Melbourne - Day 1 and 2

Since I'm in Melbourne for a week it will be a very, VERY long post if I only write one, and no one will bother reading all of it, so instead I'll divide it into parts so that you might actually read it.

Day 1

I really wish I had just taken a coach during the day instead of the night one. It was packed, and as usual I couldn’t sleep on the coach. But never mind. I arrived in Melbourne at 8am. It was really cold (and just remember; I’m Norwegian!), so I was glad I was wearing my jeans and cardigan. I went to the hostel, Elephant Backpackers, but I wasn’t allowed to check in until after 1pm. So I stored my suitcase in one of their lockers, $7 for 12 hours, and went outside.

 First of all I walked up to where I am getting my new tattoo done in the morning, just to see how long it would take me to get there. After I had done that I was starving as I hadn't had any breakfast, except for an egg and lettuce sandwich at 3am. So breakfast it was.

 After this I got on the free (my favourite word) tourist shuttle which leaves every half hour and just took that around town getting off at a couple of the stops. I didn't really worry too much about where I got off and what I got to see as I have a whole week here. I did get off at the Melbourne Museum, I didn't go inside it. I did go inside the Royal Exhibition building, but I got chased back out again as the public is only allowed in when they do tours at 2pm.

 I got off at Lygon Street, which looked cute with all its cafes and little shops. The bus driver said something about a street with loads of vegetarian shops a 15 minute walk from Lygon Street, but I forgot what it was called. I should find that out again, see if it’s any good. I walked from Lygon street to the bus’ next stop at the University of Melbourne, where I saw this funny connection of old and new.

 The last place I got off the bus today was at the Shrine of Remembrance, which was a recommendation from The Paramedic. It’s a nice building, it's pretty, and it's nice that people that lost loved ones in the war has somewhere to go to mourn them if they can't go where they're buried

 When the clock had passed 1 I checked in at the hostel, I would like to take the free tourist shuttle again one day while I’m here and check out some of the other stops. I noticed that I had to charge my phone. I had been listening to music on it all night and I only had 1% of battery left! There was no power outlet (or whatever it’s called) in the dorm so I had to sit out in the hallway. While I was sitting there I made plans to meet Kevin, Luna and Antonio on Saturday, and Mai in half an hour.

My phone got up to 20% when I had to unplug it to go and meet Mai. I do not like that there is no possibility to charge the phone in my room. I could leave it in reception to get charged, but I can’t leave it overnight as it’s the only clock I’ve got and I just feel lost without it anyway. After I had booked a day trip for Monday to see the Great Ocean Road and go to the top of the Eureka tower at the tourist information centre, Mai and I walked up to Queen Victoria Market. As it’s Wednesday the market was closed during the day, but they had an evening one on that was supposed to sell cheap food, and also have some stalls with clothes and jewellery and stuff.

We got there and they did have some interesting things there, but I wouldn’t really say that the food was cheap. It was pretty much normal prices. But I enjoyed going, and I would like to go again to the day one, possibly tomorrow, after my tattoo, or on Friday.

 So now I am sitting outside in the hallway with my laptop and charging my phone. I’m really tired so I think I’ll only charge it so that it’ll survive until tomorrow morning and then I’ll charge it some more before I go to get my tattoo. If only it would charge quicker so that I could go to bed!

Day 2 – Tattoo

There are only shower curtains in the showers, not doors. And there isn’t much room in the showers so things can easily get wet. But I managed. There are hangers and benches outside the showers, but I don’t like getting undressed in front of other people.

I went and got my tattoo today. The tattoo artist made a small mistake, but I’ll tell you all about that in a separate post, I’ll just say it was a very minor one and I can live with it. Because the tattoo is on my hip I have to be careful with what I wear for a bit so that nothing is rubbing on it or anything.

In the early evening Mai and I went to St Kilda. We had a look at Luna Park, we didn’t go on any of the rides. It was almost $10 for one ride and over $40 for an all access pass. I think that seems quite expensive for such a small amusement park, but I guess if you go on every single ride it’s worth it.

This is the kind of spider I can deal with!

 We then walked to St Kilda pier as there are supposed to be wild penguins there in the evening. We saw some hiding in the rocks, and after it got dark some of them came and walked on the path. They didn’t seem too bothered about the people, and they were SO cute! They’re only tiny ones, maybe 30-35cm or somewhere around there.

 It was starting to get cold so we went back to Luna Park, because I wanted some pictures of it with the lights on and we planned to get on the tram back in to town afterwards. But when we got to Luna Park we noticed a market right next to it!

