Seeing as I haven't had
a reliable net connection this is the first chance I've had to update
the blog. I love Melbourne !! What a beautiful city. Hotel Bakpak was
my first venture into the backpackers scene and even though I nearly
ran out of there when I first saw the room, I'm glad I stayed. It
ended up being a great time. Met so many interesting and lovely
people. Special mention has to go to Mel who manages the bar there
and Ash and Cat. I know I said I was going to get some sleep in
Melbourne and I did manage to fit in a couple of hours :-)
The first day I found
the markets which where just around the corner, its a good thing I
couldn't fit anymore into the pack. After a memorable morning, I had
a bit of a nap in the arvo and went down to the 'Roo Bar' in the
evening. By the end of the night we had some good chatting going on
and no-one wanted to go back to their rooms, so it was off to the
next bar down the road that was still open. Its 4am and they kick us
out, so where theres a will theres a way and sure enough further down
the road theres another bar open. I met a lovely girl Jenny that
night from Scotland and she's got me lined up to do the best caleigh
when I when I get there. Edsell is apparently the place to go and I
got the low down on 'What is really under the kilts' ... sounds
alright too.
On Friday, after
getting some memory for the mac ( it was a hard sell, but I went with
an extra 512 instead of 256 .. she runs like a dream now) I met up
with David K who very kindly took me out for dinner at Lygon St, it
was beautiful, and another small world story. Our waiter brings out
the wine list and as usual I just cant help myself and put in a plug
for our wonderful MR wines and ask why theres none on the list. He
agrees with me and asks if I've ever heard of the Moss wines over in
WA. Of course I have, we were at their winery a week ago and I just
polished off a bottle of their yummy sem sav before my trip (it was
one of the 3 I HAD to finish) and it turns out that the Moss'es are
his grandparents. Anyways, after dinner its off to the Casino. A
casino is a casino is a casino ... says the world weary traveller ...
but its certainly bigger than Burswood and the water features in the
lobby are beautiful. It was a lovely night and David dropped me back
about 1ish. As I was walking into the lobby of the backpackers, some
lady was looking for a place to get a coffee, so I went for a walk
down the corner with her to show her, and as I get to the corner a
whole group of people from last night are hopping into a taxi, lots
of arm twisting went on as they said hop in ... and down the road we
went to this great bar. I cant remember the name but the DJ was doing
retro sort of stuff and everyone was just having a ball. When they
closed, we went back to Mel's place which was not far around the
corner and they have a CD collection to die for. Whoops, was meant to
meet David for shopping at lunch time and didn't wake up till 1.30.
Took Saturday night a tad easier and managed to get to bed at a semi
reasonable hour. On Sunday I went out to Croyden to meet Shaz and
spent the morning having a good girls chat and swapping photos. Was
going to check out the Camberwell markets on the way back, but it was
pouring and the train was doing its thing to me and had me nodding
off.
Monday was off to
Bridge Rd, this is a long road totally given over to clothes shops. I
displayed the greatest willpower ever and only bought shirts for the
boys. This was not an easy thing I tell you. This road is designed to
tempt even the non shoppers.
Tuesday being the last
day, I clocked up a few more k's on foot, did the bank and things I
had to do, eg. Washing etc .. and repacked the pack. It's still
bloody heavy (found out its 19.1kg at the airport) and I still have
bugger all in it.
Well, that was
Melbourne .. plenty of walking, plenty of talking, plenty of drinking
and plenty of memories. Hotel
Bakpak will never be forgotten !!