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Published: February 5th 2007
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The Dog Sculpture
Our first day in Melbourne and Joanna met this little guy on Swanson Street... how cute! Melbourne is the coffee capital of Australia and so it seems fitting that Joanna has started a job here in a cute little coffee shop, in the Richmond suburb, called Joy! Yes, we've decided to settle down for a month or two (hence the delay in adding this entry) and earn some pennies before we see Australia's East coast and New Zealand. That said, James is struggling to find the office job he'd been planning on getting... after several applications and interviews, as well as signing on with two job agencies it's all gone a bit quiet.
Anyway, this city is definitely the most exciting we've visited in Australia, it's bursting at the seams with culture. The museums, particularly the immigration museum, and the art galleries are fantastic. There is a very European feel to Melbourne, including the weather, which has lived up to the 'four seasons in one day' saying we heard thrown around before we arrived. The little streets in the Central Business District which run in between the Victorian buildings and office blocks are crammed with little cafes and bistros offering Italian and French specialties, reminding us of Rome and Paris. Trams travel up and down the
Federation Square
Meeting place and heart of the city, Federation Square is an amazing mix of shapes creating exciting open spaces both inside and outside high streets and out to the suburbs making Melbourne feel very different to the car dependent cities we've seen so far.
We have been lucky to time our visit to coincide with the Australian Open (we didn't even know it was held in Melbourne until we turned up) and last weekend we got a ground pass to take in some tennis. We managed to get fantastic seats in the Vodafone Arena (similar to Wimbledon's Court One) for Tommy Haas' fourth round game before heading out to some of the smaller courts to see some doubles games. James got so excited by seeing Martina Hingis at such close range in the ladies doubles that all common sense left him as he turned into a member of the paparazzi - he actually chased her with his camera as she moved off court as play was suspended for a short rain shower! Overall the atmosphere was fantastic, even at the smaller courts the crowd really got into it, one man declaring his undying love and wish to marry Martina Hingis at the top of his voice between points amused everyone.
We managed to meet up with two of our friends we
Federation Square Atrium
Coffee shops (of course), an Art Gallery and the Australian Centre for Moving Images are all housed here met in Perth at Christmas, Jason and Hailey, for drinks in the coastal area of St Kilda. With so many cool bars to drink in, we did a bit of a alcohol fueled tour of the seaside strip, in what must have been the coldest night we've experienced in Australia - we swore we could have been back home as we waited for the tram back to our hostel. On the way back we were confronted by an over confident possum which didn't which to move out of our path, on our walk through the gardens near our temporary home. Joanna displayed what has become known as monkey-syndrome (see 'Monks & Monkeys' entry) and had to be talked into going any further for a good ten minutes! Luckily this possum didn't seem to be aggressive and when we were safely home Joanna forgot the fear of the moment and regretted not having taken a photo! A good night though and hopefully we'll meet up with them back in England when we return home. We'll also make a return journey to St Kilda as we've heard all about its famous cakes!
We should also mention that we've changed hostels a
Yarra River
The area in the background is known as the South Bank, on the opposite side of the river to the main shopping district couple of times while in Melbourne and that has been, how shall we say, an 'experience'. Our first place was nice enough, but when we moved to another hostel in South Yara we were a little spooked out. We had read a review online before moving there, that the place was haunted, which for some reson didn't put us off and the place certainly felt weird when we arrived. It wasn't until the sun went down that things got a little stranger, the building was really old and had long, dim corridors and hallways that you'd be walking along to get to the bathroom... then suddenly a really pale old man would jump out on you! He didn't speak other than to mummble a bit and no one ever saw him during the day, he just seemed to exist at night in order to scare the crap out of you! We used to dread going to the loo for fear of running into this guy, seriously weird. We were quite relieved when it came to the end of our stay and we are now on the other side of town, just round the corner from Joanna's workplace, where we will
The Arts Centre
Where we will be seeing Barry Humphries in a few weeks time... probably remain until we leave the city.
With it being James' birthday in a couple of weeks time, we've bought tickets to see Barry Humphries at the Theatre in the Melbourne Arts Centre, which should be fun! We will probably do another blog entry before we leave Melbourne, with us being here for such a long time, so we'll let you know what it was like. Then in March it's up to Canberra and Sydney before we hit the Gold Coast, where we will hopefully meet James' brother, who has just started his own traveling adventure. Speak to you soon!
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Ali
non-member comment
Melbourne
Hi guys. Sorry I haven't been in touch for so long. Glad you are enjoying Melbourne enough to stay. It was my longest stop-off in Oz too. You'll have to make a trip to Neighbours night. V.touristy but if you love Neighbours as much as me it definitely worth it! Things are all good in Leeds now the depression of January is over. I'm counting down the days til I go to Canada when I will be living in completely contrasting weather conditions to you guys. You think its cold there - its minus two tonight in Leeds so count yourselves lucky! Anyway, much love and good luck on the job hunt James. Love Ali xxx