 It seemed to be lots of “artsy” people there, not strange since St Kilda is the art district, and there were people performing with fire and dance and stuff, it was really cool! There were some cool stalls there with clothes and jewellery and knick-knacks and also some food stalls. Some of the food stalls were even fully vegetarian! Shame I wasn’t very hungry.

To be continued...

The 99'er meme - Part 2

Continuation of last week's Sunday Stealing. Here's my Part 1

26. Are you happy with the person you've become? Most of the time.
27. What's a sound you hate; sound you love? That sound when a chiropractor twists someone's neck.. Urgh! Like nails on a blackboard!
28. What's your biggest "what if"? What if I had studied something other than music, something vocational, where would I be now?
29. Do you believe in ghosts? What about aliens? Yes, on both of them, and definitely aliens; I can't believe that all the life in the universe is on one planet.
30. Stick your right arm out; what do you touch first? Do the same with your left arm. My laptop, both arms, unless you mean to the sides, then it's thin air on my right and the chair Mai is sitting in on my left.
31. Smell the air. What do you smell? Nothing. I'm in the library but not the part with books.
32. What's the worst place you have ever been to? Oslo. Not that it's a bad place in it self, but I don't like the people there.
33. Choose: East Coast or West Coast? Of what country? I've not been to the West Coast of Australia yet, but I would love to go. 
34. Most attractive singer of your opposite gender. Can't think of one right now.
35. To you, what is the meaning of life? See as much as possible, learn as much as possible, know what love is, and have as much fun as possible.
36. Define: Art. In the eye of the beholder.
37. Do you believe in luck? I guess.
38. Patriots or Giants? Or, who gives a rat's ass? Not me
39. Will you watch the game? If so with who? What game?
40. Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed? No, and almost.
41. What was the last book you read? Practically Perfect by Katie Fforde
42. Do you like the smell of gasoline? Not really.
43. Do you have any nicknames? Yes
44. What was the last movie you saw? Horrible Bosses
45. What's the worst injury you've ever had? I've lost part of my hearing on one ear.
46. Have you ever caught a butterfly? Yes. :(
47. Do you have any obsessions right now? Probably
48. What's your sexual orientation? Straight
49. Ever had a rumor spread  about you? Probably
50. Do you believe in magic? Yes, but I also believe a lot of it is fake.

Practically Perfect

Practically Perfect
By: Katie Fforde

Outer back cover: Anna, a newly qualified interior designer, has decided it's time to put her money and expertise where her mouth is. She's risked everything on buying a tiny but adorable cottage so she can renovate it, sell it on, and prove to her family that she can earn her own living.
Outside, the chocolate-box cottage is perfect, but inside all is chaos: with a ladder for a staircase, no downstairs flooring, candles the only form of lighting, and a sleeping bag and camping mat for a bed, Anna's soon wondering whether she's bitten off more than she can chew.
Her neighbour Chloe comes to the rescue, providing tea, wine and sympathy - and a recently rescued greyhound, Caroline. But just as Anna's starting to believe she's found the perfect idyll, the good-looking yet impossible Rob Hunter arrived on the scene, putting up more obstacles than the Grand National. Can Anna get over all of life's hurdles?

I really enjoyed this book. I didn't really care about Anna's love life, as I could guess what would happen with that, but I loved reading about her friendship with Chloe and how her relationship with Caroline the greyhound deepened, and it was also interesting reading about all the building work as she did it all herself.

I am not a dog person (I don't mind other people's dogs, but I don't want one myself, a bit like kids really), but after reading this I have to admit that owning a dog doesn't sound so horrible. The book also makes renovating a house sound like fun, although I think that sounds like fun already so maybe that's just me. Reading about rural England really makes me miss living there, and as the book is set in the Cotswold it makes me want to see it as I never got around to go down south when I lived in England.

It is a very feel-good book and, although I didn't have too much trouble putting it down, I was always looking forward to continue reading it.

I'm leaving this at the Canberra City YHA, or maybe on the coach to Melbourne....

Canberra

Day 1

The Canberra City YHA seems okay. They’ve got a swimming pool and spa (just a fancy word for hot tub, not an actual SPA), pool table, big tv and key card instead of a normal key. I’m staying in a room for 10 people, it’s the biggest dorm I’ve seen so far and it’s got lots of floor space, but we have to keep our belongings under or on top of the bed or the cleaner will (re)move them. Which is fair enough I guess, at least that way it stays clean and tidy. This is also the first mixed room I’ve stayed in. So far I know there are two other women in the room and one guy, but I don’t know what the other 6 are… Not that it matters. As long as my pyjama top stays in one place!

There is also a big balcony with a clothes line just for this dorm, which would be handy if I had loads of washing. No pegs though, so it would probably just fly away.

