Lovely Chilly Melbourne

[ By Stian ]

Online photo, Melbourne Federation square at night

Melbourne is the second biggest city in Australia, next after Sydney. It is though known for being more vibrant, cultural and artistic than Sydney. It is also said to be the fashioncapital of Australia, and that this is an image that they comply strictly – so if you wear shorts or a tanktop as a man you will not be let into the bars / clubs. I already knew people in Melbourne as well, after having had at least 4 or 5 people from Melbourne over as a chouchsurferhost back home in Norway, so I was really looking forward to see what this city had to offer.

Lonesome traveller

I ended up going by myself to Melbourne since Kenneth decided to stay in Sydney for a couple of more days doing some exploring on his own. Kenneth did though have the same trainticket as me but did not use it. I just had to get to Melbourne 'cause i was looking forward to meeting a previous couchsurfer, Joel, that stayed at my house in Trondheim last summer. It really did not bother me that I had to travel by myself either since I then got two seats all by myself on the train – making the 11 hour trainride seem much shorter since I had heeps of space to stretch out and to get my sleep in.

Already at the very start of the trainride I got in touch with a really nice girl from Germany, Sabrina, so to begin with we had a very nice chat and suddenly a couple of hours had passed by already. Then i started writing my Sydney-entry for the blog and suddenly i fell asleep and woops there I was in Melbourne already.

Exploring Melbourne

When in Melbourne the weather wasn't the best. It was cloudy, greyish and a chilly wind at times. First thing on my agenda was to met up with Joels father who then took care of all my stuff so that I could go exploring the city on my own until Joel got off work. I did a fair bit of walking the very first day and got to see alot of the city-centre. I definitly got a positive vibe of the city and i just fell in love with many of the streets and the small cafés and restaurants in the narrow streets. Especially Flinders Lane is pretty awesome. Also, i just love the streetart that is to be found on many a corner in the city. For lunch this first day i had to drop by PieFace – which is one of the most popular «fast-food»-kinda chains here in Australia. I had been told that I just HAD to experience a PieFace pie during my stay so I just had to then, I guess. I actually enjoyed the egg and bacon pie, and the sausage roll I included in the lunchmeal as well. It was pretty Aussie of me to do that I was told;) haha. Thinking like the locals already – that's a good sign;)

Joel of Pakenham

Later on I met up with Joel, which was a very pleasant reunion. We almost picked up right where we left each other the last time. He then took over and showed me a bit around the city after we've had dinner and before we left for his home. It turned out that I was not actually staying IN Melbourne, but in one of the suburbs, and Joel's house was to be found in the small suburb of Pakenham. I immediately felt very positively about his whole family. His mother, Nate (for Renate), seemed to be a woman full of joy and compassion – which was to be proven as a correct assumption. His father, Phil, turned out to be a very positive and relaxed man and I felt comfortable in his company. Joels sister, Meg, was out partying (or working) most of the time so I didn't get to see much of her during the week – but the little I did get to see of her was positive as well. She seemed like a fun and joyful girl;)

J2 And My Art-revelation:)

The next day Joel had to go to work again so I once again did exploring in the city by my own. Unfortunately the weather had not become better yet. This time i got to check out many of the parks in the city centre, and even the gay-street Chapel Street. It's mainly referred to the gay-district because a lot of gay people live there and hang out there, and the shops and restaurants are more expensive. But as far as a gay district it's not as «fun» as for example SOHO in London or the gay area in Berlin. So I wasn't too impressed really. I have seen way better gay-districts in other cities;)

I also got to check out the NGV Australia, which is the National Gallery of Vicotria state with artworks solely by indigenous and Australian artists. I have to say I loved this gallery – it was very very good:)

While i was waiting for Joel I also got to meet up with another local, J2, that would turn out to be a really nice guy as well. Funny thing; J2 turned out to be very much into art as well – like, VERY into art, and especially art of Australian and aboriginal artists. It's funny because since I started this world tour I have met so many people that seem to be very interested in art. Our host Wade, in Auckland, who lived in this magnificent house filled with all kinds of art owned by James Wallace, who is even knighted for his contribution to the NZ-art-scene. I detected a interest of art in Peter in Hamilton as well and Josh in Wellington was studing the history and production of films, while Ian in Christchurch also had loads of artistic collectibles in his home. In Sydney we met Maya who's mother who's into art and had been working as an art-teacher – and their house was filled with different kind of art as well. So I DO think that the world is trying to tell me something: Get into the artscene!!!! And I DO want it now;) haha.

