Melbourne - casinos, beaches and museums!

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Westwoods words............ Ok so Melbourne has everything that Sydney has got but the beach (St Kilda) is further away (a half hour tram ride) - love the trams! We should have them in Birmingham! St Kilda is so cool - like Bondi it has funky vintage shops, cafes, cake shops (plenty of 'tasty pastries' Sab and I mean in more than one way - buff bod alert!!), two piers, bars - I love the vibe of the place - would of moved to a hostel there but couldn't be arsed lugging my 20 ton backpack on the tram! So stayed in the city - much nearer to everything going on!
Ok so the last week has been spent on the beach at St Kilda and in the city seeing the various sights that Melbourne has to offer. The Casino has now become our favourite night out (when I say we I mean 'the crew' - me, Kate, Liam, Tom, Stevo, Sarah and Caz and also any other stray traveller we pick up along the way - currently a Dutch girl called Aileen!). Tom is currently on his way back to the U.K so it was his leaving do last night at the casino - I didn't do very well at all - in fact I did PAP! Lost $55 - then made it back but got cocky and put $25 on black (Woodward I'm never taking your advice again or Wesley Snipe's for that matter!) and it was bloody red - from then on it was a steady decline to $0 - should really know when to stop........... but we went Friday night aswell and I more than doubled my money so add that to the money I lost last night and I'm actually up by about $5 dollars! Yay! So we've done Melbourne Aquarium - that was cool, saw some fat ass shark - was massive, it must of ate Mr Blobby or something and some huge rays and jellyfish, oh and the Nemo fish!! Me and Stevo did a bike ride the other day with a guide - 25kms - I swear if I'd of known that I don't think I would of started (bearing in mind it was at least 32c aswell!) - my thighs hurt so bad the next day I could barely get out of bed! It was worth it though.........went to the Botanical Gardens, Albert Park which is the Grand Prix Track and we saw the pits and rode round the track, St Kilda (where we got free beer!), Southbank and the Docklands area - wouldn't of seen most of that walking around so it was good to see. I felt like such a geek with the massive helmet on though!
Went for a look round Brunswick Street which is just on the outskirts of the city which is meant to be really cool - which it was. Not only did I taste the best Carrot cake EVER I saw some wicked vintage, op-shop and one off designs, shoes and accessories thrown on with a cool mix of cafe/bars and some pretty funky people walking around. So after that excitement we went to the piercing shop.......Stevo got his eyebrow pierced! He was slightly green for awhile after (sorry Stevo, gotta tell the people at home!).
Also visited Old Melbourne Gaol on Saturday where we learnt about Ned Kelly and his hanging there. There was a performance called 'Such Is Life' which were his famous last words and then we got to wear his armour which he made to protect himself from a police shootout - very funny! Gaol was very interesting but abit creepy in the cells - they were tiny! Saw the gallows aswell.......
Yesterday was a very exciting day for me - I went to Ramsey Street - WOOHOO! Got some ace pictures outside all the houses! I nearly didn't get to go though - our guide Shaun (aka the Ginge - he had missing teeth and add that with long ginger hair which was tied up and then shaved underneath = yuck!) hadn't got my name on the list, apparently I'd been booked on the Wednesday tour instead - oops, wasn't my fault, so I got the prime seat in the bus - next to 'the Ginge' - who announced half way down the freeway 'Oh crap I've forgotten the most important prop, I've got to go back'. Now can any of you guess what that 'prop' was?! The flippin Ramsey Street sign - seriously what a dumbass! So after that drama, he then forgot where Drew and Libby's flat was, we then got to Ramsey Street, which is actually called Pin Oak Court. Shaun was a comedy genius without even knowing it. The bus was playing one pap radio station and he annouced - randomly - 'sorry about the radio station folks someone has stolen my knobs'. The whole minibus erupted in fits of laughter and 'the ginge' just looked at me as if to say 'did I say something wrong?!'. I was too busy snorting with laughter to answer him - guess you had to be there?! Erm what else......... oh yeah our hostel has a cinema room so the other night after drinking 4 litres of wine between 5 of us we ventured in to watch Sixth Sense (which by the way scares me - dont like the girl that pukes at all!), it was pitch black in there and guess who stacked it?! I was walking up the steps and as I got to an empty bench I missed the step and fell - wine went everywhere and there were a few sniggers from around the room - how embarassing - glad it was dark in there (and yes we were all pissed by that point!). Oh the joys of hostel living - we were rudely awoken this morning by some ASSHOLE banging on a door in the hall with his wine box - I was just about to get up and kick his ass when Stevo jumped out of bed and yelled at him!! Idiot. We have two Scottish lads in our room who drink all night and play poker (one of them is teaching me at some point) and then sleep all day - they make me laugh. One of them was supposed to start work last week but instead drank until 7am and called in saying he'd had to pick his mate up from the airport as an emergency so was tired! Think he actually got away with that one aswell!Speaking of the Scottish lads - Mike and Neil - they helped towards me having the worst hangover ever with their newly made up drinking game that they tested on me and about 20 other people in the hostel until about 4am on Monday morning - I haven't been able to drink or look at alcohol since......bleurgh!
So the Australian Open......how lucky were we?! We had tickets for the Rod Laver Arena which is the equivelent of Wimbledon's centre court and we thought we would see a few seeded players! Can you imagine how excited we were when we saw the schedule of play........Roger Federer followed by Andy Roddick! Lucky us...Federer 'the fox' (yeh hes hot!) was amazing, hes so talented, fluid movement and such power, no wonder he wins all the time! Then we moved to Show Court 2 which was outside, saw the funniest match. It was Mario Ancic V Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, some Aussies lads in the crowd (who had been on the stubbies all day) decided to re-name poor Garcia-Lopez "Gary" and were yelling 'Go Gazza, Go Gazza, Go" in the same tune as the Aussie Oi Oi Oi song! Hilarious but I guess you had to be there - Garcia-Lopez's fans soon started yelling, also calling him 'Gary'! Ancic's fans retaliated with 'No Gary No Gary No', the crowd was in hysterics and the umpire was getting mad and kept having to tell us all to shut up! Made our day! The weather - wasn't as hot as Tuesday when temps hit 40c - honestly never felt heat like that and all the matches were called off at the Open! I was in bed with a hangover all that day and I can tell you that was NOT nice! So, so, so hot. But typical Melbourne, its raining now! This place had mad weather - the locals say you can have four seasons in one day...........

