with one of the chaps int he hostel later and he said the same had happend to him at Bondi beach.)

Continued down the park then looped around and headed back. Stopped of at the south gate centre for a fruit juice and watched all the activity by the river.

on the way back went food shopping then headed back to the hostel. The kitchen here is really small, so I had dinner early to avoid the crowds.

Worried that I may have spent to much money so far (unavoidable in Australia as its sooo expensive.) I sat with a few people in the TV lounge, watched some trashy TV (descovered Cheaters!! The worst trash ever) and chatted till 1:00 then went to bed.

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