I actually did find a piece of art that I really really really liked at a aboriginal run and owned gallery in Collins Street, but it cost about 1 100 AUD, which is about a bit more than 6 000 NOK, and that is a bit too much money to spend right in the beginning of a world tour for one single thing. Though, the painting was amazing. The artist was Tarissa King, a very young and fresh artist so I guess it was a «cheap» piece of art because of her age – I would later come to see some of her art again other places as well but then it was way more expensive, as for example in Alice Springs. The cost for aboriginal art varies greately, though the quality does not necessarily vary in accordance with the price (well that's my personal opinion anyways). You could easily find aboriginal art (and not of the finest kind) for about 50 000 AUD (and probably more) :-/ But i learned that it's all about the name, as it always is;) I do regret not bying the painting now though 'cause it would have fit perfectly in my home. It actually surprises me how much I would come to like a lot of the aboriginal art, so I will probably purchase some at a later stage. I guess it's because of the strong colours the artists use – and you all know how much I love the world to be colourful:)

Sightseeing in Victoria

3^rd Day: On the third day Kenneth finally arrived to Melbourne as well. I and Joel had explored the St Kilda Beach and the Esplenada Market before before meeting up with Kenneth. The rest of the day we just hang out and did not do much really, other than having a lovely tea and a cake at a teahouse. 4^th Day: The fourth day we went to a sculpture-forest on the countryside and we had the most amazing beef and burgundy pie for lunch at this really nice Pie-place that has won loads of Gold medals in what I believe is a Pie-Championship. The medals are well deserved:) 5^th Day: On the fifht day Joel took us to a really cute Kettle Farm were we got to pet grey kangaroos. They also had a really cute wombat at the farm, named Stewie (but he bites so no petting here). They also had many beautiful birds, and some not so beautiful unfortunately: The emus, haha. So I got a fair bit of photos of these creatures you can say;) We then went on to a local chocolate factory that had a really great exhibition on how to make chocolate – and we even got to make our own chocolate as well – funny:) Phillip Island was then our next stop. We stopped by a Koala sanctuary and I got to see real Koalas for the very first time. THEY ARE JUST THE MOST ADORABLE CREATURES!!!!! I heart koalas !!!! They are the best:) 6^th Day: The sixth day Joel took us for a daytrip from Melbourne to Geelong and then all the way along the Great Ocean Road until we reached the famous Twelve Apostles, before heading back to the city again. The Great Ocean Road is just amazingly beautiful – but as the day went on it became cloudy so I guess the impressions of the Twelve Apostles could have been way better. It really did not help that Australia is filled with flies and they seemed to like me and Kenneth ALOT. It is so bad at times that before you stop talking you have to exhale greatly (blow out) before you shut your mouth just to be sure that you dont have any flies left in your mouth, and then breathe in through your nose and hope for that no flies get in their, haha;) 7^th Day: On the seventh day I and Joel explored the ACCA, Australian center for contemporary art, and also the NGV International. I though found NGV Australia way better than the international one to be honest. We also dropped by Melbourne Museum a visit, but I wanted to go there to learn more about the aboriginal history, but this section was of course closed off at the moment so I didn't get to learn anything about the aboriginals this time, well well. By late afternoon it started to pour down heavily as well so we just decided to get back home for dinner. This evening Joels mother had prepared a fantastic German pot roast for us which tasted amazing in all ways. So it was a great ending of the day at least. 8^th Day: On the eight day I and Kenneth decided to check into a hostel since our plans were not nailed for the next few days, and we really actually didn't know when we would be leaving Melbourne at all. Since we already got to see both Koalas and pet Kangaroos we deceided that we should skip Adelaide (since everybody says it's so boring there anyways), and also to skip Kangaroo Island because all we wanted to see there we had already gotten to see. It was probably about time to leave as well because since the third day our host did seem a bit distant and wasnt very talkative anymore... so it kinda did make me feel a bit awkward and that I was more in the way than being a pleasure having over. So we then decided to stay the weekend at a hostel... but plans are to be changed, always.

