Melbourne

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I spend my last week in Australia in Melbourne and i really loved this city. Its a chilled out, laid back place and very easy to get around the city centre either on foot or by tram (which nobody seems to pay for!). I travelled down on the overnight bus from Sydney and had to sign papers saying i wouldn't sue Greyhound if we were delayed due to the bushfires. I didn't see any fires but it was quite smoky for a bit along the way. We had to make a slight diversion as the main highway was closed for a bit due to the fires. They've been the worst fires in Vicoria's history with nearly 200 people killed. Night one in Melbourne i stayed in my worst hostle so far. It was dirty, smelly and some drunks and junkies throw in for good measure! In my dorm there was an Aussie guy who was quite strange. Anyhow i swiftly moved out into a much nice hostel for the same price.

My first Sunday in Melbourne was the last day of the St. Kilda festival. St. Kilda is a lovley area by the beach about 40 mins by tram from the city. I went out there with a Canadian girl and saw some cool bands on differrent stages, beach volleyball competitions, kite surfing, skateboarding, mountain biking and jenga!! There was a cool vibe about and had an enjoyable evening there. I did a bit of sight seeing over the next few days - Visited the Rod Laver Arena where the Australian Open Tennis was on. I was a week too late tho to catch the live action! It holds 15,000 and the locker rooms are tiny. Apparantly Roddick, Federer and Nadal are all gentlemen but the most awkward player is Venus Williams - she had to play a match at the Hisene Arena (literally a few mins walk form locker rooms) and refused to walk in the heat because she didn't want to be sweaty on court. The organisers suggested a golf buggy but Venus still wasn't happy. They asked her what she wanted and it was an air-comditoned car, so they had to drive out onto main road and around taking 40 mins to get her to court when it should have only taken a few mins!! So no more cheering for Venus!! Oh yeah during the Open some guys got on the outside courts and they managed to cook eggs, bacon and even steak on the court it was that warm! I was quite lucky with the weather here. The day before i arrived it was a record 46.5 degrees for Melbourne but luckily during my stay it had dropped back to the mid 20's. I also took a tour of the MCG - Melbourne Cricket Ground - a pretty impressive stadium, capacity 100,000 and its mostly been rebuilt quite recently too.

One of the hightlights of the trip was the Great Ocean Road which was built by returning service men from the WW1. Some of the views along this road are simply stunning - you'll have to check out the photos, words cant so it justice. I really enjoyed this trip and was some of the best scenery in Australia. I got to see a pre-season Aussie Rules game in Telstra Dome between Essendon and Western Bulldogs. It ended up being a close match and all proceeds went to the Bush Appeal. I went with 2 Dutch and it was quite funny trying to explain some of the rules - one guy loved it and wants to play it now!! The Telstra Dome is also a pretty impressive and modern arena. Melbourne is spoilt with sporting options - Oz Grand Prix is on here too at end of March i think.

Other attraction here were the Melbourne Observation Deck - lovley 360 degree view of city and surrounds with good maps to get my bearings, Chinatown, Botanic Gardens - check out the photos Matt, Carlton Gardens, Melbourne Gaol - Ned Kelly story and good reinactment, Federation Square and oh yeah possibly the biggest casino outside of Las Vegas - great for making money!!!
I spend one day relaxing at St. Kilda Beach before i left Oz and Melbourne. I really would like to live here for a while - so much happening and so much to do.

I arrived in Christchurch on Monday 16 February and have been busy sorting out phones, bank a/c etc since. I'm looking to buy a car/ van at the moment so hopefully should have that by the weekend and i can start my road trips. Might head north to Nelson first for a few days with a Canadian i met in Oz and then probably head south towards Dunedin. I plan to do a bit of Fruit picking for a bit too.

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