Got up and was taken to the airport by J and the girls. We had a final coffee and cake together before they had to leave. Luckily the girls didn't cry otherwise I would have been in floods saying bye to them! The flight was a nice good. it was the perfect length to watch the great Gatsby.
I navigated myself out of the airport and onto the shuttle bus to the bus station in Melbourne. I was about an hour early so I had a $1 frozen coke (best invention ever) until Paddy arrived. We greeted each other with a 'what are you doing here'. It was a short walk to his flat (such a good location on the southbank) where we had dinner and then a chilled evening watching the inbetweeners.
I was yawning as I sat on the sofa but when I decided to go to bed (on the mattress topper in the living room with a sarong as a duvet!) by body then decided 'oh wait its 3 hours earlier in Perth so not bedtime yet'! Had rather disturbed sleep with the fireworks going of for Chinese New Year.
Day 110: Free city tour and cricket at the MCG
I got up and Paddy made us both breakfast before he left for work and I left to navigate the Melbourne tram system to meet the walking tour. Turns out its actually pretty easy, tram straight there, it wa just the map that made it look confusing.
The free walking tour was great as I got to see lots of different areas of Melbourne, all the sights and all these cool lane to see the street art that I would never had thought of going down myself. The only problem is that we must have walked for about 3 hours so I couldn't remember where that cool coffee shop that I wanted to try!
Melbourne parliament building
Ned Kelly street art. Street art has permission from the council where a graffiti does not.
More melbourne street art
The whole of southbank, where the tour ended, was full of market stalls selling food and trinkets for Chinese New Year so with 2 of the girls I got chatting to on the tour we went got delicious Pad Thai from one of the stands and sat watching the lion dancers and then the drummers that were performing on the stage area.
We then got on the free city circular tram to go and explore the Victoria markets. We took the route that allowed us to see the docklands and the side of Melbourne we hadn't seen on the tour. The markets were massive and selling so much. We all bought some great price fruit from the greengrocer section but we could have got fish, meat, cheeses, olives, tea and clothing if we'd wanted to.
We walked back to the CBD and managed to find a cool coffee shop selling amazing coffee. It wasnt the one I'd seen earlier but since Melbourne is renound for its coffee I new I'd have to have some whilst I was here.
Coffee shop
I got a tram back to Paddys flat, had a quick shower then Emma and I headed out to meet paddy at work and we all walked down to the Melbourne cricket ground (MCG) to watch England vs Australia 2020. We obviously lost horribly but it was a really fun night and I now can say I understand both test and 2020 cricket, well more than I did at the start of this summer (or winter depending on the hemisphere!).
Paddy and I at the cricket.
Day 111: Neighbours tour, Captain Cook's house and Melbourne nightlife with Tash
After leaving Paddy's in the morning I walked to the meeting point for the neighbours tour! This was the tour I really wanted to do to indulge my inner fan girl and I was so glad I'd done it. When we got on the bus the driver spent the whole time there chatting about neighbours (awesome) and giving us so many facts about the show without anyone realising what he was doing (did you know neighbours has been sold to 62 different countries and nearly always the most popular pay to watch show in Iceland).
Our first stop was Ramsey Street, well the street they use for the exterior filming. So odd thinking actual people live there, they were definitely Karl and Susan's house or Toadie's house in my head. And I got a real sense as we pulled into the cul-de-sac that I knew exactly where I was!
Next we visited the studio where all the sets are. It was crazy driving around as they the buildings (outside the staff canteen, entrance) for locations and so we drove the corner and I instantly knew that was where Steph had her motorbike crash and Lucas came to rescue her!
The set was much smaller than I expected but I got to see the lasisters complex including Harold's!!!
At Harold's cafe
We watched a video made for the 20th anniversay of neighbours on the way home and I hd lunch again on the southbank with one of the people I met on the tour before going back to Paddy's to grab my bags and then head to the hostel to check in.
I took a tram to Captain Cook's cottage that was nestled in a park here in Melbourne. It was his home from the UK and when it went up for auction someone bought it, dismantled it, transported it the whole way from England to Melbourne and rebuilt it here! It was such a small one up one down cottage set up to look lik when he live there. I then spent some time wandering around the park it is set in seeing the model Tudor village (not sure why they had one) and the fountains.
