I am writing this early in the morning on the 3rd of september. Looking out the window is making me kinda sad, because it seems that summer has forgotten that it is supposed to be hanging out in the northern hemisphere for a while longer. It is gray and rainy out there and actually really cold... As of yet I dont have internet, so it might not be today that I post this, but that is a-ok.
I cannot remember what I said about Brisbane, but I know I said something, so now I am going to move on to Melbourne. I flew to Melbourne on the 5th of July. I had a lovely day, home made cheese cake, and all sorts of lovely things. My flight out was at 9:30pm or something, so Gen (my friend from Brisbane) drove me out there for 8ish. As we walked in the door, my flight, a TigerAirways flight showed up on the screen as delayed...I checked in my bag, then the two of us sat for 20 mins or so until her free parking was about to run out.
We said our goodbyes and I headed through security into the airside terminal. The terminal in Brisbane is nothing too special, a pretty average terminal by all means. There is no free wifi which is annoying, so I read my book instead. Now, something you should know about Tiger. They have a terrible reputation. I had been told by several people just not to fly them. Period. No matter what. But I had not heeded that advice, mainly because for this particular flight, they cost about a third of the next cheapest airline.
There is a reason for that cheapness however as the next few, well, next several hours showed me. The check-in process was fine, friendly enough people, although, they still insisted the flight was on time. Boarding pass was like a receipt from a debit machine, kinda flimsy and easy to crumple. They dont have staff at the gate until about a minute before boarding, and then they disappear just as fast. This made asking them what was going on when they sent out the fligh before us impossible.
Pretty soon it became apparent that our flight was going to be really late. One of the other passengers looked online and saw that at our supposed departure time it still had not left Melbourne....meaning it had to fly up, turn, then fly us down again, two and a bit ish hours each way. The departure screens had no real info as they just said delayed, and as mentioned, there were no staff around at all.By 11:30, it was getting seriously annoying, but eventually, the flight landed, people were shoved off, and we were shoved on. I boarded through the rear stairs, and the first thing I did was step around a pile of vomit that had not been cleaned up.
Sitting down in the tiny seat was not very nice at all. It was certainly not a comfortable flight...It was also quite late, leaving a little bit after we were supposed to be arriving. Eventually we did land, not after they attempted to make people pay 4 dollars for a glass of water...By the time we were on the ground, it was almost 2am. I had been told by one of the fellow passengers that it was a long walk to the terminal, and I knew that it was going to be coldddd. It was bout 0 degrees C when we arrived, which after spending 5 months above 18 or so is really really cold. I had made sure to bring my scarf and toque and sweaters and jacket, but I was still a little bit chilly in the wind. It was indeed a long walk outside, about 500 meters actually, and the terminal was not really a terminal. It was a roof with a baggage carousel underneath and chain link fences all around...It was a cold wait for the bags, but luckily mine came out pretty soon.
Melbourne has no Train or easy city bus connections to the airport, certainly not at 2:30 in the morning, but there is an airporter bus which runs every 5 mins during the day and every 15 all through the night, which is awesome, and a hell of a lot cheaper than a taxi. It takes probably half an hour to get down into the CBD, and then you are dropped at the Southern Cross Station, the big railway station for countrylink trains.
By this time it is threeish, and really cold still. I had booked a hostel right close to the station, and it only took a few minutes to walk to it. Turns out the room I was in is right over a nightclub - called "Sorry Grandma" as I later found out - which is not a good place to try to sleep as it kinda feels like you are in a nightclub. I would swear the beds moved around with the bass.
Needless to say, I did not get much sleep, even when the club closed at about 5. I was out the door by 7, excited to explore a new city, one I have hear only amazing things about. It was a beautiful crisp clear blue sky morning, and the first place I headed was down to the Yarra River which kinda bisects the downtown.
The second picture is of a cafe built under a pedestrian bridge.
Ugh...I just looked outside and it is raining harder...
Good thing I have theis picture as my desktop and I am typing into a tiny notepad window so I can see it.
Any ways, back to Melbourne. I wandered for a while, had breaky at some little cafe before going back to my hostel to grab my bags. I was heading out to meet up with my friend Joey who I met in 2011 in the Canary Islands. He was working, but I dropped my bags off at his work and kept exploring the city through the power of free wifi and geocaching. For whatever reason I did not take to many pictures in Melbourne. I think I was to caught up in experiencing it. The sights sounds and smells are just intoxicating. I am not much of a person who likes cities, but Melbourne is a city I could not only live in if I had to, but I would willingly move there.
For those of you who know Vancouver, every street in Melbourne is like Denman Street in Vancouver, laden with options for food from around the whole world. There are buskers everywhere, artists, the music scene is incredible. I stayed with Joey for the next two nights, the first of which we went out to Brunswick St where all the good clubs are. We went to funk clubs with live bands, rock clubs with live bands, others I am not too clear on what type of music it was, but it was all live. The atmosphere was electric.
Melbourne is a city I really like.
Anyways, Enough of that gooey stuff. Back to the streets of Melbourne. On both that first day and the next, Joey and I met up for lunch. The first time we went to DeGraves St, this little alleyway of amazing little tiny tiny restaurants. I think we had some kinda noodles the first time, and we just kept eating and eating, they were so good. The coffee is amazing there too. Very much Italian style bars and cafes. So good! I am getting gooey again arnt I...
My friend Eloise had come down from Wollongong to Melbourne to see some friends, and we hung out as well. We walked around and looked at some of the graffiti Melbourne is known for. To explain that I need to talk about the alleyways the city is also known for. You know in cities, there are little gaps between the buildings that kinda lead to dark dingy dead ends that most people dont venture down because the feel attached to their spleens and other organs? Well in Melbourne, none of those are dark and dingy. They are lined with restaurants and galleries and boutiques, and as I am about to get to, graffiti.
I think that is good for right now, because I am hungry. I am gonna go make some yummy fried eggs. I like to chop up tomatoes, and onion and green onions and capsicum and basil and cheese and anything else, and chuck it on there while they are frying and have them with toast...so yummy.