 Canberra is the quietest capital I’ve seen. It’s just seems like a strange place to be honest. I’m not sure why, very pretty though. There are hardly any people here! But then again, I guess it’s not very often that capitals actually gets designed to be capitals. I think it would be very hard to get lost here as well. I walked around in Canberra Shopping Centre for a bit. It’s HUGE! At least I know I can go window-shopping if I’m bored.

 I’m loving the weather today, makes a change from yesterday’s grey wall. Apparently it’s unusually hot for Canberra today; I hope it stays like this until I leave.

Day 2

I walked up to Mount Ainslie today. It was a long walk, 11-12kilometers there and back, I’m glad I remembered to bring some water! There weren’t footpaths all the way, but I managed to find my way. I was a bit worried about spiders and snakes when I was walking up Mount Ainslie Drive, but except for a lot of butterflies and a dead kangaroo I didn’t see any wildlife or creepy-crawlies. On the way down I found a walking trail and I was even more worried about snakes and spiders, I almost wished I had just walked on the road, but I didn’t see anything there either.

 The view was really nice from the top of Mt Ainslie, I could really see how planned the city is. I was almost surprised there wasn’t a café or anything up there, but at the same time it was quite nice that there wasn’t anything up there to take money from tourists.

 I didn’t meet anyone else walking up to Mt. Ainslie today, but there were quite a few people cycling. I almost wish I had rented a bike myself so I could have rested my feet on the way back down, but it would have been hellish going up.

 I pretty much just relaxed the rest of the day as I was too knackered to do anything after my long walk. I do have to say though that Canberra seems like a nice city and I wouldn’t have minded living here. It’s not too busy or full of tourists and it’s pretty and clean. There are also so many statues and sculptures that I would probably be able to discover a new one every day if I wanted to. I’m looking forward to seeing more of the city tomorrow.

Day 3

I was in a really bad mood this morning. It just didn’t start right. So to calm down I lost myself in a book for a few hours. By 1.30pm I had calmed down and the rain had stopped as well, so I went out to see the Captain Cook Memorial Water Jet as it’s only on between 2 and 4pm.

 After I had taken a couple of pictures of it I walked around the lake to Kings Avenue Bridge and from there up to Capital Hill. I could not see a single shop on that side of the bridge, only government buildings, but then I guess that was the plan of it. Or maybe it was because I only walked within the “triangle”.

 I wandered down Federation Mall and from there to Commonwealth Avenue Bridge. I was thinking about looking at some more things on the government side of the lake, but my feet are absolutely killing me from my long walk up Mount Ainslie yesterday, and since I walked just as far today my feet are not happy. But I got to see all the things that were on my "must-see"-list in Canberra so I'm happy,

I went out with someone in my dorm tonight for a couple of drinks. Canberra is not really very busy on a Monday night! It’s rather dead actually. But the two places we went to still had their music on so loud that we had to shout to hear each other.

I’ve liked Canberra and I wouldn’t mind spending more time here, but I’m also looking forward to going to Melbourne and seeing what’s there, and also meeting Luna and her daddies while I’m there. Mai, who came to Byron Bay with me, is also meeting me again down there. I've got a feeling it's going to be a busy week in Melbourne!

The 99'er meme - Part 1

Another meme from Sunday Stealing.

1. Put your iTunes on shuffle. Give me the first 6 songs that pops up. I don’t have iTunes, but the first 6 songs that comes up on my phone is: Paolo Nutini – Sunny Side Up, Chesney Hawkes – The One and Only, Basshunter – Now you’re gone, Smosh – Firetruck!, Rihanna – SOS, Katy Perry – Hot N Cold.

2. If you could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be? I think it would be really interesting to meet Queen Elizabeth II

3. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 23, give me line 17. for quite a long time. Besides, you may not stay here for (Practically Perfect by Katie Fforde)

4. What do you think about most? Not sure to be honest, probably The Paramedic, just because I really like him and miss him now that I’m travelling.

5. What does your latest text message from someone else say? “Yeah the weather in Melbourne is great at the moment”

6. Do you sleep with or without clothes on? With

7. What’s your strangest talent? I don’t know…

8. Women…. (Finish the sentence); Men…. (Finish the sentence). Women need to stop being so self-criticising. Men are wonderful an difficult beings.

9. Ever had a poem or song written about you? Not that I know of.

10. When is the last time you played the air guitar? Years and years ago.

11. Do you have any strange phobias? Well, arachnophobia is quite common, and I think that’s the only one I’ve got.

12. Ever stuck a foreign object up your nose? Probably.

13. What’s your religion? None. I’m agnostic.

14. If you are outside, what are you most likely doing? Just walking around or walking to somewhere.

15. Do you prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it? Behind it.

16. Simple but extremely complex. Favourite band? I've never liked this question, along with favourite song. I like a little bit of everything and everyone, it’s more the beat and what I’m in the mood for than the band or song.

