Final Dayz in Melbourne...

After the Great Ocean Road, I came back to the hostel ready to rest my ankle. And that, I did.

The next morning, Beth and I went and had brekky at the hostel and I called around to a few doctors to see if I could get an appointment. Luckily, they had availability and I made one for the afternoon.

When I fell, which was in the Rainforest, I definitely heard a pop. And that never means a good thing. So I figured I'd calm my nerves and get it checked out. That's why I have travel insurance, right?

Right.

So. Beth went off to the pharmacy to get some aloe -- she burned herself crazy-like style on Thursday while at the beach. And I hobbled around the hostel trying to get situated for my move on to Adelaide (i.e. laundry).

I got a text message from the tour guide offering to drive me around Melbourne since he felt so bad about me hurting my ankle. Of course I said YES.

Then I questioned how much it would cost...

Luckily he was nice enough to just do it out of the kindness of his heart.

He picked me up and asked me if there was any place in particular I wanted to see before I left Melbourne and I really didn't have anything in mind. So, he made the decision for us and took me to his family's winery. It's about an hour outside of the city -- whether it's south, west, east or north, that I don't know. I lost my sense of direction when I hurt my ankle.

We arrived at Mount William Winery where we were greeted by some cute dogs.
Later on I played fetch with them and they were so enthusiastic. One dog even made an effort to BRING me the ball each time, none of this drop off a mile away thing.

The winery was a bit...dry.
And apparently, the bushfires started approximately 5km from the farm. Luck was in their favor since the winds were blowing a different direction...

But. I question how much truth is to his story since afterall he is a tour guide. If I was a tour guide, which I'm sincerely contemplating doing when I get back, I would made all that shit up. All the time. Each day I'd be a new character. Not lying.

Anyway. We sat around the pool and had some light (I'm used to a more full-bodied) Pinot Noir that was made right on the homeland. I felt pretty special.

Then we hopped on a 4-wheeler and drove the farm area.

As we were driving, I spotted a kangaroo hopping around the woods. It was SOOO awesome. Then we drove a bit more where we spotted probably about 30 of them hopping super fast and far in a heavily wooded area. I couldn't get any pictures, but it was one of the coolest sights EVER!

Sadly, things turned a bit because Mr. Tour Guide wasn't a friend anymore...he wanted to be a lover. I felt bad (man, how did the tables turn) for him being so kind I couldn't say no -- so a few kisses were shared, but I was just being polite. I guess.

Anyway. He got me back to the city within time to have my ankle checked out, which I hurt in the Rainforest (damn you flip-flops)!

The sports doctor said that I didn't sprain it too terribly bad. She wrapped my ankle, told me to ice it 20 minutes a day and gave me a few exercises to try making it more flexible.

Here's the thing. Srsly. Try this. Put your toe against the wall and bend your knee towards the wall. No problem, right? Now. I can get my knee about 5 inches from the wall. That's how bad it is. I'm supposed to keep working it until my knee can completely reach the wall.

Also. Calf raises. I can't even do one. Hurts too much.

Man. I got a long way to go!

Afterwards, I hobbled my way back to the hostel where I made myself the crappiest dinner EVER. Then Minelle called to tell me about a going away BBQ for some chick. Of course I said yes! Beth and I hopped a tram and met them at the Southern Cross Train station. Then we had to walk another 3km to get to the damn place. But it was worth the hobble.

The flat is located on the 8th floor, right on the river. It was spectacular. Great view of Melbourne. We drank some Goon and played drinking games. No. I didn't get drunk, thankyouverymuch. I knew I had an early morning and I wasn't about to do my hobble, heavy luggage shuffle with a hangover.

It was sad to leave Melbourne -- I really enjoyed the place! But I know I'll be back.

I just know it.

Melbourne in 12 minutes..

I'm guessing that's how long it'll take you to read this...guessing.

Quick update -- I never heard from the school teacher after I sent him a text declining his invitation to see his band play. Whoops. What can I say? I just didn't feel comfortable staying the night IN THE COUNTRY with some boy I didn't even know.

Back to the post. Ah. Yes. My last post ended with where I was off to next...

I was off to Lygon St. My friend Mick -- the one who picked me up from the airport -- picked me up to take me to Lygon Street. That place was something else. Let me tell ya...no, srsly, I'll tell you.

It's a Tuesday night -- not the busiest for Lygon Street a.k.a Melbourne's Little Italy. So, as we walked up and down the street deciding on where to have dinner, we were heckled. It was a bit much.

"Hey! Com'on in! We'll give you a round of drinks on us!"

*screeching halt* Por Que?

