It's been purely obvious to me that my writing detail has put me behind on my trip so I am going to be making a few adjustments. Hence there will be no more day by day blogs but more or less will be city by city. Sorry to disappoint but I am on a trip and supposed to be enjoying myself and not stay locked up in a internet cafe all afternoon. So hopefully this works.
Having arrived into Melbourne I checked into the Habitat HQ hostel. This is the number 1 rated hostel in Melbourne and it couldn't be any worse then my Christchurch hostel with the crazy Israeli. Checking in the hostel is bustling people coming in, people coming out. People all over the place in the lounge, tv room, kitchen, patio, etc. It reminds me of Dorm/Fraternity life back in College.
I head up to the room and meet my new hostel mates. In the room is a Kerry this weird Canadian who rarely leaves the room and is always grooming herself. Putting on makeup, plucking eyebrows, putting on skin products, she does it all. Then there is Craig an english bloke who I rarely see but is a nice dude. One thing I learned about hostel living is you tend to make better friends with people who are not you roommates.
Hence my first night in Melbourne in an artsy beach area known as St. Kilda (Think Venice Beach) I go on my first pub crawl with other people from hostel. That's when I meet Lex a dapper English fellow from the north. This guy can sell anything with his proper english voice. Fran a curious/energetic girl from the North who shares my love for theater and musicals. Lisa an Irish girl that I can finally understand and loves to roll her own cigarettes. It's impossible to understand the English language when spoken by the Irish. Lisa wipes this stereotype out. Robbie a young buck who is cousins with Fran and traveling straight out of high school. Jason a granola Canadian with full beard straight from the show Deadliest catch. And Andy a cute german athlete who is super competitive and hates to lose. Yes this group became my mates for life.
The Crew First Outing to Australian Open (from left to right Lex, Robbie, Fran, Lisa, myself, and Andy)
The other obvious observation is I will always be the oldest of the group even though I may look longer then a few of the people I meet. Average hostel age 22. This group ranges from 19-26 excluding myself.
Over the next several days we do all kinds of fun things together. One of the highlights was seeing the Australian Open (Australia's Wimbeldon of Tennis). For 34 dollars we get a ground pass which gets us onto 20 different courts with the exclusion of the 2 grand slam courts. It's awesome, sunny, 95 degrees out and I am working on my tan, drinking beer, and watching Tennis. I think the blue courts rock. Another observation is that the courts where women are playing are primarily packed with male spectators which begs the question does sex really sell in tennis. The skirts are shorter than short and the women's bodies are chiseled and amazing. Yeah I did not mind watching the women play. During a women's match this drunk Australian man who was in his 60s kept getting up and walking across the aisles a no no in spectating rules as it distracts the players. One of the women competing even stopped looked at the guy and said "Are you kidding me?"
The next day we go on a walking tour of Melbourne to explore it's various street art. Melbourne is very much an artsy place and less refined and more laid back then Sydney. Think Seattle. During the walking tour we head to the roof top bar and grab some drinks. This bar sits on top of a 12 story building and provide 360 views. The views from the bar are awesome.
That night my roommate Craig invites me out with his buddies to drink and go to the Crown Casino. The Crown casino is nostalgic for me because many years ago I went there when I was working on my first project in Melbourne. It was there I made friends with a few Aussie women that I ended up hanging with my whole time while I was working. The Casino has changed and it is very much cheese-ball central so I opt to leave. Maybe it's was the same and I just got older but whatever the case I am over it.
Craig also introduces me to the concept of "goon". Goon is our equivalent of cheap boxed wine and pretty much anyone who lives at a hostel drinks this crap. Reason being it has the highest amount of alcohol content 12% for the least amount of money $6 dollars a box. Most people at a hostel are on a pretty tight budget so they will do anything to save a dollar even if that means drinking headache inducing Goon. I try it but give it up after the headache I get the next morning.
The next couple of days are spent at the beach and hanging out with the crew. We get together for meals we go out at night together. We become dare I say a clique. Which leads to my next hostel observation. When you have been at hostel longer then a few days you will notice that cliques of people form. There are the cool kids clique made up of the hostel people who have been living there for months. These people think they are the shit and run the place because they have been there the longest. Nearly impossible to break into this group. Then there's the countrymen clique made up of people who share a common language or country. They sit in the corner chatting in their preferred language and of course I have no clue what they are saying. Then there's the random ever changing clique made up of stragglers who are in and out of a hostel every few days. Then there is our clique the drinking clique made up of people who bonded over a pub crawl and accept anyone who wants to join in the fun. There is no test to pass no ritual to perform. You want to hang with us well just hang. I know this sounds conceited and crazy but this is life in a hostel.
This is proven true when the lovely Kat and Mel join our crew. Kat a beautiful down to earth girl from the North of England and Mel a fun loving travel ace who is traveling with Kat. They are both a ton of fun and are here looking to work out in a farm. This explains my next hostel observation. Most people in a hostel seem to be traveling on a working holiday visa which allows them to work while they travel. This visa is valid for 1 year in Australia. However there is a stipulation that says if you go work on a farm and pick fruit or do something in a rural area of Australia where it is hard to find laborers for 3 months, then your visa will get extended for an additional year. So pretty much the crew of people I am rolling with are all on a budget, and all looking for work. This alters my plans a bit and I start to adopt living on the cheap.
We cook dinners and have BBQs at the hostel. I don't mind it that much and it ends up being a lot of fun. However if I want to splurge now and then I quickly realize I will be doing it solo.
Every now and again I get away to do other things. Anita a travel mate from New Zealand comes back into Melbourne as she is from there and she takes me out and shows me another side of Melbourne known as Chapel Street. Chapel Street is made up of lots of great shops and restaurants. We end up going to this Chinese restaurant and have my favorite meal in Australia made up of delicious dumplings. Anita also takes me to this local Lake for swimming. It's great fun as it is less touristy and hotter then hell in Melbourne so jumping into a cold Lake feels great.
Having had enough of 6 days of Hostel living I opt to check into the Westin Melbourne for 2 nights on hotel points. I quickly go from sharing a room with 6 to my own room on the 7 floor overlooking downtown Melbourne. I go from sharing a bathroom with 20 people to having my own bathroom with two sinks. It feels like home again! Some consulting habits are hard to break.
I opt to throw a party on Australia Day Eve. Australia Day is the equivalent of the USA's 4th of July. Essentially everyone gets really patriotic, BBQ all day and then fireworks are set off at night. Sound familiar?Since everyone has Australian Day off the night before they go out. Hence since I'm leaving for Sydney on Australia Day I decide to throw a party the night before at my hotel. I invite all my hostel mates over and supply alcohol and snacks. They get to my room are shocked with how nice it is. I'm a bit embarrassed to show this lavish side because I know hostel living is quite different. But I wanted to do something fun and get together one last time and thank them for the good times. So we drank and danced then we headed out to a club called Sorry Grandma. Before we leave the room they throw together this video tribute. They were instructed to say hello to America. Quite embarassingly they chanted my name. Will miss these guys.
My last morning in Melbourne and I am awoken to the noise of bagpipers. It's a full on parade down below my hotel room. The streets are closed off and flooded with thousands of patriotic Australians. I watch from my hotel window. I think about 4th of July. I miss home! I head to St. Kilda one last time to have an early BBQ with the Hostel crew then I catch my plane to Sydney.
Having such a good time here in Melbourne I opt out of not going to Tasmania. Melbourne for me this time was not about the sights but more about the people I met.
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