Melbourne
Day 80 - 18th Apr - Melbourne
I was glad to be back in Melbourne once again. Unlike Sydney I had only been to Melbourne once while working on the Sun Princess but I had immediately fallen for the place in that one day. It's not hard to see why choosing the capital was such a hard choice. Melbourne may not have the iconic harbour but it 's still a very cosmopolitan and is often considered the arts capital of Australia. Street performers seem to frequent the streets much more than in Sydney and the city centre was pleasant, especially the pedestrian areas along the riverside.My only complaint about Melbourne is the traffic, which is horrendous. They have a fantastic tram system that includes both modern and comfortable vehicles and old restored wooden carriages that run the free city circle line. I reckon they should introduce congestion charges like London and then lower the tram fares. But I'm just an outsider what the hell do I know?
I spent the day wandering around the city centre, hopping on and off the free city circle tram and ambulating at a leisurely pace along the walkways next to the Yarra River.
Later I returned to my hostel to find people jumping off the roof and running down the side of the walls. Had I more money I would have had a go but by now I was already way over my spending limit for the holiday. Besides, I'd done plenty of similar activities before when in New Zealand.
Day 81 - 19th Apr - Around Melbourne
Today I bought a day pass for the tram, the conveniently cheap 'sunday saver' and spent some time exploring the outer reaches of the city. I made my way down to St. Kilda, the beach area of Melbourne. As far as city beaches go it was rather pleasant. All of Melbourne was out with their kids and their dogs enjoying the splendid weather. I wandered through the markets and made my way to Luna Park, the fairground located on the waterfront.Luna Park proved to be an attraction geared towards children more than adults with only a couple of rides that would come close to satisfying an adrenaline junkie like myself so I spent some time people watching instead. There were some adorable children's rides including a miniature long-drop ride that seemed to thrill the adventure seekers too small to ride the bigger ones.
I took a stroll along the main pier and returned to the city centre to explore some more. I was impressed at the imposing size of the cathedral. With Australia being such a young country I wasn't expecting to see any giant medieval looking buildings but the scale of the building dominated the surrounding area.After it got dark I ascended the Eureka Tower, the tallest building in Melbourne, and possibly Australia too I'll have to check that one. The view of the city at night were wonderful, I always find that most cities look their best after the sun sets and the lighting kicks in.
I got the fright of my life when walking along the bank of the Yarra next to the Crown Casino. I thought terrorist were attacking as a huge explosion lit up the area but it turned out to be a fire display that occurs every hour outside the casino. On the hour, regular as clockwork, large towers light up and belch out colossal gas flares that illuminate the entire area with a brilliant yellow glow. The flared are accompanied with almost deafening roars as the giant mushroom clouds erupt from the pillars, causing many small children to scream and cry in quite genuine terror. I really was ridiculously ostentatious and also enormously entertaining.
Later I returned to the hostel and called it another early night, I simply didn't have enough money left to explore the nightlife.
the impressive cathedral
I thought we were under attack!Day 82 - 20th Apr - Melbourne
A relatively uneventful day, I simply walked around Melbourne some more trying not to spend too much money. The main event of the day was when I changed hostels. The current one wasn't awful, in fact it was mostly well run but it suffered from a horrendously inadequate kitchen. It would have been poorly equipped for a fifty person hostel let alone one of this size. There is simply no way a seven hundred guest hostel should have eight hot plates to cook with and, astonishingly, about five spoons to go around everyone. In fact there was such a crippling shortage of cutlery that I saw one poor sod eating his breakfast cereal with a fork! It was simply unforgivable. I suspect that it's a scheme cooked up by the McDonald's across the road, they bribe the hostel to have a crap kitchen so everyone is forced to eat out. Of course I would rather lick an entire highway clean with my tongue that choke down what McDonald's has the audacity to label food but most people do not share this disdain for the place.The new hostel, right in the city centre, was smaller but nicer and had a good enough kitchen much to my relief. I mean really, five fucking spoons between seven hundred people! That's just unacceptable!
Day 83 - 21st Apr - Phillip Island
I had signed up for one of Melbourne's most famous attractions, the penguin parade. Not far outside town at a place called Phillip Island live hundreds of tiny little penguins, the smallest in the world. Every day at sundown, regular as clockwork, these super cute little birds return from fishing in the ocean and waddle up the beach towards their homes in the bush. They aren't trained or herded around, they are wild animals who are returning home at the end of a long day.That would be after dark however and right now we still had plenty to see during the day. First stop was an animal sanctuary out of town. I've been to similar places in Australia before during my last ship contract but I never get tired of them. I always love places where the animals can roam around and be fed by visitors. I grabbed a food bag and found some kangaroos and the ever delightful wallabies. Other animals included the giant rabbit-like wombat and the
ridiculously lovable koala. The highlight for me was being able to handle a tame python with the rather uninspired moniker of Monty. We left the park and made our way to Churchill Island.Churchill Island had a historic farm situated upon it that included preserved early settlers homes on it. It also featured sheep shearing demonstrations which probably sounds thoroughly boring to many but proved entertaining to a city slicker like myself.
As it started to get dark we arrived at the beach where the penguin parade was to take place. I chose the closest possible seat to the beach and waited patiently. Eventually a small group of penguins arrived on the beach and stood at the waters edge. They were nervous and skittish, everything frightened them. It was nothing to do with our presence, we kept still and quiet, but every sudden movement from the local seagulls would cause them to jump back in the water with fright. They would waddle forward, glancing awkwardly around before taking a few steps forward.
Eventually they plucked up the courage to press on and they were soon within an arms length of us, though we didn't move ourselves. If only photography was permitted but apparently flash photos disturb the poor birds and so picture taking was banned. You might think 'why not just ban flash photography?' but the number of idiots in the past who forgot to turn the flash off or not know how eventually proved to be too much. I managed to sneak a couple of low quality videos though! Hey as long as the penguins weren't harmed.It was late by the time we arrived back in the city and so, once again, I retired early to my hostel to avoid the temptation of going out for an exorbitantly priced drink.
cutest penguins ever!Day 84 - 22nd Apr - Melbourne
Once again I had another slow day simply walking around Melbourne doing very little. It's easy to pass time like this in such a great city, especially in good weather. The next day would be the next leg of my trip along the south coast of Australia.
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