I met up with Tash afterwards (who I met on the Broome trip) and she took me on a tour of Melbourne's establishments. We started in the river lands bar with great views over the Yarra river on a picnic bench shared with some elderly women and a couple from Norway as it was so busy, then onto Hell's Kitchen situated on the first floor up a narrow staircase imoff a laneway (I would never have found it by myself) followed by a visit to Section 8 for a glass of bubbly whilst sitting on a shipping crate with street art behind me. Very Melbournian and trendy!
We went into China town to Shanghai village for dinner. Tash said they did the best dumplings there and boy were they good. We shared pork and vegetables dumplings and chicken and prawn dumplings and a bowl of veg fried rice. So delicious. As with the bars she took me to, and the places you see on the city tour, they are the places you'd never know to go to by yourself. Loved having a local show me around.
We finished by trying out two other bars/ clubs. The first one we went to, the Carlton Club, had a taxidermy emu in the doorway and a taxidermy giraffe neck and head looking at the bar. It's rather off putting having them there so we sat on the balcony for a while and then decided to go to Cookie club to dance the night away without stuffed dead animals staring at us!
Day 112: Phillip Island
Had a lie in and then got the tram down to the pick up point for the Phillip island tour Paddy, Emma and I were doing. We were the last people to get on the minibus so they had the seats right at the back whilst I had the passager seat next to the driver.
Our first stop was Maru wildlife park where we had a ham salad sandwich before going into the park to have a quick talk with the keepers before we had time to wander around. We got to feed the overexcited llamas but decided against feeding the Emus since they had a pretty crazy pecking action when they ate! We then got to walk through the kangaroo enclosure and Paddy and Emma fed a few of the kangaroos. It was a pretty small wildlife park compared to somewhere like Caversham, Perth, but I guess they've got a perfect location half way between Melbourne and Phillip Island and judging by the number of coaches in the car park they are a very popular stop on the way down.
After more driving we crossed the bridge onto Phillip Island and after dropping a few passengers at the beach the rest of us went to the chocolate factory. They must get so many buyers like me who wasn't planning on buying anything but having the taste of chocolate in my mouth and being able to smell it caused me to buy a (rather delicious) vanilla but chocolate. We had such a drama leaving as 6 people from the tour were missing and as much as the driver and I searched we couldn't see them. In the end I was left at the chocolate factory in case they appeared whilst he went to get the people left at the beach. These people didn't appear until after he'd got back! No clue where they'd been as it was a pretty tiny place!
We then drove to have a look at the Phillip island Grand Prix track. Not for the track though but for the population of wild kangaroos that have learnt they best grass is around the edges there!
We went for a walk to Swan lake to see the swans! We had flake (gummy shark) and chips sitting on the beach in Cowes for dinner before driving to the nobbies, a rocky island that seals live on. Unfortuately I forgot to put on my telescopic contact lenses in today so couldn't actually see any!
Our final stop was the highlight of the whole trip and what we'd been waiting for the whole day... The Penguin Parade!! We had to waited until it was beginning to get dark to see them but they were so cute waddling up the beach in their neighbourhood groups, some who clearly had eaten too much fish walking much slower than the others, back to their nests and their chicks. We chose to stand rather than sit in the two amphitheatre type seating they've got as we not only had a great view of the beach but as we were by the grass there were 4 adorable babies waiting for mummy and daddy to come home and feed them!
As it was going dark I saw one of the most amazing sight ever...a meteorite burning up in the atmosphere. Not a shooting star but a bright orange ball streaking part way across the sky. I'd never seen anything like that and judging by the large gasp that the entire crowd made not had anyone else.
No photos allowed so instead I bought this postcard
Day 113: Great Ocean Road Tour
We got back into Melbourne at midnight last night and I was at the pick up point at 7am so was a bit tired from the lack of sleep!
We stopped at a river bank by some benches for morning tea and a biscuit before driving on towards the great ocean road. We pulled over at the start to get our photos next to the memorial sign. It's the third memorial sign that had been there, the great ocean road was built by soldiers returning from WW1 to commemorate their fallen comrands, but they build it out of wood so each time a big bush fire sweeps through the air it goes up in flames.
