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Published: April 4th 2009
Well, we have made it safely to Melbourne, and I think it's time for another travel update, its been a few days, but I think I should be able to fit in the highlights!
I last left off after our rainy day trip to the Blue Moutains on Tuesday, the forecast for Wednesday was for more rain, and they were not wrong. We slept in a bit Wednesday morning and given the cloud and threat of rain decided to take an easy day. After some breakfast we headed down to Darling Harbour to check out the Sydney Aquarium. I made the smart decision of bringing my old U of C student ID card along, and was able to score a $10 discount for the aquarium, which is always good. The aquarium was fantastic, saw lots of colorful fish, a crocodile, an awesome Great Barrier Reef exhibit, but by far the highlight was the massive shark tank, which you walk under in glass tubes. There were plenty of big sharks, huge stingrays and some giant turtles, it was quite awe striking.
After finishing the aquarium it was suprisingly sunny out, so we walked accross the harbour and then to satisfy
Alex's desires headed to McDonald's for some lunch, which was actually quite tasty. With stomachs once again full, and arteries clogging we found a harbour side bar and enjoyed a few beers in the on and off sun. Around 5 we headed back to the hostel to get ready for the $6 make your own pizza night. After playing some cards on the roof top patio we headed downstairs and were treated to quite the good deal, they made the pizzas on pita shells, but they were quite big and loaded with toppings.
The plan for Wednesday night was to meet up with Tom's buddy Yusef from back home, as well as two girls from Seattle whom we had met in Greece back in 2007, who are now living in Sydney, and the plan did come through thanks to the power of the cell phone, what would we ever do without it? Australia was playing Uzbekistan in a World Cup Soccer Qualifier so we headed down to the hostel bar to watch that and also meet up with our friends, the power of travel really is amazing when it comes to meeting old friends. After the soccer was over
Yusef left us and the rest of us, including our Irish friend Jane headed out to do a bit of a pub crawl. Unfortunately bouncers here are very strict and if you even mention you've had a few drinks they generally won't let you in, so we had a bit of trouble before finding an Irish pub we could all get in to. We then continued catching up with our friends, and eventually did some dancing before heading back to the hostel and bet around 1:30 AM, another good day in the books.
Thursday was the day to fly to Melbourne, so we got up to check out by the mandated 10 AM, although we were about 10 minutes late, it was no big deal. After eating some breakfast at our favorite next door flalafal place we caught a cab to the airport. The check in process was incredibly fast and efficient with Virgin Blue, I was definitely impressed and after being the subject of a random search going through security we sat down and played some cards in the terminal to pass the hour and a half until our flight. After grabbing some food we headed to our
gate, and on the way I noticed a big plane out on the tarmac, and sure enough it was a Singapore Airlines A380, such a massive plane and hard to believe it can actually get into the air!
The flight to Melbourne was just over an hour and uneventful, aside from the hard landing which we bounced good on. Walking off the plane we were treated to bright sunny skies and 30 degrees, we were thinking perhaps our weather luck was looking up. After picking up our bags we caught a cab into Melbourne, our hostel is in the trendy St. Kilda district of town. It was a rather expensive cab ride, $64, but was still cheaper than each of us paying for individual bus and train fares. Upon check in we discovered our "double rooms" are actually rooms with a double bed, which is a little unfortunate, but the rooms do have their own bathrooms which is quite nice.
After dropping our bags we headed down to the beach, which is only about three blocks away for some late afternoon sun. Eventually we wandered back to the hostel for some dinner, the special in the hostel bar
was homeade pasta for $6, which was quite tasty and economical! Thursday night in the hostel bar was ladies night, which was starting at 9 PM, and the special for the ladies was free champagne, so we stuck around to check that out, while Tom went and napped the night away. We were beginning to think no one would be coming, but around 9 PM all of the sudden the bar went from being empty to packed. It is an interesting setup, with the bar being an open setup that spills into the hostel lobby. I was quite tired, and not really enjoying being in the sardine can bar I headed to bed early around 11:30 PM.
Yesterday morning we awoke to a treat, dark cloudy skies and rain, the beach plan went out the window with that. After doing some consulting with the guide book we decided to grab some breakfast and then head into the CBD on the tram and check out the Old Melbourne Gaol (Jail). We went to a nice little deli (again I wish they had more of these in Canada) and had some tasty sandwiches and then headed to the tram stop. We
took a guess at which way to catch the tram going, and unfortunately guessed wrong, but thanks to a local girl with a cool colapsable bike we realised our mistake before too long and got off the tram and headed the correct way.
By this time it was pouring rain and when we got off the tram downtown for the short walk to gaol I was very glad I had brought my umbrella. Out of the rain and into the gaol was nice, and I also managed to use my "Student" discount again to save $4. There was a guided tour of the old watchtower leaving about 15 minutes after we arrived, so we waited in a covered entranceway out of the rain for that to start. The tour actually treated us like we were incoming prisoners being processed which was quite cool, complete with being locked in a dark cell for a few minutes, I am definitely glad I will never be going to jail!
Now I am going to have to leave it at that for now, as it is time for us to head into the city to watch Melbourne play Collingwood in an Aussie
Rules Football game this afternoon. It is partly cloudy today and hopefully it won't rain, either way, being the sportsohaulic that I am, it is gonna be a good day!
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Gary
non-member comment
3 weeks!!!!
3 Weeks!!!!. Wow, that's sure not much time to see this great country. You should be like the other guys/gals that come over and travel/work/travel. Maybe you have to get back to a job. One thing you won't be missing is the SNOW. Today is great, but there has been a bunch of snow. We are from The Pass, 2hrs south of Calgary. Enjoy the trip, I am a bit envious. Would love to be there.