Advertisement
So here we are in our new city, the place where we will spend the next 3 months of our lives, working, living and being..... cold??!!! That's right it's winter here and jeans, vest and jumpers are now needed, for the next term of our world adventure.
I am very sad to say goodbye to: Hot sun, boardies, surfing, sunglasses, thongs, vests, bikini clad women, layed back beach life, east coast partying, clear blue skies, beautiful beaches and last of all not worrying about your appearance one bit!!
Matt and I had to leave one part of the three musketer's behind in Cairns as Chris was due to fly to Sydney to meet his parents for a couple of weeks. This would be the first time we've been apart for nearly 6 months so as the taxi drove off we all reached for the Kleenex to wipe away our tears.. see you soon Chris!
Ah well.... on with life, as this is a very important stage of our trip as this is where I must earn enough money to support the next huge leg of our trip and hopefully have enough to pay Mummy and Daddy back as
The last of the Goon crew
Ed, Si, Matt, Jo and Emma quick as possible, as the east coast and the lack of funds I earned in Sydney has taken it's toll and now with things such as a bond on our new flat to be payed for being skint is not the way to be!
Touching down in Melbourne at 16:30 on a painless and sleep filled VirginBlue flight it was begining to get dark. We were booked into the X-Base hostel as we enjoyed the Magnetic Island one so much. As I mentioned I was on the way to Melbourne to meet our friend from Byron, one of the German girls for the YHA, Johanna, who was also staying at the X-base hostel. Excited I boarded the airport shuttle taking us straight to Base in an area we have only heard great things about called St. Kilda. We checked in to the Base, again very impressed by it's very cool and slick style. Johanna was waiting in the reception which was nice and big hello's were made as part of the Byron crew were re-united. She was due to fly to Singapore on the 1st May so, as she had been on her own for a few days leaving
The last supper.
Robarta's Tender Lamb with Soy mayo and Bok Choy. Natasha in Cairns, she was very glad of the company for her last few days in Australia.
At Base hostel we were given a map of the area which included a meal voucher on the back for 2 for 1 Waggamama's so Matt and I were there without hesitation for some good food.
Matt and I had big things to sort out here in Melbourne and first priority was to find somewhere to live for the next 3 months so it was all about house-hunting each day. Visiting a number of letting agencies and being shown around some quite bizzare accomodation by some quite bizzare people we ended the day tired and slightly un-covinced by what we saw at Base.
Our best house option was a 3 bed studio whereby it's all in one room; kitchen, beds, sofas, tv etc.etc, with en-suite bathroom at $120 a week and it was very nicely decorated and clean and fresh looking, very cool, but slightly impractical!
After a day of house hunting the old Byron/Fraser drinking games came out with Ed, Emma and Jo (yes that's right... the Fraser crew and the Byron crew together, crazy!!!) Fun was as usual had
by all as the drinking games and laughter erupted throughout the hostel kitchen and TV room. We even played 'the frog jumped onto the pond splash' in German thanks to Johanna! And also, which may I say is one of the funniest things ever, played it in the style of Borat (or the East Coast legend that is Sefi) absolutey hilarious.
Sunday night was Jo's last night in Australia so after a walk down the beach we went out for a very nice meal at a place called Robarta, which was awesome, then a few drinks afterwards at a place called the 'Vineyard'.
Monday was a very sad day, as it was time for her to leave, which really sucked!
Matt and I moved out of Base, that day, to a cheaper hostel called the Coffee Palace for a few days whilst we finalised our house-hunting. That morning we looked at another place that was more like a Uni style dingy house and got shown around by a very interesting man baring a similar resembalence to a far-out, arty, hippy style red-indian. This place was practical yet pretty dingy. As we hadn't even seen the city yet we decided
to jump on one of the many trams of Melbourne and venture to the CBD (Central Business District) where we sat in a cafe and played 'Guess Who' eating the fruitiest muffin in the world whilst trying to decide on either; very nice, but slightly impractical or a bit dingy but more practical??? ...a very dififcult decision.
The next day we awoke fresh and with a clear mind and decided after speaking to Chris that the studio would be a nicer place to live, so we phoned Roger at Century 21 letting agency and told him we'd take the flat.
Today, Wednesday, I had my hair thinned out.. not cut so hair-cut chicken is still in play, at Tony&Guy for a special Coffee Palace price of $15, which for them is seriously cheap only about 7 pounds!!
It's 2 o'clock now and we move into our new home in an hour, how very exciting!!!!
Then once again I'm on the job hunt, I can only hope that I have more luck than I did in Sydney?!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.051s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0304s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb