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So after another long bus journey we arrived in chilly Melbourne. It wasn't as straight forward, to find our hostel, as usual. First we had to get a tram to St Kilda, then we had to figure out which stop St Kilda was because the trams don't actually let you know and finally we had to find our hostel. It took a good hour to find the hostel. It was a very modern hostel called Base and it had card key locks and an ensuite in every room. The first thing we did was make our way to Melbourne Cricket Ground, the MCG! We were going to watch an AFL (Aussie Rules) game between two rival teams, Carlton and Collingwood. We went with an American girl, called Cindy, from our dorm. She knew more than most guys in England about football and pretty much every other sport! We sat a few rows from the back and the view was incredible! We were lucky enough to have a 16 year old Australian boy sat infront of us and he got really excited telling us the rules! By half time we understood what was happening and the second half was very entertaining! We
really got into supporting the boys team but unfortunately they lost! The attendance for this 100,000 seater was
80310!!! The atmosphere in the final few minutes was incredible. Once we got back to the hostel I decided that I didn't want to go on the Neighbours tour because....well I don't watch Neighbours! So Dan and Lucy were going to go the next day and I was going to be all alone 😞. Step in Fraser Island friend, Laura! She was in Melbourne and was meeting us for drinks that night. When the 4 of us met, it was really nice and we had a good old chat. Being Dutch, Laura had never seen Neighbours and didn't really want to. So we decided to go to Melbourne Zoo the following day!
Morning came and by the time I got up, Dan had already left to see the Formula 1 track before the Neighbours Tour. This was very strange as I was completely alone for the first time! I decided the best thing to do was.....Subway for breakfast! They did double meat for only $1 extra! Once I had eaten my lovely breakfast, I headed into Melbourne centre via the tram
to meet Laura. I hated using these things as they were so slow and I didn't really know where to get off! Lucky for me Laura was pretty good at using the trams so the zoo wasn't too hard to find. Melbourne Zoo was very different from Australia Zoo. It was more of a traditional zoo with every kind of animal you can think of....well almost. It was a good day out and we had lots of fun running around the park like little kids! When we got back, Dan had gone to the F1 track again with someone from the Neighbours tour, so I said goodbye to Laura and then hung around the bar with Lucy waiting to get ready for the.....Neighbours Trivia Night! Yay! I had agreed to go to this purely on the basis that there was a live band and a bar. Dan was very excited about this night and even left early without me and Lucy to get a good table. So an hour after people were allowed in, Lucy and I arrived to a good table that Dan and the girl, Holly, from the Neighbours day tour, had saved for us! Result! It took
a while to begin but then they had 4 Neighbours "stars" come out and answer questions from people. The only one I can remember is Dr Karl Kennedy but apparently he is there every week! They were quite funny but I didn't really get the Neighbours jokes about some people called Susan and Izzy. Dan seemed to enjoy himself though. After the questions, they all came round the tables one by one and had pictures with us. I think some people on other tables were getting a bit too excited! Once they had been round everyone (2hours later zzzz) it was time for the best bit of the night...Dr K's band! They actually weren't that bad and I enjoyed most of the songs. They did manage to ruin the Kaiser Chief's Ruby but other than that it was pretty entertaining. Once the music had finished I decided that was it for me and made my way back to bed at the hostel.
The next day we were supposed to go on the MCG tour but I woke up feeling like death so I decided not to go. Dan didn't have to go alone though as Holly, from the day
before, was going too. After I dragged myself out of bed, I got my stuff sorted and checked out. I then went to the town centre to get myself a beanie for New Zealand, as we would be arriving there the very next day! It was then that I realised we were actually half way through our trip! I couldn't believe how much we had already done and how quickly the time had gone 😞. After buying my beanie I sat in the hostel until I got a message from Lucy and Laura asking if I wanted to join them in town. So off I went again on the bloody tram and this time it took me an hour to do a 20 minute journey! I got so lost I nearly gave up. Eventually I found them and had one of the best pies I had ever had! Steak and cheese is lovely! We didn't do much, just sat in a cafe and chatted about Fraser Island and the things that we were going to do next. Once it started getting on, we headed back as I had to get the 8pm bus to Sydney for my flight to Christchurch,
NZ. Dan was already back at the hostel and ready to go. It wasn't very nice saying goodbye to Laura again but even worse to Lucy, as our little group had grown very close over the 2 weeks. But we had some fantastic memories and we all agreed to stay in touch. So off Dan and I went to our
last greyhound bus!! This was the one good thing about leaving Oz!
Dan did some extra things in Melbourne, so when he gets a chance he wants to do a second Melbourne entry from his point of view. Watch this Space. Overall Australia was amazing. It lived up to every expectation I had and we met some amazing people along the way, too many to mention but they all made the trip even better. So it is goodbye Australia....hello New Zealand!!!
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