I had a productive day in Canberra visiting the Australian War Memorial of the australian soldiers who died in WW1 and WW2 this was a sad place to visit but eye opening as well. They had real bomber planes in there, guns you name it from the world wars they even had a newspaper of the morning the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. I then went to Parliament house which was a beautiful building albeit a bit boring but great if your into politics there was public access to the commons where they decide upon laws to enforce which was quite cool. Next stop was the Australian Museum all things Australian with a great focal point on Aboriginal culture and a history into how it all started with the european settlement right to the public apology made to the Aboriginees. The surrounding of Canberra was fairly quiet and laid back with nothing much more than a busy city centre which was just a huge mall and lots of government buildings. Not much else going on here and I am glad I spent no more than 2 nights, I knew it would be this way though and it was a good pit stop before arriving in Melbourne. Met a woman from Hawaii who I went around with that day which was quite cool. The next day I left the hostel which was both quiet and overpriced serviced by lazy staff. I left early in the morning and contemplated on how to head to Melbourne. There was 2 options a Greyhound coach which is a popular form of transport here for long distance or a Flight. Railway is not an option. Considering the Greyhound coach was a 12 hour drive from 20:00, I chose to take an early internal flight for $95 and arrive there in 55 minutes, the quickest flight ever. Getting on the plane I was nominated for explosives testing, maybe I look dodgy..
By the time you eat your food and they take your tray you're putting seat belts back on getting ready for landing. I got off at the Airport and thought right where the fuck now? City Centre! so I hopped on a shuttle bus which took you straight there. Next I had to find a hostel, which wasn't as easy as Sydney. I used a hostel transfer service free of charge from the same company who took me to the city centre as it was included in the price but I had no hostel booked up so I had to wing it and try my luck. I picked out a random YHA called 'Oasis' and luckily they had a spare room for the night.
The only problem is this is quite a hell of a walk from the main city centre at least 35 mins if you know exactly where you're going. Upon arrival I had a 2 bed dorm which is very unusal in comparison to the common 4 - 8 bed dorms. I immediately made friends with my room buddy Dave who was from southern Ireland. That night I met another 8 or so people in total who were all really cool and we had a good evening drinking 'Goon' - some sort of cheap white wine / cider; which tastes better the more you drink along with a bbq guitars and sing song. This place had a real good vibe as it was small and you are forced into meeting people. Pretty much everyone knows each other.
The weather in Melbourne is great btw a good 30 degrees clear sunny days.
I then had to depart in the morning to my new hostel the 'Metro'. Now on the map it looked like an ok walk but in the heat, with a backpack going uphill it's not one of the best things to do. I finally get there drenched in sweat and have to wait around for about 3 hours to get my room key what a fucking joke. As soon as I arrive I can instantly tell this is nowhere as good as the previous hostel. it has a very different vibe people seeming more reluctant to start conversations and being a much bigger hostel this is why.
When I get to my room I notice it is an 8 share room with no air con. Great! to top it off a couple of twat scousers in the room who find jokes about immature stupid things amazingly funny. Other than 2 guys everyone else is paired up so it's not ideal for mingling.
I went for a trek around the city today and it was a hell of a walk not to mention the heat was intense. I made it to Federation Square and the royal gardens which was really beautiful. I decide to lay down for a bit which turns into about 2 hours and I continued my walk back to the hostel after sitting by and walking along the Yarra river which was really nice.
On my walk back I started to realise just how far I had walked to get there and the heat was getting even more intense and I was walking for AGES. Then somewhere along the way I took a wrong turn and ended up walking in the opposite direction! grr the second time that's happened! so most of my day was walking and working out the area.
That day after my little sunbathe when I went into a few shops I noticed I was getting some funny looks off people and was thinking what the hell are they staring at? when I get back to the hostel I look in the mirror and yep I am as red as a tomato haha then it all made sense.
Later that day I made friends with some people from my room, turns out there are 2 lone travellers in there one called Thorbin from Denmark and another called Hassen from Sweden both pretty cool guys. Thorbin has a masters in Astro Physics and was a very interesting conversation! - he was involved in the creation of a space probe tool which does something to the dust on Mars! There was a couple from paris too which were very nice! Turns out I am not alone in sharing my negative views with the two scouser twats they are all pissed off with them and I think they have picked up the bad vibes and are starting to quieten down in the night.
Today, time to do the laundry I think, but we'll see how it goes don't want to strain myself too much....
