Well, it was a good thing I came into Melbourne during the comedy festival. I got to see quite a few free shows and have a few good laughs during my short stay here. I had a tour guide on my waterfalls tour that said that people tend to either prefer Melbourne or Sydney and usually it's whatever city they visit first. I would have to say that, though visiting Melbourne first (five years ago) I think I prefer Sydney. Though honestly, they're both a bit too big for me. However, I do love all the street art in Melbourne. There always something to do, though perhaps there are too many options. I guess it just depends on who you are. Anyway, onto what random, crazy stuff I did.
My first night in Melbourne, I got booked into my hostel, had some free tacos and headed to Adam Hills's new show 'Clown Heart' for opening night. I bought my ticket the day they went on sale, so I was in the third row, very close to stage. It was great to see him perform live! He tends to start off his shows bantering with the audience, and this was no different. I haven't laughed that hard in awhile, and it felt good, especially after the hard time I was having leaving my home in Cairns. My hostel was only a 2 minute walk from the venue, so I was able to fall into bed soon after... to be woken up by garbage trucks and the like early in the morning. I keep forgetting the sounds of the city. On the plus side, my room was very dark, so I got quite a bit of sleep, even if it was broken up throughout the night. I had managed to grab some food earlier in the day, so I am back on the diet of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Yay! I think my stomach's gonna freak when it eats meat again. Thankfully due to the generosity of other backpackers, I got some noodles to eat during the week as well. That's right, I have no shame, I totally raid the free food bins. It's how I got an extra thing of peanut butter to use for snacking.
The next day was mainly taking care of business. I needed to get my rail pass sorted out and figure out, in part, the remainder of this part of my trip. I got slightly screwed on price, since, April Fools! they raised the price $50 the day I went in to buy. Oh well. I also ran into a snag because the train from Adelaide to Alice was full so I needed to find another way of getting there, which in this case meant flying. I was able to get a fairly cheap flight, however I keep getting my currencies mixed up and the flight was more expensive than I thought because it was in USD not AUD. Thus, I'm mixing stuff up a bit and having to adjust. At this point I figure I won't be going to Queenstown, just Auckland, and possibly won't be bungy jumping... unless I do it whilst back in Cairns. We shall see. Rail pass and train journeys booked, flight to Alice booked, hostel in Adelaide booked. I was feeling quite accomplished, so much, in fact, that I treated myself to some free comedy. This one was a Swiss woman who could do impressive bike tricks. The hostel had a free 3 hour walking tour on (though I didn't know it was 3 hours when I went on it) so that was a nice way to get reacquainted with the city... as well as get totally turned around and lost. Thankfully our guide knew exactly where she was going and got us back sage and sound. I took advantage of more free food at the hostel, (pasta night, yum!) and took the opportunity to see how my friends in Cairns and Bali were doing. All seemed to be going well for everyone, yay! I slept for quite awhile again, I think I'm trying to make up all the sleep I didn't get while I was drinking so much in Cairns.
More free food, this time, breakfast pancakes! It was a day of free. Free pancakes, free chocolate, free comedy and free video game playing. A short walk from the hostel is ACMI (The Australian Centre for the Moving Image) where there are free exhibits about, you guessed it, moving images. TV, film, video games, etc. In the gaming lab I was able to play a little Tomb Raider, some Super Mario Brothers, Sonic and even Little Big Planet. (The later I had never played before, so that was interesting). They had a lot of neat exhibits to check out for free. It was sort of like being back in one of my media studies classes... but in a good way. I caught some more free comedy, one group from South Korea in particular called 'ONGALS' was very funny. Mostly pantomiming and yelling, so, obviously it was funny. Again, more free food from the hostel, snackies and stuff, but I was able to save some cookies for later! We went passed too many chocolate and dessert shops on our tour, so I was desperately craving sugar. I called it an early night (again) since I had a morning train ride to catch.
I spent the whole next day essentially on the train to Adelaide. I shouldn't be allowed so much time to myself. After getting of the train, I realized I had only said about 20 words aloud to other people so far. That changed as I walked to my hostel since I started talking to myself. I was able to catch a nap on the train, and I finished an entire book with a few hours to spare, so I did manage to get a little bit of writing in. I was getting quite bored actually and just wanted someone to chat with. However, once arriving at the hostel, I was able to chat up some of my roommate. There is a pretty cool Canadian guy who I started talking to. I told him about all our music stuff and he talk about working on the oil rigs in Calgary. It was quite interesting. There was also a trio of boisterous Irish guys who were being quite particular about their attire for the evening. I didn't join anyone going out since I was so tired. It's a bit weird actually being cold again. I had grown accustomed to always being hot and sweaty. One of the really good things about living in the tropics, you rarely have to use lotion... I miss that.
Easter Sunday was a nice little day. I checked out a bike from the hostel (there is a free bike share program in Adelaide and you can rent a bike, lock and helmet free in exchange for your ID) and took a ride to Port Adelaide to check out the Fisherman Wharf Markets. It was supposed to be about a 15km ride one way... that is if you don't get lost and turned around, which I did, a few times. Regardless, I made it to my destination. The port was a cute little town and the market reminded me of some of the craft fairs back home. I didn't buy anything, but there was some neat stuff there. I happened upon some dolphin cruises and decided that $8 for a 2 hour cruise rise was a pretty good deal. Thankfully I had packed a lunch and was able to satiate myself before my expedition. The dolphins actually swam with the boat for awhile and I got a few good pictures of them. There were a few other boats along the way, and even a large liner from Hong Kong that was getting pushed around by tug boats. It was a great way to spend the afternoon. Back on land, I grabbed my bike and headed back towards Adelaide. This time I had a better idea of where I was going, however, I was going straight into the wind, so, you know, that was super fun. I took a bit of a detour, and instead headed into the downtown area of Adelaide. Why? I had read that there was a bar called The Woolshed (yes, just like in Cairns) and I needed to find it, take a picture and send it to my pals. It was perfect timing, because right after my phone decided to die and I had to finish navigating myself back to the hostel. Quite easy with a map. I may be slightly directionally challenged, but give me a map and I'm golden. So, about 50km and 7.5 hours later and I was back. Shower, dinner, the end of 'American Beauty' and I was spent. I think I'm gonna be sore tomorrow. It'll be good for me though. The plan for tomorrow is to go to the zoo, however, seeing as it's supposed to rain, I might opt for indoor activities like museums and art galleries. Then, on Wednesday I go on my Kangaroo Island tour! I should get lots of pictures from that. Hopefully I can do some sand surfing too.
Well, I'm beat. I honestly don't know how I'm even still awake and writing this, but there you go. Have a good week everyone. I hope all your spring breaks and all that were enjoyable and that the weather is treating you nicer. Until next time, take care.
Cheers,
-Celina
