Walking In Melbourne

Hey Finland!

I'm sure you're dying to find out how I'm doing now that I'm out of a job and vacationing in Melbourne. Well, let's start from the beginning as usual.

Monday is nothing to write home about. I slept well but I was still pretty exhausted from the last week of work. So, on my agenda I had only one thing. Find a hostel to stay in. Oh, and I had to start packing.

I took a long walk down to the restaurant and talked to Greg. He had offered me a ride into the city but I didn't want to go on Monday. I wanted to take it easy. I stepped into the winery and used their office computer with Andrew's permission. I eventually found the cheapest passable and available hostel in the city for $28/day. What I also found out that the prices shot up to at least $50 in every Hostel on the 25th day. But it wasn't for Christmas, no. The prices stayed up well into the next week and the reason for that is the fourth "test" of The Ashes, the cricket match between Australia and England. (The Ashes name comes from a million years ago when England first lost to Australia on their home ground and a journalist joked that it was "the death of English cricket". Apparently "English Cricket" was cremated because a year later they went to "reclaim The Ashes" in Australia. The name stuck and they've been doing it ever since.) 

Needless to say, I didn't feel like staying in cricket-crazy Melbourne or $50 hostels any longer than I had to. But in Melbourne I had agreed to see my mom's co-worker, Maria, who had invited me for Christmas dinner.

After I'd picked a hostel I retreated to Alex's place. Then I packed, ate a couple of lasagnas and watched DVDs. That was my Monday.

On Tuesday I packed the rest of my stuff and read "Non-Fiction" by favorite author, Chuck Palahniuk, until Sascha came to pick me up and took me to the train station. Before leaving we hung out with Alex and Elizabeth for the last time.

It felt good to be going but piece of mind couldn't be attained before checking in to a hostel. I easily got my stuff, my suitcase, my backpack, my cool-bag and my box of wine, on the train. I read my book all the way and finished it just before arriving at Southern Cross.

When I was getting out of the train it seemed like I'd lost half my strength on the way as my box of wine suddenly seemed twice as heavy and very cumbersome (ie. hard to move). I got out of the train but had to put the box down on the very first bench I found. I felt very unsure about getting my stuff to the hostel. I knew I could take the tram, so there wouldn't be too much walking but going up the first escalators was enough of a struggle. Fortunately I found an elevator to take me down to the street level.

At the corner of the station I just had to catch my breath and think through my strategy. Every time the pedestrian lights turned green there was a flood of people crossing the street.

I must've waited food three or four floods to pass before I got the courage to navigate through the mass of people and on to my tram stop. Once there, every tram produced a flood of people non-proportionate to the size of the tram. It was like that gag with too many people comic out of a car, but instead of being funny it was depressing. I was so overwhelmed by the amount of people that I even got annoyed at a guy who was standing too close to my stuff.

I was hoping for a tram with a street-level floor because I didn't want to carry my stuff up a bunch of stairs on to a crowded tram. I skipped the first one with chairs but I just had to get on the second one. People on the tram were unbelievably rude and ignorant of my situation. Fortunately the ride wasn't too long and only one person seemed really upset jumping over my stuff. What I don't understand is why do people get upset that the stuff is not moving while there are dozens of people with working feet able to make way if they could just be bothered to move.

A nice German backpacker helped me get my stuff across the street and into the hostel. By now I had a new problem. I didn't have enough cash to pay for a week's stay (a week for $28/night not $31/night like usually). So I walked back a couple of tram stops to the Village Cinemas at the Crown Casino to find a working ATM. I went back and paid for a week's stay before heading up to my room.

It was 6 PM when I finally put my stuff down and picked up the phone to call my mom's co-worker Maria. She officially invited me for Christmas dinner on the 24th and told me to come by to the office after 10 AM the next day to talk some more.

Finally at ease I headed out of the Hostel to check out the city. I bought the new "Slam" and ate at Hungry Jack's at Southern Cross before walking across the CBD in search of for open bookstores. I found a couple and also visited JB-HiFi but I didn't buy anything.