Of course, as we walked up the street we were offered the following -- in order --
1. 1 free round of drinks
2. 2 free rounds of drinks & free bruchetta
3. 2 free rounds of drinks & garlic bread -- and her mom was the chef
4. a bottle of wine

I liked the attitude of Door Number 2 -- so we ate there. Turns out this was the mob. The Italian Mob. The waiter even hinted that this was his -- 2nd job. Yeah. I'm convinced that's the truth.

Anyway. We both had two glasses of wine, bruchetta, italian salad and three different types of pasta for a grand total of $60. Thank you hecklers! Now that's how I like to do business. Thanks.

Afterwards, Mick took me to see St. Kilda at night.

It was boring. The end.

The next day, I ran into my hostel roommate Beth. She's 19 from South Wales and looks pretty much exactly like Elizabeth Hurley. Lucky girl. Oh. And she's super sweet. Couldn't hurt a fly.

Well, we decided to do a little sightseeing together and venture to St. Kilda Beach.

It was a lot better during the day, but still...nothing special. We took picture at the famous Luna Park.

We walked around Ackland St which is known for its cool shops. Then we walked through the Botanical Gardens...

which were...a bit...dry.

There was a cool chess game -- lifesize. The end.

Then, after looking at the map, we decided to go check out the awesome Peanut Farm Reserve. Sweet -- right?

Nope. It was literally a park. Made of grass. Dead grass. And dead dogs.

Okay. Not really, but easily could've been. It was dry. Really dry.

At that point we were ready to blow that popsicle stand and as we were walking to the tram we stumbled upon a Veggie Community.
Which was...hmm, how do I put this, a junkyard.

A shitty junkyard.

That was supposed to be all hippy and coooool, but it wasn't. It was just junk. In a yard.

But hey -- they had chickens!

Loved the artwork of this poster -- so did someone else that it made them paint on it.

Moving on. We hopped a long-ass tram to check out Brunswick St, also known for its shopping. We hopped off at the Melbourne Exhibition Hall -- beautiful.

And it was right next door to the Melbourne Museum.

We decided, eh, why the hell not, so we got our tickets (okay, I used my crappy FCCJ student ID which was ALMOST denied and poor Beth had to pay $8).

We walked around, the first exhibit being about bugs.

We. were. freaked. the. hell. out. There are some big ass bugs in OZ and I'm not looking forward to meeting them beyond the glass case. Ok?

OH. HELL. NO.

The bones of a Blue Whale. Day-um.

Looking pretty happy...

Real Lizard in the Museum

However. The worst exhibit was the human body. The brain info was cool, blah blah blah, but when they got into puberty. Oh HELLLLLL no. You walk around the corner and see pictures of kids -- KIDS -- naked. I felt like I was violating someone's - scratch that - some KID'S privacy.

Here are some pictures of the statues in the human exhibit...

And to top it off, they had a video of some lady shoving a kid out of her hoo-ha. AND, some dad was letting his 4 year old son WATCH it. Not. Cool.

*shudders* Moving on..

Anyway. There was some other pretty cool stuff, nothing worth mentioning really, but educational, for sure. At the end, Beth and I decided to check out the awesome gift shop (okay -- it wasn't that awesome) and a guy comes over asking for help.

Three things.

He was about 16-17 years old.

And he was definitely missing an arm.

And he was asking Beth to help him tie his shoe.

Of course she said yes, although there was hesitation on both our sides, and as she bent down to help this poor guy out, she looked up at the window of the gift shop to see a sh!tload of high school kids laughing their asses off. The guy who asked for help said never mind and took off running as I shouted to him, "That's just wrong!"

For those who are lost. This KID definitely had TWO arms and didn't need help. It was all a rouse. Ass.

Anyway. We walked out of there shaking our heads and then we couldn't stop laughing at how funny and stupid we must've looked. Those damn kids. That got us good. You can just say Beth and I kept bringing that joke into rotation everytime we hung out.

After the museum, Beth and I walked up to Brunswick St and checked out all the awesome shops. It was a pretty trendy place -- trendy like hippie trendy -- then I, yes I, decided I was hungry (what? *gasps* you? hungry? fatty). We ate at this place called the Vegie Bar. Guess what? They specialized in Veggies. No beef. Fancy that!

And of course, being the crazy kid that I am, I decided to order a veggie drink.

Spinach, beetroot, cucumber and carrot.

What the hell was I thinking? No. Srsly. It was GOD-awful. But since I paid the $5.50, I downed it. Blech.

Anyway. Beth and I got back to the hostel and I was off to Bikram yoga with Minelle. I did SOO much better this time around and actually really enjoyed it.
Plus the teacher came over and fixed my posture a few times, which made me feel special. Real special. (Like, do I get a gold star special?)