So I fly to Brisbane on Thursday, Stevo goes to Tasmania on Friday and then on to NZ and Kate is staying in Melbourne for the time being - the 3 muskateers are going our seperate ways!

Ok could write for ages about whats going on over here but I've had enough now! Hope I'm entertaining you all!
Take care everyone, Love Kate xx

Bettys...Hey!!! Gosh yes we have been busy reading that! I love Melbourne, no really i do, seriously i heart this place. At first when we got here i wasnt over impressed thinking it was Sydneys poor relation, but soooo wrong. Sydney dazzles you with its prettyness but Melbourne charms you more and more the better you know her. Melbourne also is fairly spectacular being a city on the river, especially at night when its all lit up but it also has its different areas, my favourite being Fitzroy where Brunswick Street is. Its just so.... cool - theres no ther word for it but i'll try- laid back, effortless, retro, chic with the best atmosphere and culture you just wanna be part of - if you like that sort of thing i suppose! THe music scene is also better than Sydney with lots of live bands on and good Indie nites. But Ive been taking it easy really since we got here - doing the culture thing (apart from the casino i cant really pass that off as culture, but so far so good i'm up $10!). I've been to the aquarium, stroked a stingray (RIP Irwin God Bless) and found out where a starfish's err.. starfish is. Ive been to the Old Melbourne Gaol and nearly had a panic attack when i thought we were stuck in a cell - jesus! That was a really good day tho at the goal really interesting having never seen inside one at all - found out i'd need 6ft 2" of rope to hang me successfully breaking my neck without tearing the skin - nice to know huh??! Went to the Melbourne Museum with our doctor mate Caz which was alot of nature and biology, all good especially nice having someone to explain things more. Been to St Kilda beach a few times but its been so hot you cant really sit out in it, i mean 40 degrees! There are lots of gardens and park areas round the city centre so i sat in one the other day and drew a picture ha! I havent drawn anything for so long, i was actually scared for a good 15 minutes to put my pencil on the page, but i really enjoyed it and it didnt turn out too bad!
The tennis yesterday was great, saw some great play really made me want a game but i've had to be content with entering the hostels Ping Pong Championship! The 'Gary' Garcia-Lopez/Ancic match was hilarious but you would have to be there, poor Gary dont think had a clue what was going on - the crowd were just totally out of control! If you get to see it on T.V look out for us we were right in camera shot.
So as i said loving Melbourne but struggling to find work still at the moment got a few possibles so fingers crossed but staying on a while longer anyway - dont wanna leave! Like Kate says we are all heading separate directions for a while which is going to be really sad and wierd but i'm sure we'll hook back up on the East coast soon. So all up to date now then.
Be good everybody, take care, loads of love K xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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Photos

Melbourne
Crossing the river

The Gaol
Me, Kate & Caz

Ramsey Street
Susan K's house!

The Tennis
Up in the gods at the Rod Laver

Feddy Le Fox
Action Shot

Comments

[Lou]

Snap Happy
Liggo: You have the eye!! The 'Crossing the river' pic is awesome. Westwood: Have you done the skydive challenge yet?!

[jennie]

im not afraid to say it im so jealous
hey mate loved the blogs and pics the ones of new years are amazing!! loved the blogs cant believe how much you have done, andys jealous you went to ramsay st.i'll email you soon take care love and hugs x x x x