We began to drive along it and the views were absolutely stunning. I can't believe the soldiers used pick axes to cave through the rock to build the road!
We stopped for at various look out points and for a walk to see wild koalas asleep in the tree. You would think they Wouk be hidden but there they were napping in a tree right by the side of the road. Today was a much cooler day (low 20s) and with the wind blowing in straight from the Antarctic it was pretty chilly so I had to put my jumper on. On the positive side it meant we were able to see a lot my wildlife: we saw a koala wandering at ground lever from one tree to another and had a kangaroo bounding next to us.
We had lunch (a delicius Greek wrap) at a little town before continuing our journey to the twelve apostles. There are not actually 12 apostles, and there never have been whilst it was a tourist attraction. It started off with 9 limestone pillars jutting out of the sea and 2 have collapsed so we only saw 7 but I guess when the state of Victoria were naming it the 12 apostles had a much better ring to it than the 'there used to be 9 but now there are 7' apostles!
We then visited a little cove where the only two people who survived a shipwreck washed up. The waves were pretty big when we were there and how they made it through the narrow gap allive I'll never understand.
Our final stop was at what is left of London bridge (all these limestone structures keep being eroded by the sea). It used to be two arches and you could walk out to the end but the first arch collapsed.
Back in Melbourne I settled on an early night after all the previous late nights and early starts. Clearly my age is showing :p
Day 114: Free things to do in Melbourne
I spent ages after breakfast trying to get onto the hostel wifi to try and Skype Mozza and ended up buying a coffee in Maccas (I've turned Australian and have started calling MacDonalds this!) to have a lovely chat to her!
First stop for the day was the (free) old treasury building where the gold used to be stored. There was lots on the history of Melbourne and news articles playing with reporters giving info about the 'boat crisis' or the 'new fastest time to London' with all the dates as 1850s which was a pretty good way to tell all the stores. I watched the entire loop!
I got to go into the Melbourne museum for free (thank you student card). It was very much melbourne's natural history museum as the different exhibitions were on a similar theme and they had huge dinosaur bones too. What they did have which London doesn't was a rainforest area inside the museum! They had frogs, fishes and terrapins swimming in the ponds around the trees which was cool. They also had a really good exhibition on the people indigenous to the Melbourne area which was really interesting and I spent ages with the headphones on listening to stories from people who were part of the stolen generation.
I went to St Kilda beach which is only about 30 minutes by tram from the CBD, no wonder Melbourne keeps being voted the most liveable city in the world. There were some odd people on that tram route. The guy next to me was muttering and moaning to himself about 'the youth of today with all there stupid healthy eating' because I was eating an apple! So bizzare! I wanted to go to Luna park and on the old fashioned rollacoaster but they were back to operating a term time schedule so it wasn't open and I ended up being very British and sitting on a very windy beach being blasted by sand but determined to enjoy it and finish my book. When it was finished and I'd brushed half the beach out of my ear, hair and off my back I moved to a coffee shop that had a wind break for a coffee and to write up my diary.
I went back to the hostel to admire my sunburnt bright red nose (stupid wind making me forget how hot and powerful the aussie sun in) and for a free chilli con carni dinner. Got chatting to two girls from Kenilworth(!) whilst I was eating.
Afterwards I walked a rather long winded route (I got slightly lost!) to the Eureka skydeck tower. The viewing area was on the 88th floor and because I'd booked both the previous 2 days tour with the same company I got the trip up and the edge experience for free! Another free thing today :) I'd gone. Up the tower at 7.45 so I was able to enjoy the view during the day and I stayed until 9 so I got to watch the sunset and see all the city lights come on and see it at night from up high. There was an outside area that was very windy and from there I was able to see the replays on the big screen at the MCG! The edge experience was pretty cool although you weren't allowed to take photos. Instead they took photos of you and you had to pay to buy then later. The edge experience was basically a horizontal lift that started out inside the tower and then crept out so you are hanging over the pavement 88 stories up with clear glass beneath your feet. It was okay when you were standing on it but they guy operating told us to sit down and put our faces to the glass... Then it gets scary looking straight down at the pavement!