Afterwards, Minelle and I went our separate ways and I took a shower and ate dinner -- cereal. The kitchen was absolute chaos, too many people in the hostel trying to eat free pasta -- one of the perks of staying at Urban Central. "Perks"

Then Beth and I hopped back on the tram to check out Brunswick St at night. This place is usually pretty crazy, but um, not tonight. We stopped at a bar called Night Cat which was pretty cool. Wine's only $5/glass and they had a DJ spinning random music. I felt bad for Beth because she got to hear my life story. MY. LIFE. STORY. And she's a great listener. Not much of a talker. Or maybe she is, but I'm too talky-talk to let her jump in. Whoops.

Afterwards we walked up the street til we heard live music spilling out of a bar. We went inside, got ourselves some more $5/glass wine and sat and chatted some more. I tipped way more than I normally would ($2) because all the tips were being donated to the bushfire victims in Victoria. I figured I should contribute at least SOMETHING. Every little bit helps, right?

We wanted to try something different, so we started to walk up the street to find a place called Polly's. But. um. It was really dodgy. Like, crazy dodgy. They were definitely open until 1am, but there was no one around. And their door -- was a sliding door -- but you couldn't see in, so you might just walk in on a ...oooo I don't know, massive Australian orgy? That's what came to mind first...

Needless to say, we did not venture in.

We decided to call it a night, but on our way home on the tram I saw a bar that looked fairly busy. So I made Beth hop off with me and go inside. It was lame-o, but the wine was by far the cheapest yet -- $3/glass. WOO! Plus, I met a guy named Joe from Sydney. I told him I'll call him in April when I go back. And. I will.

The next day involved the Great Ocean Road, but I can't write that in this one. That just wouldn't be fair. It deserves its own post.

Three words.

A. Maz. Ing.

Melbourne Funbourne

Melbourne's proving to be...a lot of fun, actually.

My first night here, I had a friend of mine pick me up from the airport, drive me and my HUGE backpack to the hostel and then we went out near Chinatown for a drink. What a great way to start off the trip!

When I got into my room, pretty much all 7 girls were asleep. It was kind of sad for a Friday Night at 10pm. Really sad.

Anyway. When I got back from my night out having a drink, as I was getting situated the girl on the top bunk across from me was grinding her teeth over and over again. It was one of the worst sounds I think I've ever heard. UGH. Of course I just put the pillow over my head and called it a night. And somehow -- I passed out.

The next morning I got up early and decided to walk around the city. Me craving some much needed exercise. I followed a couple dressed in exercise clothes just knowing that'd know an awesome place to get in a walk/jog. As I exerci-stalked them, I proved to be wrong. They ended up walking towards the hospital here in Melbourne. Whoops.

So I wiped out my map and found my way to the Royal Park. Along the way I got to see The University of Melbourne, which, is BEAUTIFUL. An absolutely gorgeous facility.

Along my walk through the Royal Park, I realized how ugly the park really is. Not sure if you've heard about this (insert sarcasm), but it's been really dry here, oh, for the past 7 years. So dry that fires have broken out. The Metro of Melbourne is totally fine, but you can still see a thick layer of haze over the city and smell the smoke from the smoldering fires. The grass in this park is brown. And the grass has a hay-like consistency.

Am I seriously writing a report?

Anyway. Guess who I ran into? The exerci-stalker couple. They did know where they were going. I guess the hospital was a shortcut?

Another thing about the park. The flies. OH THE FLIES. They are so ugly. So annoying. And they love the sweat of humans. Yum.

Moving on. I met up with Gemma, a girl who came through the same program as me. She's Canandian and is friends with Minelle and Tracy. She's staying at the Melbourne Metro YHA, like myself, so we had breakfast in the cafe downstairs.

God love the child, but damn does she talk loud. And I mean LOUD. She has no shame. Good for her, but it's a bit embarrassing to be around.

Hey. My blog is private now. No one can read this unless I say they can. BAM!! Means I can be even more openly honest. BREW HAHA!!

Moving forward. We both went to get ready and decided to go down to the Queen Victoria Markets. This is just like the Paddy's Market in Sydney's Chinatown. Tons of clothes, souvenirs, and shit you just don't need. I got over it pretty quickly. Plus...the company.....MOVING ON...

Um. Scones, jam and cream from the Market. So bad. Yet. So. So. So. Good.

So. We went out separate ways and I decided to take in a little bit more of Melbourne. I walked down Elizabeth Street (with McDonald's ice cream cone in hand...) and found myself in the hub of the city. It was awesome. Tons of people, places, activity -- my kind of town.

People here are...more interesting. They don't care and I like it. As I was walking along Elizabeth Street this woman on a payphone with her daughter playing at her feet ends up screaming (And when I say screamed, I literally mean...screamed), "WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU? I'M TIRED OF GETTING FUCKED AROUND TODAY!" Then she slammed down the phone and I was already past the corner to check out what was going to happen next. Phenomenal.

