Advertisement
So just after publishing that last blog with rumors of snow, it actually snowed!!! Just sitting there and BAM snow, although it didnt settle as it was too wet but still.......serves us right since we've been complaining about how we've missed all the english snow this year!!
Monday night on the bus passed better than usual as we had enough room to spread out-so curled up over two seats until my neck was in total pain at which point i decided sitting up was probably better! Arrived to still coldish weather in Melbourne at 8am so after paying to put our bags in the lockers we decided we couldn't function without breakfast, nice poached eggs on wholegrain toast (since so many seem to be reading for the food i'll keep it up!) then wondered around town for a bit popping into shops, including a department store where we fell victim to samples which turned out to be the most disgusting smelling thing in the world until we got to the actual products, thank god. Although when it came to the freebies they only had foundation which is not what i want. We went over to Southbank, via booking the neighbours
tour for thursday and popping into yet another second hand bookshop as i continued in the habit of leaving books on buses (my third one) so literally went to buy the same book again! Lunch followed with chicken, roasted vegtables and cheese on turkish bread, altho the chicken was sadly like rubber- nice. We then went to the Library- to keep warm and rest due to extreme exhaustion- where i manged to make some notes on San Fran. Barb picked us up at 4 from the station although not before a minor crisis as the olive oil from the food bag had leaked ALL over libby's bag, though luckily didnt soak through. When we got to their house, which is about 20minutes from the centre, we were greeted with tea and homemade chocolate cake before Libby started scrubbing her bag while i used the internet. We had dinner before a brainstorm of the free things to do in Melbourne which is always good. We hit the sack pretty early to try and catch up on all our missed sleep!
Wednesday morning, everyone left for work and school at 7 so when i awoke it was just the dogs around!
Had breakfast of apricot and raisin toast before showering etc and heading out into the cold weather! It's very easy to get into town from where we are staying so a short train journey and we were ready to hit the cultural sites of Melbourne. Federation Square was our first stop as we listened to some Jazz, there's a festival going on all week with various jazz acts. Afterwards we headed into the Australian Museum of Moving Images to see independant films which never make it to the big screen and some of them are simply student films. After entertaining ourselves in a little pod and choosing a film about a Car Park and a religous cult (!) we stepped out and went to get a list of all the Free Things to do in Melbourne- an essential!! We headed into the art gallery next door to see Aboriginal Art and various modern artists work which was interesting. A final visit to the Cathedral nearby and then we headed back. Bar getting to and from the centre we managed to survive the WHOLE day without spending money- a proud accomplishment! I really like Melbourne as a place and felt like
we were finally doing cultural things in Oz not just the toursit stuff which was quite London like. We thought about getting half price theatre tickets but decided we'd wait for Sydney when we have more time. After dinner Keith took us on a night-tim driving tour of the city to see a different side of it which was lovely although as always at night the pictures are nothing to write home about!!
Thursday morning and the day had finally arrived as we dressed ourselves to go the neighbours set trying to ignore the pouring rain! First we headed into town to the Queen Victoria Market where we pretended to browse the clothes and jewelry which we couldn't afford until we got to the main attraction- the food! Since we've both been craving some good cheese we decided lunch would be a loaf of bread and a different cheese each! It was goat's cheese and Manchego for me although as always there was way too much so some had to be saved for Friday! We walked around taking a bite out of each and hoping the tastes merged, very elegant! Arrived at the Neighbours Centre and hopped aboard the
full bus, first stop was to 'Ramsay Street' which is acutally PineOak Court or something, it looks a lot smaller in real life and it must be such an odd experience actually living in one of those houses with hoards of tourists as well as camera crews always at the door! The street has a security guard of course! Had our photos taken with the sign as well as outside the Kennedy's etc all very exciting! Next stop was the actual studio's although we weren't allowed in so really we only saw the garage and bus stop etc but you got a feel for it!! Final literal stop was to Edinsborough High School aka Blackburn School for English Language Students!! Again we got a lot of exterior shots of the basketball courts etc- without actually disturbing the school kids trying to learn! Everybody get's to meet a star of the show and after seeing so many photos of people with Karl Kennedy, Ramsay Streets Doctor Extrordinaire I was happy but a little disappointed to see Janelle Timmins!! She looked incredibly different with dark hair and a less trashy appearence! We got our photos and autographs as well as the chance
to ask a few questions although she seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere!! A great day out- cheese and tv!! We had Turkish takeaway that evening as well as a night in front of the tv, before the bus friday night!