The hostel still had wifi problems when I got back so after it kept being reset for half an hour I went back to Maccas for a small $1 fries that was eaten super slowly whilst I Skyped Debs!
When I got back to the hostel I found a lovely piece of oragarmi with a note from the two Korean girls saying how nice it was to meet me and how friendly II was. It was such a lovely gesture :)
Korean friends
Day 115: to Canberra
Was up before 6am to grab breakfast, and check out before getting a train to the bus station. I got onto the bus and we'd been given allocated seats for the first time with all the greyhouds I've travelled on but for an empty bus people were being put next to each other. They guy who sat down next to me reeked of stale cigarettes and so I was so grateful when he moved across the aisle so we had 2 seats each! Didn't fancy that smell for the whole 9 hours to Canberra.
At one of the service stations the door fell off the the luggage area so we had to wait for a mechanic to come and fix it. Luckily we were in a town and so one was able to come out straight away, mend it and we were only an hour delayed. If that had happened 100km down the road we'd have been stuck for much longer. Was able to get chatting to a German girl though who was staying at the same hostel as me in Canberra so I suppose every cloud has a silver lining!
Once we'd arrived in Canberra and checked in we decided on going on a walk to the lake. It was like a man made version of Lake Geneva complete with its on fountain (which wasnt on but we did instead get sprayed by sprinklers). We managed to get lost walking there but a lovely aussie lady showed us the way and so we were able to go for a good stroll along the shore.
We had dinner back in the hostel, wanted to go for a relax in the jacuzzi (?!??!?) but it was freezing so sat in the sauna instead for a bit and then after a shower I was lying in bed chatting to the girls in my room and then my alarm was going off in the morning....guess I was rather tired!
Day 116: Canberra
We (the German girl and I) both only had today in Canberra so we decided to squeeze in everything we could. After checking out and leaving bags in lockers we caught a bus to the Parliament building. It's a bit of a strange building as it doesn't scream Parliament to me as it's nestled in capitol hill and has grass on it's roof so it blends in!
We went on one of the free guided tours they offered which was great as the lady running it not only have us lots of information but had the most loveliest voices to listen to I've ever heard. She could have talked to me for 3 hours describing paint as it dried and I probably still have listened!
She took us in to see both the House of Representatives, with its beautiful grey blue seat symbolising the bark of the gum tree, and the Senate, with its pink gum blossom seat and tables the colour of gum nuts (a rich brown). It was really interesting to see them and to hear about some the traditions they have which is basically a copy of the British traditions without the full history behind them being applicable to Australia, which felt a bit odd. It was also nice comparing the differences with the German system too (I did politics for A level okay, this stuff is cool to me!).
We also got to see one of the largest tapestries in the world which I would have sworn from a distance was an oil painting. It turns out it was based on a oil painting of an Austalian bush scene and they did a very good job making it look like the painting. In case you're interested, the largest is in Coventry cathedral and I never knew so never in 4 years did I visit it.
We then walked down to have a look at the two chambers in the old parliament building. They looked much more like the British Parlaiment in with their emerald greens and deep ruby red seats. There was a wall where you could leave a message to the politicians. One very adorable had written a letter beginning 'Dear Tony Rabbit'! I'm sure Mr Abbot would love his new cuddly name!
We got a bus back to the city and then another bus to the War Memorial building. That museum had so much information that you could easily have spent days there reading, listening and watching all that was on offer. We looked at the wall of remembrance, the eternal flame and the tomb of the unknown solider before we went on a 45 minute tour of the Second World War section finishing in a sounds a light show with the actual recordings from inside a plane during the bombing of Berlin. It was so interesting but slightly awkward doing it with someone from Germany.
After we finished looking around we ran for a bus and managed to catch it to get back into town without having to sit at the bus stop waiting for half an hour for the next bus.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Canberra city centre, well specifically the Canberra city mall! We then went back to get our bags and go and get our coach up to Sydney.
Pretty uneventful bus journey and we arrived into Sydney at 9.30. Had a shower and after making sure all I had left was my towel and pjs to pack in the morning I got into bed and feel asleep for the last time in Australia.
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