Melbourne 2013

 G'day!

After just getting back to the Gold Coast, Craig and I decided to take off again but this time for Melbourne. Flights were still cheap domestically for southern and eastern Australia so it was either fly back to Sydney for $125 return or Melbourne for $200. Having only been to Melbourne once before with friends in July 2011 (when it was freezing cold), I opted to go back and to say hello to some other friends of mine whom lived there. We flew with Tiger Airways once again, not because I wanted too as it’s as discount airline as it gets, but because it was extremely cheap. And for such a short flight, I did not care for snacks, media entertainment devices, etc.

 

We were running a bit behind (that’s what I do best) and so jetted off to Brisbane airport in the monsoon rain we were having. The after effects of Cyclone Oswald were hitting the Gold Coast and the rain was coming in hard. We managed to get there and check-in after being scolded by the Tiger Airways staff for being over our weight limit on carry-on, but she politely let us through. And so started our trip to Melbourne and the video blog ‘Sucobe and Crumpet: Melbourne 2013’.

 

We arrived in Melbourne on Sunday early afternoon and spent the next three hours attempting to get to the hotel. It had been awhile since I had last been and it was a holiday weekend (Australia Day), so many services were not open/running. We managed to get to the hotel around 6ish and all checked in. Luckily for us, it was right in the CBD area and next to the gardens, Melbourne Central Shopping Centre and down the street from Federation Square. Unfortunately for us, it was pretty much a glorified hostel. We then went out for some Mexican food at Amigos on Chapel Street and then to say hello to our friend that works at Electric Ladyland and for a few drinks.

 

Not getting to bed until 4am and up at noon, we decided to head out and tour the city before we ended up spending all day in bed. Monday, although was a holiday (due to Australia day on Saturday), still had many shops open and it seemed to be business as usual for the city. We headed to the SBS building to check out the TV, cinema and film exhibition and then grabbed some dinner at Universal with a friend followed by bowling at Strike. A good clean sober activity I must say so. Oh wait, there was plenty of alcohol. Moving on…

The duration of Tuesday was spent at St. Kilda park  which took roughly 30 mins by tram to get to. We took some pictures, walked around Luna Park and then headed back to the hotel to relax a bit before meeting up with a friend at Crown Casino for buffet and gambling. I went in, threw $20 on red at the roulette table and double my money. That was the extent of my gambling. After gorging for 3 hours to get our $25 worth of food and getting kicked out of the buffet at 9, we headed back to the hotel to let the food (and winnings) digest.

Our full final day in Melbourne, we spent Wednesday visiting Carlton Gardens and the riverwalk followed by going BACK to the casino for Craig to attempt to double his winnings as well. In which not only did he, but he quadrupled. From $5 to $25, what a baller. We neded up eating at the hotel in the bar/restaurant which apparantely were doing jelly wrestling. So the music was extremely loud and the ratio EXTREMELY lacking at 6:1 males to females. So we ate, got out of there and went back to Eletric Ladyland to have farewell drinks and say goodbye to our dear friend.

 

Thursday was an early awakening since we had to check out at 10am and get straight to the airport for a 12:40pm flight. Once again, no actual plane ticket, just a shoddy receipt; typical discount airlines. Overall, the trip was good, expensive and a great 2^nd break away from the Gold Coast. Sadly, this will probably be my last trip for quite some time as I work and save up. Who knows where I will go next, China? New Zealand? Back to the US? Or perhaps somewhere in Europe?...

Until next time.

-H

Melbourne

July 28th, Thomas, Marc and I decided to venture to Melbourne in Victoria (down south) and see what all the hype was about. Needless to say, it's a great place. Hands down. We flew out of Gold Coast Airport via Jetstar for a quick 4 hour flight before checking into our YHA right in the CBD area.

We spent the first night walking around on the water front and checking out the nightlife to see what was out there before we fully tackled it the next few days. We were told there was a lounge bar in the area called the Berlin Wall and that we HAD to check it out. This was also a must as I was traveling with two Germans, lol. The place was pretty dope actually. We had to ring a doorbell to be let in and the place was decked out to the theme of WWII with memorabilia and signs up everywhere in regards to the war. We spent most of our time on the allied side sippin gin and tonics and drinking German beer. It was pretty cold at night and by the time we got back to the hostel we were ready to pass out.

The next day we walked around most of the day checking out museums and hitting up the market and thus meeting up with David and Julia for a bit (they were in Melbourne as well). Followed by going to the casino and gambling to try and double our money and fly back first class (yea right). Granted I'm not much of a gambler, we spent a good 2 hours there. Luckily I spent $20 and walked away with $.10. haha. Thomas losing most of his money he'd spent and Marc coming away with a few dollars. We then went off to the movie theatre to see what was playing only to realise we had just missed all the good shows. Thomas had the brilliant idea of sneaking past the ticket usher and we walked around from theatre to theatre to see if anything worth watching was playing. Sadly, no. So we had snuck in for nothing. Plus Marc had a guilty conscious going on so we ended up leaving. Afterward we headed to the arcade and wasted a couple more hours there before retiring for the night. We had meant to go check out the night clubs but again, after walking around all day we were exhausted.

St. Kilda was on our agenda for the most of our last day in Melbourne. Just a short train ride away, we visited Luna Park, Brooks Jetty and stopped for some food at a place on the beach. There are some markets open, so we stopped to see what the locals were selling, nothing good as usual, but still good to check out.

Overall, a ton of walking and sight seeing, ton of pictures and great memories of the place. Don't think I could ever leave there, but wouldn't mind going there again as I would like to check out the Twelve Apostles and roadtrip to Adelaide if I have the time and money.

Miss you all and hope life is well for you wherever you are located.

Cheers and 再见!

-H