See. I was in search for a new hostel, Urban Central, that I was told was awesome. People are friendly, open to meeting new people and...there's a bar located on ground level. Saaa-weeet!

I walked over the bridge, which was a great pedestrian bridge, and took in the other side of the river. This is where Melbourne actually reminded me of Jacksonville. There's a river running through the downtown area....yeah. That's about it. Doesn't take much.

I walked along the river, noticed the National Gallery of Victoria, which I will be visiting, and finally found myself at Urban Central. It wasn't very central. But that's okay. I walked in and the girl at the front desk was really nice, very helpful. Told me about the trams, the Casino, the people being friendly, blah blah blah. I didn't make a booking because I had to think about it. But I could tell it had a different feel than the hostel I'm staying in.

I took the hostel's advice and walked another route back into the city. Walking along the river, being it Valentine's day, wasn't the best part. The best part were all the shops and restaurants and, again, the activity of everyone just enjoying the perfect weather. (oh here we go again about the weather! I am my mother's daughter).

I walked back to Flinder's Street Station so I could hop a train to Richmond where Minelle and Tracy live. A day pass here costs about $6.80, but you can use that for the entire day no matter how many stops you have. Doesn't. Matter.

I got to Richmond, saw their cute little place and then we took a walk to Bridge Street via Swan St. Tons, and I mean tons, of shops and restaurants and bars and cafes and EVERYTHING. It was super cool. We decided to do some "cafe" hopping and take advantage of the awesome happy hours.

One of the places we decided to indulge in was a place called...Truffles. No lie. If you don't know me, that was the name of the cafe I worked at for 5 years (on and off). Except we didn't sell Truffles. But this place, this place did.

Minelle and I called up Tracy and she decided to meet up back on Swan St for a coffee. Ah-hem. Glass of wine, thanks.

We had delightful conversation about our numbers (if you don't know what I mean, keep reading...and consider it void) and how badly Tracy needed...some....love. So we decided. It's V-Day, let's get the hell out there and meet some boys, damnit!

Thus. We did.

On my walk home, mind you it is Valentine's Day, I hear a girl yell to her boyfriend, "I KNOW HOW TO DRIVE!" And when I went to look at that general direction that comment came from, I saw a guy hop out of the car, slam the door and run towards the train station. Where, yes, he did buy a train ticket and leave her ass behind.

I watched her drive by, phone in hand, searching for him. But, ah-hem, he's already gone, Honey.

Anyway. I went home and changed, taking my time as always, and then met up with them near Federation Square (across from Flinder's Street Station) at a club called Transport Hotel. They were playing some awful 80's, 90's, and today's greatest hits or some shit. It rocked cuz it was all those cliché songs you always hear, but always pretend to love.

Well, as I waited in line to get in, these two guys turn around and ask me where an Irish Pub is. I snort and say, "I have absolutely no idea." Then I joke around and say, "Oh yeah! There's one over here." (pointing in all different directions)

One of the guys, Matt, gets all frustrated because he realizes that they're not going to get in. He starts to walk off and I turn to the other guy, Denby (Yes. That's his real name), and tell them I'll get them in, no worries.

Um. Hi. Where did those balls come from?

So. As we approach the security, they tell me I can get in...but the other two....

So I perk up and tell him that Denby's my Valentine B/F and we wanted to go dancing. He says that's cool and let's Denby and I in. His friend Matt, has to wait another 2 minutes. But hey. They got in...

So, I officially have a b/f at this point. Denby won't leave me alone, buys me a few drinks (which is very nice of him) and won't leave when his friend Matt decides to leave. He said he was worried we'd never see each other again.

Look. The guy was sweet, cute and a genuine person. BUT PLAY THE GAME HONEY -- make me want to be with you. And take a shower. He smelled like he'd been going all night long.

So, eventually Tracy and Minelle are tired (of talking to their 20 year olds) and we all decide to leave. I basically have to hit Denby over the head with a shoe to get him out of there. Go on, boy! Go home, boy! Hurry along!

I take the tram home and walk back into my room to hear the same girl grinding her teeth. BLECH.

Oh. I forgot to mention. I'm leaving the Metro YHA and checking into the Urban Central Hostel tomorrow. I'll be sharing a room with only 3 more people, which is a co-ed room. Wish me luck!

I figured, why the hell not, if I hate it...I'm only here for 5 more days...OMG. Time FLIES!!

It's Sunday morning, gorgeous day out (already went for a walk in the beauti-ugly-ass-ful Royal Park) and had breakfast with Gemma (kill me now). It's time to take on the day!