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Published: October 10th 2013
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We were both really looking forward to getting to Melbourne but mainly to see Lauren, our friend from back home who was working out there. From Sydney the flight to Melbourne took an hour and we touched down around 10pm. We met Lauren with massive hugs outside the station and jumped in a cab to her place. We chatted till the early hours of the morning catching up then the three of us all squeezed into Loz's bed and went to sleep.
The next morning we woke up pretty late and I was feeling pretty embarrassed as I had ended up trying to cuddle up to Loz in the night thinking she was Jon! Wooops! Eventually we all pulled ourselves out of bed and Lauren made us bacon baguettes for brunch which were so tasty. After getting ready we headed out and took a walk down quirky Chapel Street and ventured into a few vintage shops admiring all the clothes and accessories. We then went into a sushi bar where Loz and Jon made me try a roll - as I wasn't too keen on eating raw fish again after Peru so I went for the safe option of a
roll with prawns and avocado in. It was really good.
It was starting to get dark and very cold so we went to the supermarket and bought the food for Jon to make his cottage pie for dinner. We then decided on getting some wine which then turned into mulled wine. Three bottles and some spices later we'd got everything we needed for our night in. The cottage pie was delicious as was the mulled wine. It was so nice drinking wine from a bottle rather than a box and some meat and vegetables rather than pasta and tomato sauce. For dessert we had hot mince pies made especially by Lauren 😉
The following day we woke up a little earlier and spent the day being tourists. We had a walk along the river, sat in Federation Square people watching, went to the park and then went to see the huge Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). We had walked around for hours and decided we needed a drink so me and Loz sat and enjoyed a glass of white wine whilst Jon had a beer. We realised after we'd finished our drinks we needed to go and print off
the AFL tickets for the game we were going to see that night. We quickly rushed to the library and printed them off 2 minutes before they closed. Phew!
After collecting the tickets we went to grab some dinner before the game. We headed over to Chinatown and found a restaurant we could take our own wine to. We ordered three dishes between us and by the end I could hardly breathe I was so full. Lauren realised the time and that we needed to hurry to the game so her and Jon were pulling me along so quickly I felt like I was going to be sick. We eventually arrived and met Loz's friends Jackie and Jamie and went in to watch the game - Hawks vs Bombers. I had never really seen anything like it before it was like a mix between rugby and football. It took us a while to understand the rules and to be honest I was more intrigued by the crazy kits they were wearing - tank tops and hot pants. The Hawks beat the Bombers by a mile so Lauren and her friends were really pleased. After the game we got on
the train back to Loz's where I spent most of the journey asleep on her shoulder from too many ciders.
In the morning we all woke up with slightly sore heads but got up and ventured out to St Kilda. First stop was Luna amusement park, we went and had a look inside then Lauren and Jon decided they wanted to play on some of the arcade games to win prizes, surprisingly though they won nothing. We walked up St Kilda high street and looked in a few shops then went to go and get coffee and cake. We saw a few and none of them took Loz's fancy then we spotted San Churros. Everything in there looked so delicious it took us all ages to decide what we wanted. Finally we decided on a piece of chocolate and a piece of the carrot cake to share between us. When they brought them over the slices were huge! The cakes were just as tasty as they looked but unfortunately we couldn't finish the chocolate cake so asked for it to be wrapped to be taken home.
On the way back from St Kilda we stopped off at the
beach and took a stroll along the seafront and pier. The beach wasn't anything spectacular but it was still nice as the sun had started to set and you could smell the sea breeze in the air. We got on the tram back to Chapel Street to go and pick up some groceries for dinner. As we were all still full from the cakes we decided on just having picky bits for dinner. Lauren said she wanted to cook for us and we were so glad she did it was amazing. We had Camembert, salami, chorizo, carrots, hummus, crusty bread and a spinach salad with feta cheese, roasted tomatoes, red onion and pine nuts. That night we were all pretty shattered so had an early night.
The last morning we got up at 8 as we had 101 things to sort out for our next destination China. We had all planned on cooking a Sunday roast but due to me and Jon having loads to do it was easier for Lauren to rustle up something else whist we were out. Me and Jon headed out with our list and eventually completed our chores including printing off visa forms and
passport photos took. On the way back to Lauren's we went to pick up some flowers and chocolates from her new favourite place San Churros as we wanted to thank her for putting us up and being such a great host. When we got back what Lauren had rustled up smelt incredible and we couldn't wait to try it. Lauren's friends came to join us for dinner and the five of us sat down to chicken breasts wrapped in Parma ham stuffed with cheese, potato dauphinois, broccoli with red onion and roasted vegetables. We sat around chatting and having a few drinks and then Lauren's friends Leela and Jenks headed off. Me and Jon did the washing up then I went and had a bath that I'd been so looking forward to. We then packed our rucksacks and all had an early night.
We had a brilliant time in Melbourne with Lauren it was such a cool and quirky city and was also a great end to Australia for us. Next stop Hong Kong!
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