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Published: August 1st 2009
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Our flight from Singapore to Australia was on our 'international ticket' which meant we were flying in style with Emirates!!!
Our last flight with these guys was back in December last year when we flew from the UK (time has flown by!). Emirates are excellent and we were looking forward to their groovy ICE on board system where you can play games or watch brand new movies!! Anyway enough promoting for Emirates...
Our flight left at 6pm local time which meant we landed in Melbourne at 7am. The plane was full, the flight crew seemed grumpy and a small child was less than 2 seats away crying most of the time so sleep was impossible ....we arrived in Oz very tired.
When we penned our travel route a few years ago Australia was not in our plans, but one of Michelle's best mates made the move over a few years back and as we were in SE Asia we just had to visit! Jody met us at the airport and after customary hugs we headed to his house (who he shares with Stu) in groovy Balaclava.
Just stepping off the plane was weird. Instead of sticky heat
and Asian airport staff we were hit by cold yet clean fresh air. White people greeted us and pointed towards the immigration desk..it ALMOST felt like we had landed back home!!
The road we took from the airport enabled us to see over the city skyline and even though the usual sky scrappers peeked over office tower blocks its all looked so trendy and spread out unlike some Asian capitals we had recently been to. Once back at the flat Jody cracked open a bottle of wine (it was 9am!) and a few glasses later we had to give in to sleep and retire to bed.
When we eventually got up and had some food it was getting dark. Jody took us down to St Kilda's pier ( a short walk away) which was very windy but the view over the ocean and onto the city skyline at night was more than worth it. Better still we walked out onto the jetty and towards some rocks with a balcony. Jody explained that penguins... yes penguins!! live here!!!! we walked along hoping to see some and suddenly we heard .. well penguin noises. It's hard to explain what noise
they actually make... its like a cross between a bird and donkey. Then out of nowhere a couple of tiny penguins appeared from a rock cavity screaming for food from their parents, and yes they do look like they are from that well known chocolate bar!!!. To see such rare creatures in there natural habitat was amazing and being British it's not something you witness very often. Braving the winter chill we headed back and picked up some fish and chips for tea!!! our first fish and chips for aggggeesss!!! oh and of course a few bottles of wine.
Jody and Stuart were the best hosts ever! they gave up their bed and slept on their sofa in the lounge. A clean bed with sheets and carpet and no cockroaches, no bed bugs and no noisy people waking us up at 4am... man this was amazing. It's funny how you miss the little things from home but a good nights sleep was out of this world. The next day we felt full of energy and headed off to the city. Jody and Stuart are teachers and had 2 weeks off with us, however Stuart had to work a few
days so just the 3 of us headed into town.
At first prices of things like the train fare were a BIG shock to the system. Paying for our first ticket into town was difficult! A 20 minute fare in Indonesia costs about 30p, today it's £1.80 each!!! no seriously this is completely normal of course and it's what we would pay back home... it was just a shock coming from Asia.
Once in the city we hit Flinders street (the main shopping street) and walked down Lygon street - a really cool place with lots of cafe's selling mocha chocka's and fancy cream cakes. We then headed over to the docklands past the impressive Ethiad stadium (we must get to an Aussie rules footie match while we are here). As the name suggests the docklands is a really hip trendy place with lots of fancy restaurants clustered along the river. Tom (Cruise) and Katy were in town and had just booked into the 5 star Crown hotel so there was a hype around the area. We headed into the flashy reception area - which was a little embarrassing as me and Michelle had makeshift winter clothes on
and looked like something out of a homeless advert. Inside reception was 2 huge pools with an all day water show on.
The Crown hotel has a huge complex attached and hosts one the largest gaming facilities in the Southern hemisphere. We strolled through the casino ... past the poker tables, millions of fruit machines and nearly got evicted for taking photos - how was I supposed to know??! Jody had a flutter on one of the slot machines but lost due to Lee's bad decision on high or low numbers!. After all the gambling we headed back out to the docklands and hopped onto the free city circle tram that zips around. Next up was a small park north of the city for possum spotting (another new animal for us - they look like ferrets) but these guys are nocturnal so after scouring the trees and failing to see any we made our way over to the exhibition centre. Inside we quickly found the insect section (like young excited school kids we are!!) and got to see some of Australia's creepy crawlies including live spiders, cockroaches, fly's, bugs and all manners of nasties. The day ended with wine
(of course) and Jody cooked a lovely Veggie meal for us - we WILL turn our host's into vegetarians before we leave!!!
The following day we headed to the Nieghbours set (I'm a Home and away fan myself) but they were filming so we couldn't get onto THE street. We left deflated but carried on into the hills of the Dandenongs. We stopped off at an English pub (which was bizarre - are we even in Oz??) this place was EXACTLY like a country pub from home. Real ale, a log fire, carpets, lots of wood and even a breath testing machine for checking your limit before driving away! The Dandenongs is situated out in the sticks and at times we felt like we were in the Aussie bush!!! We headed up to the viewpoint but it started raining and visibility was about 5 meters so that ruled out the planned view over the city.
The rest of the week was spent relaxing enjoying each others company, drinking wine, eating some very tasty food, and drinking more wine. On the Saturday some of Jody and Stuarts friends came over, we all had lunch and went to St
Kilda's pier for a few more drinks! A bar down the road called Argy Bargys became our second home and we enjoyed the discount happy hour's aptly named - 'the recession session'! Me and Michelle ventured into town one day to buy some winter clothes and found a superb Japanese snack bar which served up a huge bowl of curry and rice (back to what we know!).
Overall our first week in Melbourne was amazing. True we miss Asia and it's been difficult getting used to the cold weather but the simple things like clean streets, a warm bed and great company has been a real treat.
Next week we have planned a trip to the Grampians where we get to see some real Kangaroos!!!! Yey!!!
See you soon
Lee and Michelle
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