Stressing last day

Most of the last whole day we had in Melbourne I spent alot of the time on the phone since we were trying to book an outback adventure through this company called Wicked Travels. A task that was easier said than done... but we eventually got a tour booked (although it was not any of the ones we were hoping for). We were not pleased to find out that we had been «tricked» into an extremely inconvinient travel-route, when we could have had a much better deal instead. Well that is, instead of flying to Adeilade and taking a 20 hour busride from there on, spending almost 2 whole days only travelling – we could have spent a couple of extra days in Melbourne and taken a flight straight to Alice Springs – which would have cost the same... well well. I guess everything happends for a reason, so we should just wait and see what the chance has in store for us this time.

I also got to meet up with J2 a couple of more times. I felt very welcome and appreciated in his company and we had many a lovely chat about art, the city, the gay scene, stuff and so on and so on. J2 loves the cold climate and loves travelling Europe during wintertime so of course he has now a standing invitation to come visit in Norway during christmas /winter if he likes too:)

Stephanie of Brunswick Street

Late the last night we also got to meet up with Stephanie, one of the Melbourne girls we met in our hostel while in Rotorua, New Zealand. Stephanie is just one of those girls that just arrays awesomeness and she was so sweet to us. She took us to Brunswick street, which is located in Northern Melbourne. Here we got to explore some of the cool bars. It is also a street where people are not so picky about what you were and so on. Stephanie put it so nicely whens he said that she understands what it is like to be a backpacker and that we probably did not bring our whole wardrobe and that we had shitty clothes now, and probably not have gotten to wash them at all – but even as a vagabond we could get into these bars in this street;) haha. So sweet of her to be so considerate towards two filthy guys like us;) I am not so sure though, cause i felt many was very well dressed at some of the places we dropped by. What else would you expect from a place that is named after the streetnumber? For sure at «361» people where VERY fancily dressed, and the bartenders had really cool 1920's style outfits and the interior of the bar matched it well. The drinks were expensive as well , so I only got one, a Bon Temps, but it had the most amazing citrusy flavours AND ginger in it. LOVE!

The curse of changing plans:(

We also learned that Stephanie and her friend Sarah had planned stuff for us to do on Sunday, but our plans changed and we had to get to Adelaide the next day, since we suddenly had a bus from Adelaide to catch in the evening... so we were kinda sad that it turned out this way because we really would have liked to have stayed a couple of more days in Melbourne.

Acclimatized

Ah – another thing about our stay in Melbourne: We have been FREEZING!!!! Unbelievable isn't it? I would never have expected the weather to be so chilly before we arrived. It is SUMMERTIME for Gods sake!!! I guess we definitely are acclimatized by now. Most of the time we spent in Melbourne was cloudy, and when there are clouds there is usually a wind as well, and this wind was cold, very cold at times. I actually wore jeans and my longsleeve jumper-jacket most of the time. But the temperature was still more than 20 degrees most of the time though... Funny thing is that my couchsurfer Joel claimed that our Norwegian summer is like the winter in Melbourne. Well I didn't find the summer in Melbourne to be any better than the summer in Norway, but then again – I guess I was just unlucky and that we just arrived at the completely wrong time. We were told that it had really been awesome and hot weather just before we arrived, and that the weatherprognosis for the days after our departure seemed to look very promising as well, haha. We did have some sunshine while in Melbourne though and then it was really nice and really hot, but well well. Would love to see the city at its best though;) So, I guess this means that I have to return to Melbourne one day ;)

One should always have a reason to return you know:)

Exploring