Tuesday November 16th - Melbourne!!!

Last Thursday I had to get up at 6am, ready to fly to Melbourne. I caught the train to the domestic airport, but the plane was a bit late. Never mind - we got there eventually!! I flew into Avalon airport, which is an hours drive out of Melbourne. I then had to catch a bus into the centre, and then a tram out to St. Kilda. That was scary. I didn't really know what I was doing, and the whole tram system was pretty new to me!!! I found the tram stop I needed, and got on the tram, then realised I didn't have a clue where to get off. So, I was trying to follow our tram path on my map, and managed pretty well. I only got off 1 stop too late, and the stops are all pretty close to each other. It took me a bit longer to find the hostel, though. I really didn't realise how bad I was at map reading!!! I eventually got there, and checked in. There were 2 girls in the room, but they were both asleep so decided to go out somewhere. I went to the Docklands, where there was a carol concert being held for a children's charity. After that finished, I went back to the hostel to find one girl getting ready to go out. She invited me along - it was only to the bar downstairs - so off I went. It was ladies night, so there was free fizzy wine for ladies between 9pm and 11pm. I think that had to be one of the cheapest nights out I've had!!! I didn't spend any money at all!! Result!!

After waking up early, I decided to catch a tram to Federation Square. There was a visitor's centre there, so I went there to see what I could do in Melbourne. There is a free tourist bus that goes around the cenrte, stopping at around 11 different places of interest. The first stop I got off at was Fitzroy Park, where I saw Cook's Cottage, a Fairy tree and a Miniature Tudor Village. I then got back on the bus and went to St Patrick's Cathedral, and then onto Melbourne Museum. By this point it had started raining, so after finishing at the museum I headed back to the hostel.

I was awake early again on Saturday, and caught the tram into the centre. I went to see Myer's Christmas window. Myer's is a big department store, and every year they have a big Christmas display. This year it was based on the work of an English children's author. It was worth seeing, and people would queue for ages to see it. After seeing this I decided to wonder around the shops. It was pouring with rain at this point so I didn't want to be out!! I ended up just buying a book (a real treat at $25!), and headed back the hostel. By mid afternoon, everyone waas back in the room, in bed, reading!! I then ended up going out Saturday night!

On Sunday I managed to sleep in. I caught a tram to Federation Square and went to the Australian Moving Images Centre. It shows how movie sets are made and how they affect films. They showed examples such as the Matrix, A clockwork orange, The Shining, and Australia (that I still haven't got round to seeing yet - must do that!!). After finishing there I caught the city centre tram, and whilst on it, I was a sign for a Welsh Church. I decided to go and check it out, and it happened that there was a Welsh Carol Service starting within half an hour. I decided to stay for that, and everyone there was really nice. I was introduced to pretty much everyone, and there was food afterwards. After this I went back to the hostel.

On Monday I did a Great Oceans Road tour. It was an all day tour, where you see many sights from the South Coast of Australia. We stopped at Bells Beach, Split Point Lighthouse (this was the lighthouse that was used in Round the Twist!), Lorne, Cape patton, Apollo Bay, Maits rest where we walked through a rainforest, the Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Lodge and London Bridge. I was a really interesting day, and the sights were fantastic. I discovered that there weren't 12 Apostles there, and that one had collapsed recently. Also London bridge had collapsed quite recently, with a young married couple on it. They were fine, but not very keen to be interviewed by the reporters there. The reason for this worked out to be that they were a marreid couple, but unfortunately not to each other!!!