Friday we literally took as a day of rest, after showering and changing into tracksuit (one step up from PJ's!) I watched some Grey's anatomy while Libby used the internet and then we watched trashy films all afternoon with food and packing breaking up the day! As we become increasingly aware of being independent we will be in NZ with nobody to stay with we're making the most of every opportunity we've got!! Especially since we're normally spending the whole day already checked out and killing time this was a great day to rest! After a last supper we headed to the bus station to hop aboard the next greyhound- hoping to get 2 seats each again!! Sadly we managed it for the first half until more passengers got on at 4am and ruined our lives.
We arrived in Sydney saturday morning and headed straight to Lou's (the woman we'd met in Chiang Mai
at the elephant reserve) although as our bus got in early- a first- we delayed time a bit by having tea and coffee- figuring it not best to arrive before 8am!! We had a relaxing morning watching tv before showering and heading out to lunch locally with Lou and her mum Penny who was also at the elephant reserve. Libby and I then headed out for a walk to a park and along the waterfront near Glebe Point which ended up with us at a market where not only was there a plethora of cheap second hand clothes- we managed to stop ourselves- but also a box of completely FREE CLOTHES!!! We did not stop ourselves!! Although by the time we walked back ( a long walk may i add- we were gone for like 3hours) and tried some of them on there was like one thing worthwhile, still you can't fight free stuff!! That evening was a BIG dilema as we wanted to have a big night out in Sydney but were obviously shattered from the night bus etc, so without any idea of where to go etc we decided just to head down to Bondi with Lou driving
for a bottle of wine and then early night which was lovely and just what we needed although can't help but feel we wasted it a bit..... The drama on the way back made up for it, with the Police randomly pulling over cars for breathalysing!! Lou had obv had a glass but none of us thought she was over the limit, but you still panic so after the longest 5minutes of my life we could finally drive on and breathe again!!
Sunday we woke fairly early after a cold night's sleep and went down to Hyde Park (not the real one) then walked for like 2hours round the water to the harbor, to take all those classic photo's of the opera house etc then we caught a ferry over the water and walked over the Sydney harbor Bridge. It was a perfect autumn sunny day which means like 20 degrees, finally some sun, so a great day for that walk around although we were really hungry but a Brunch Bar had to suffice! Once we'd crossed the bridge (never mind payin 150 dollars to climb it!) we went for a drink at The Glenmore hotel with a rooftop
terrace over looking the harbor. It's easy to forget exactly how much water there is around here, definitely a city i could live in! We came back about 4pm after popping to the shops for dinner, about 5 of Lou and Micheal (her brother)'s friends came round and all cooked lasagne, lush garlic bread with Parmesan and salad! We watched in earnest trying to pick up tips for when we're back on the road alone!! The food and wine were lovely!!
We cannot believe we only have a few days left in Oz before flying to NZ on Saturday, time's really beginning to fly! We haven't yet worked out a plan for the rest of the week and fitting in all the things we need to do!!!
Also i have emailed a couple of people but worried they maybe going straight to junk folders, so everybody have a check!! Apologies if there's actually nothing there!!
Lots of love xxxxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.17s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 53; dbt: 0.0509s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
tricia123
patricia anderson
Fuzzy photos!
Would love to have seen your photos of Sydney but all were out of focus! Pat.