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Published: August 13th 2005
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Stowaway!!!
...on the plane at heathrow :) G'day!!
(hehe, totally predictable, but who cares!!!!)
so i thought that i should probably update because i've been here since tuesday now and have done loads and loads! so *WARNING* this could be a super long big fat entry!!! (that and i tend to waffle...)
boring stuff - flight was ok, really long though, totally didn't realise that a day is a loooooong time. especially sat down. on a plane.
its so so cold here at the moment!! like, think england. in winter time. and because its winter here, its dark by 6, its strange!!! have been borrowing coats and scarves left right and centre, need to go shopping methinks... (any excuse!!)
apparently wednesday was the coldest day that they've had in melbourne in 35 years!! they even had snow in some of the surrounding towns, including colac (i'm sure you'll totally appreciate the gratuitous neighbours ref rozi!!) which is quite near here. hmmm, apparently they say that in melbourne you can experience four seasons in one day - well, so far, i've experienced one, and it's bloody cold!! ooooh, but we've had log fire burning for the past few days, is lovely and cosy!
so
Federation square
in the heart of melbourne much for getting a tan!! still, i have plenty of time for that sort of thing when i get to queensland. to be honest though, it's actually a really nice day today, really sunny and fresh. i guess that's a good way to describe it.
i'm staying with friends at the moment, its really nice to see them and have someone show me around all the places that i maybe wouldn't go if i was on my own. my own personal tour guides, hehe! tis brilliant.
i'm staying in a town called werribee at the moment, its about 30km from melbourne. as you come out of werribee and onto the freeway that heads into melbourne, you can actually
see melbourne, even though it's so far away, its a really strange experience. it looks very much like new york, with all the sky scrapers and things like that. and then in the back ground, you have a mountain range called the dandenongs. to the other side you then have another grgoup of mountains called the you-yangs. the views are breath-taking, they really are. they totally fill you up. its weird. i can't even begin to explain really. and in
Down by the yarra river
Wintry wintry melbourne :) the foreground you then have this landscape that is dotted with eucalypt trees.
i can't get over how cheap things are over here either - i'll probably keep going on and on about it, but seriously, it is amazing! most things, what we would pay in pounds is what they pay in dollars. and there is $1 to 40p. eep! totally loving it 😊
ooooh, and i swear, the green man is conspiring to put me in hospital. whereas in england, green man means "go for it, its totally ok to cross the road, all the cars have stopped at the red light!" in australia, or melbourne at least the green man means "hmmm, well, you can cross if you want i guess. but cars might still keep coming and try to run you over." you have to have your wits about you all the time!!!
all of the houses are totally huge and look like they should be in neighbours, tis hilarious 😊 oooh, and neighbours is so far ahead over here that i have no idea what is going on, tis all very confusing and i really think that someone should email me regularly and
A room with a view
The view of the melbourne and the bay from the observation deck (you can see the dandenong mountain range in the background) let me know what is going on in neighbours in england so i can figure out what is going on, mkay? 😊
oooh, and while i remember, how confusing is this - the day i got here, they put nadia in the big brother australia house. obviously what with the jet lag and everything, lindsey was tres baffled!!
chocolate tastes funny, its really sweet and even though its cadburys, it really doesn't taste the same as in england. not sure i like it, i think i shall have to eat more in order to reach an informed decision... :D
burger king is called tasty jacks.
everyone loves you instantly when they realise that you are english, its great!! the australians are all uber friendly and lovely and helpful, makes such a difference to most english people!
on my travels have visited a few beaches - werribee south, altona, williamstown (that was beautiful - they had yachts and everything!) - but because it was so cold we stayed in the car!! hehe. but its so novel to be anywhere near the sea i honestly didn't mind that it was so cold! they have electric barbeques down
...and another one!
another view of the city from the observation deck on the beaches which the public just use, tis weird.
everything seems weird at the moment to be honest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the aussies are amazingly food and coffee orientated - went into melbourne yesterday and i swear, i have never seen so many restaurants, fast food places and cafes in my life! tis great, totally loving it 😊 i had fish and chips the other day, but they don't have cod here, they have flake insteak, which is SHARK! eep! of course, i had to try it 😊 twas ok, but tasted a little soapy i guess? don't think i'd eat it again if i was given a choice, but still, at least i tried it.
juice bars are like the in thing over here - no exaggeration, they have them on every single street corner, the main one is called "boost", and they are way yummy! they do things like fruit smoothies and fresh fruit and veg juice.
yesterday i did the tourist thing in melbourne and went up the rialto observation tower, twas absolutely brilliant! you go 54 floors up this huge officec building and the views!!! oh wow, the views! you can see for miles and miles, and its so strange because you have mountains in the distance, totally surrounding melbourne, then you have the actual city and then you have the bay with the sea and all the beaches, its beautiful.
today i went to melbourne with nick, rachael and the kids and we went to the queen victoria market, which is apparently victoria's biggest indoor market. seriously, it was huuuuuuuge! they have one section with random market type stuff, totally geared towards the tourists, boomerangs galore 😊 then there's another section with fruit and veg. then they have a seperate meat and fish market and then a deli market. so so much fun 😊
we walked all the way through melbourne to the crown which is a huge casino-entertainment-restaurant-cinema-hotel complex on the southbank, all very posh and lovely, really really liked it down there, its over the river (the yarra) as you head out of the centre of melbourne, totally worth the walk.
ummm, i think that's it really 😊 hope that i haven't bored everyone totally :P i really should get into the habit of updating this more often!!
hope that you are all doing ok and not missing me too much! :D
hugs and stuff!
lins
xx
ps, when i figure out how to put photos and maps and stuff on here i'll put them up!
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Chris
non-member comment
Hooray
they have big brother there too? Curse you BB!!!! good to hear from you :)