Off to Melbourne!

Almost immediately following my trip to Brisbane and Cairns, I went to Melbourne, which is about ten driving hours south of Sydney.  Going south meant it was much cooler than my sunny trip to Cairns, but it was still fun nonetheless.


Thursday, April 21st:  My friends, Megan and Madeline, and I headed off to Melbourne at around 6:30 p.m.  Actually, Madeline is one of my roommates, and one of our other roommates, Carly, so graciously offered to bring us to the train station in her town, Junee, which was half way between Sydney and Melbourne.  So the four of us hopped in the car and drove four hours to Junee; we arrived at Carly's house around 10:30 p.m.  The first thing I was greeted with when I stepped out of the car--tumbleweed!  Yes, tumbleweed does exist in the real world, outside of hokey Western films.  It felt wonderful to go inside a real home for a few hours (our train didn't leave until 2:00 a.m.).  We talked with Carly's mom for awhile and watched a movie before going to the train station.  At 2:30 a.m., we boarded our train for the five hour ride to Melbourne.  Needless to say, we slept the whole way.  I have to say, after all this traveling, I've gotten really used to sleeping upright in pretty uncomfortable positions.  We arrived in Melbourne around 8:30 a.m.; we went straight to our hostel to check in.  After finding a map, we navigated our way to the intersection of Franklin and Elizabeth Street--and found Melbourne International Backpackers.  I've also gotten pretty good at navigating cities via the old-fashioned paper map.  It's actually a pretty powerful feeling, being able to navigate a city soon after arriving.  I've also gotten pretty used to hostel-living.  Hostels are such interesting things... people come and go so often, and there's a certain type of person that usually stays in a hostel.  I've encountered many a backpackers... they're usually young, living cheaply, and willing to meet anyone and everyone they come across.  At Melbourne International Backpackers, the kitchen was a common gathering area for everyone.  At all times, people were talking, singing, and playing guitars in the kitchen. 

Friday, April 22nd:  So after arriving a the hostel and cleaning up a bit, we walked around the city all day.  Two of the girls in our hostel room had a guide book which suggested a certain walking route around the city... so we did that.  We passed so many small shops, horses and carriages, and statues.  We stopped briefly for lunch.  After lunch, we went to a free museum, the "Australian Center for the Moving Image."  It was basically a museum all about movies and television shows; it described everything from the invention of moving picture to modern technology used in movies.  It was really interesting.  Later that night, we went to a free comedy show in Federation Square (pretty much the center of the city).  Ever year around this time there's a huge comedy tour that comes through Melbourne, and it happened to be last weekend when we were there! 

Saturday, April 23rd:  The Great Ocean Road!  In total, thirteen of my friends went to Melbourne, so we all met up on Saturday to take a tour along the Great Ocean Road, which stretches from Torquay (just south of Melbourne) further south to Warrnambool.  It is the world's largest war memorial, as it was built by soldiers who had come back from World War I to commemorate soldiers who had fallen during the war.  Because it was Easter weekend, our tour guide thought it would be best to travel the road backwards, so we started at the end.  At the end are the 12 Apostles, which are famous limestone rock formations just off the coast.  Another famous rock formation is the London Arch, formerly known as London Bridge (that was before the bridge part of the rock formation broke and fell into the ocean).  Actually, two people had walked across the bridge before it fell... while they were taking pictures the bridge fell into the water.  They were later rescued by helicopter, but neither wanted to show their face on television (as news crews had come to capture the event)... both we wearing wedding rings, not to each other. Further down the road we stopped to see wild koalas!  Apparently koalas are pretty feral (wild), so you're not allowed to touch them.  They sleep about 20 hours a day, so they're not too much of a threat.  We stopped at a bunch of other pretty sites as well.  The Rip Curl Pro, the biggest surfing competition of the year, was taking place on Sunday, the day after we were on the Great Ocean Road!  The competition takes place at Bell Beach, which we passed by at the end of our trip on the road.  Actually, I saw the grand stands set up for fans to watch the Rip Curl Pro.  I REALLY wish I could have seen it... the world's greatest surfers all in one spot.  We got home pretty late so we all just went to bed!

Sunday, April 24th:  Easter Sunday!  I actually ended up going to church by myself because there were no other Catholics in the group I went with.  The church I went to was really nice; it was pretty big so I couldn't seven see the alter from where I was sitting.  The Chamber Strings of Melbourne played all the songs during mass, so that was really nice.  Easter Sunday was the first time I've been homesick since being on this trip... it was my first time away from home for Easter!  After mass, I met up with everyone to go to brunch.  Following brunch, we went to the Queen Victoria Markets, which was really similar to the Syracuse farmer's market.  We bought fresh strawberries! (Made me think of you Collin!)  Later that night, we made our way to Neverland convention center on the outskirts of Melbourne to go to a paint party!  There's this tour company called Dayglow that hosts paint parties all around the world... Dayglow markets itself as the "world's largest paint party."  Inside Neverland, everything was covered with white sheets and there were black lights everywhere.  There were girls covered in paint dancing on ledges and men dancing and waving glow sticks around.  We were there for around an hour and a half when the huge screen above the stage started a countdown until PAINT TIME!  The DJ's were playing great music... everyone was excited for the paint to start falling from the sky.  Finally, the Dayglow staff started spraying paint EVERYWHERE all over EVERYONE!  They shot paint from paint guns, were dumping it on people from buckets, and from individual bottles.  It was actually one of the most fun parties I've ever been to... everyone was covered in paint and dancing the night away.  Three times throughout the night they sprayed paint on everyone!  Just so awesome.  At the end of the night, we had to walk home... through the heart of Melbourne all covered in paint.  Since the party ended at 3:30 a.m., we were hungry, so we all went to Macca's (McDonald's)!  Such a great night!

Monday, April 25th:  On Monday we all just walked around Melbourne again, shopping at small boutiques.  At night, we went to St. Kilda, which is home to wild penguins!  We went there at night, so the penguins came out from under the rocks near a pier.  We couldn't take pictures using a flash, so I only got a few good pictures.  Either way, it was really neat to see penguins out in the wild.