I spent a couple of hours on the town and took some pictures when the sun went down before heading back to the hostel. There I spoke to my roommates, three very nice blokes from England. We shared traveling stories and I went to bed.

On Wednesday morning I had FREE BREAKFAST ie. free toast (which is pretty cheap anyway) at the hostel. Some people ate at least six pieces of free bread while I was satisfied with two and a yoghurt I had in my cool bag in the fridge.

To help me make my Christmas plans I googled for ferry and airfare prices into Tasmania. My preferred traveling date was the 25th but the only ferries that had vacancies were on the 23rd and the 30th. The 30th was definitely too late and a 23rd day ferry was $175 and into northern Tasmania while a flight to Hobart, my probable destination, on the same day was $139. A flight on 25th or later was $229. I couldn't make a decision before meeting Maria but I was leaning towards leaving on the 25th.

I took the tram closer to St. Kilda to go meet Maria and bring my box of wine to the office. I didn't have to walk too long but the box was pretty heavy to carry even with two hands so I stopped from time to time.

At the office I met a couple of Maria's co-workers and we sat down for tea in the break room. We talked about traveling, the weather, the teaching profession and school holidays. We made some plans and I agreed to go over for dinner, not only on Christmas Eve but also tonight, Thursday. On Saturday we will go to the Dandenongs, the one place I should've visited and didn't during my stay in Lilydale.

It was a cool, cloudy and a little rainy so I decided not to take a river cruise as I had previously planned. Instead I headed towards the Botanic Gardens stopping at Hall of Remembrance on the way. The Gardens were huge, not as big as Central Park in NYC but way bigger than the Gardens in Sydney or Brisbane, and I spent a couple of hours walking around. Once in a while it rained a little but I didn't get wet. I was able to take some nice pictures in the gardens and then I headed into the CDB for lunch.

Even though I had given myself a low budget, in case I have trouble finding work in Tasmania or something, my healthy burger lunch cost me $17. It wasn't even that good so I decided to eat cheap fast-food and microwave dinners from now on. It was probably healthy though.

After lunch I decided to visit the ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image). They had a Disney exhibit showcasing background art, sketches and finished scenes of landmark films. I really enjoyed the exhibit and really got my $11 worth by taking two hours to see everything. I was especially blown away by the standalone versions of some of the animation backgrounds. I would put some of those on my wall and among the best pieces of art of the 20th century.

After the Disney exhibit I checked out the general complimentary Australian moving image exhibit, where I got introduced to some Australian cinema and I got to play some videogames like Civilization (nerd boner!). I enjoyed the exhibit more than I had anticipated and had to leave before I was finished because it was closing time.

When I got out it was cold. The whole day had been pretty cloudy and it was around 18 degrees outside and I was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts. I walked back to the hostel with dinner on my mind. I couldn't find a passable dinner in the nearby IGA's freezer so I decided to walk to Hungry Jack's at Southern Cross. There were too many people though with lines reaching outside so I walked across the CBD, again to find a roomier one. On the way I picked up "The Bro Code" at Angus & Robertson and finally joined the Borders/A&R v.i.p. club. After eating I visited JB-HiFi yet again and came out with season 3 of "Six Feet Under" and two movies, "Going Overboard" and "Mad Max 2". And again I walked back to the hostel.

I must have walked more than 15 K's during the day and I'd been on my feet for most of 11 hours so my feet and calves were really killing me when I got back. I put "Mad Max 2" in the DVD player and fell asleep after less than 20 minutes in.

This morning I finished the movie after breakfast, showered and headed into a sports bar to watch some NBA while writing this update. It was an exciting game and the Boston Celtics proved victorious in the last tenths of seconds. Since that I've eaten at Hungry Jack's -- again -- and walked in to Fitzroy Gardens on the east side of the CBD. The city is so big and has so many gardens that I feel like I'm not even in the same city anymore. From here I'll check out Cook's cottage after which I'll try to secure a flight to Tasmania on the 25th before heading back to the hostel and seafood dinner at Maria's house later tonight.

See you again real soon!