Arriving in Melbourne I (as always... I need to pick my timing better!!) faced a rush hour struggle, with a tram, an increasingly huge rucksack and alot of commuters!!! Fun!!! Not to mention an awkward battle up a hill on disembarking the tram to get to our hostel (which was pretty nice - more a guest house really!!!) So it was with mixed emotions I greeted the train station right next door... happy as it would make my return journey into town later that evening an absolute breeze... and devestated I hadn´t known of its existence earlier!!!
The day after my arrival into Melbourne, Emma flew in from Cairns. We´d decided to break our stay up - a few days in the city and a few by the beach... therefore Emma´s first few nights we were staying in Richmond - a short walk across the park from the city centre and an ideal location for the Australian Open. It transpired that Richmond was home to a fantastic choice of Vietnamese restaurants, so Emma´s first night we decided to battle the masses (despite possibly having seemingly more restaurants than most Vietnamese cities, they were all absolutely rammed - presumably because of the tennis!!) and had a nice meal followed by a glass of wine.
The following morning we had a leisurely start, before heading across the park to the Rod Laver Arena and the quarter finals of the Australian Open! It was a fantastic day, watching Ana Ivanovic´s closely fought victory over Venus Williams and Novak Djokovic tear shreds out of David Ferrer. On wandering round some of the smaller courts, Emma was particularly happy that we got to see both Nadal and Federer training!!! We also saw the relatively unknown Tsonga (the eventual finalist) warming up... but randomly we were the only people watching him!! (Ahhh!!) That evening we ventured to the night market at Queen Victoria Markets, for some budget food (!) and a bit of shopping before meeting heading out to meet up with a few of my friends for drinks.
Thursday required more city centre sightseeing and er... a bit more shopping (maybe there´s a clue here somewhere why my bag feels so heavy?!?) before we headed out to our next hostel in St Kilda (by now, we even felt ready to survive the bus!) Other than the beach, St Kilda also has an array of cool bars and cafes, so that evening we met up with a few of Emma´s friends to explore them!!
Friday however, brought a ridiculously early start... for the Neighbours tour!!! (Well, we grew up with that show, it had to be done!!!) We visited Erinsbrough High, then some of the sets outside the studios such as Grease Monkeys and Carpenter´s Mechanics... before heading to Ramsay Street! Ramsay Street was completely surreal - you get a real feeling of de-ja-vu because it is so familiar, but its also just mad... it actually exists as a real street with real people living in it!!! And yet it is the exact street you see on TV - identical houses... its just bizarre!!! Our guide let us in on a few ´plot secrets´, we ´met a star´(!!!) and even got to watch some old-school episodes on the tour bus!!! Haha!!!
The afternoon was a different tour again!!! This time to Phillip Island to see the little penguins (again!!!) It was amazing though, sitting on a little board walk above the beach, watching hundreds of penguins... one group at a time, cautiously approach the shore, then eventually scuttling slowly across the beach and up into the dunes!! At times they were only feet away as they made their way back to their nests for the night!!!
Saturday was Australia Day, so after a lie in, we picked a cool cafe in St Kilda for brunch, before spending a relaxing afternoon on the beach, then heading to check out some of the celebrations, first by the docklands and then (via Nandos!!) to Federation Square, where there was some live music followed by fireworks... it was another fun day, but sadly our last in Melbourne... Sunday morning we were flying off to Sydney... :-(