17. What was the last lie you told? I told a slightly creepy guy that I had deleted my Facebook account when he wanted to add me.

18. Do you believe in karma? I hope it’s true…

19. What does your URL mean? The blog is my “lily pad”, my space… This is why I’ve spelt it lilly.

20. What is your greatest weakness; your greatest strength? This is a hard one… I think the fact that I believe the best about everyone can be both depending on the situation.

21. Who is your celebrity crush? Kunal Nayyar (Raj on The Big Bang Theory), he’s just so cute.

22. Have you ever gone skinny dipping? Only in the bath tub.

23. How do you vent your anger? I write it down in my diary, usually that makes me realize I’m over-reacting, and I don’t really get angry easily anyway.

24. Do you have a collection of anything? At the moment my suitcase has a collection of stickers from where I’ve been in Australia on it.

25. Do you prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online? I don’t really like either, but I would pick Skyping over a normal phone call, it’s a bit easier when you can see someone’s face.

To be continued…

All You Need is Love

All you need is Love

By: Carole Matthews

Outer back cover: Single mum and superwoman Sally Freeman wants a better life for herself and her son Charlie. But it’s not going to be easy when their home is on a run-down Liverpool council-estate.

Just as Sally’s mission to improve their surroundings gets under way, she’s offered a ticket out of there, in the splendid form of Spencer Knight. He has everything she could wish for – the looks, the charm, not to mention the wallet. But is he the answer to her prayers, or does her hapless ex-boyfriend Johnny still hold the key to her heart?

As Sally decides what to do, she discovers that if The Beatles are right, and all you need is love, then everything else will fall into place.

One of those books where I could guess how it would end by the first page, but it was interesting to see how they got there.

The love story between Sally and Spencer moves a bit too quick and with some too over-the-top situations to be believable. Actually the love story parts of the books I didn’t really like, what I did like was the interactions of the residents on the estate and what was happening with Sally’s son Charlie. Charlie is like any other 10-year-old and young teenager and Matthews manages to capture his thoughts about the choices he has to make quite well.

It was an okay book but very “bland”, it doesn’t really stand out from any other chick-lit book.

I'm leaving this book at the hostel in Canberra.

Sydney

Day 1

Wake up! Hostel has done a bit of redecorating since I was here last in July, and of course it’s all decorated with Australian flags at the moment for Australia Day tomorrow. There is a bar downstairs in the hostel, very handy, and if you go down tomorrow night before 10pm dressed in an Australian flag you get the first drink free. Sounds fun, but I’m not buying an Australian flag just for one drink, or just for one day for that matter.

Today is boring, the weather isn’t very nice, and I saw all the touristy things last time I was here so I’m just being lazy with a book in the dorm. I could go in the kind of common room that they have here, but because the hostel is so big, I think it’s 7 floors with dorms, it’s never really quiet enough to relax with a book unless you’re in your dorm.

The Wi-Fi here is $4 per hour, but I have a voucher for 3 hours pay for 2, so unless I spend it all today because I’m so bored I should be able to make that last my whole stay. At last I’ve got some books since I bought 4 new ones in Newcastle.

I went to Bread Top for lunch. If you live in a country where they have it you should definitely get some food there! It’s yummy! Just looking at all the baked goods makes my mouth water! It’s the first time I’ve actually bought something from there as I’ve always thought it’s really expensive, but it’s actually a cheaper than most bakeries, the one I went to was anyway.

There are two Swedish girls staying in my dorm, so I got to speak Norwegian again. It’s really strange, I’ve hardly spoken any Norwegian in over 6 months except for a couple of phone calls with my parents and sister. I prefer speaking English to be honest, which I guess is part of the reason for why I’m drawn to English-speaking countries.

Something I didn’t notice last time I was here: speakers in the room. They don’t play music, but random announcements. Which isn’t too bad in itself as it’s not often, only heard it twice today (it’s nearly 8pm), and they’re talking about their offers in the bar and free tours (around the city and beach walk). But it’s so LOUD!! I nearly jump out of my skin when I hear it! I’m sure if one comes on as I’m getting out of bed (top bunk again, but at least this one has bars) I’ll fall down and break something.

Day 2 – Australia Day!!

This morning I walked to the Harbour because I’d heard there was going to be a boat race at 11am. I just have to say, the Opera House looks a lot better in the sunshine!

 I could see loads of boats moving, I thought they were moving out of the way for the race, but apparently that was the race..! So I got bored and walked to Darling Harbour. I saw a cool sculpture on the way, but there wasn't much to see in Darling Harbour that early so I decided to walk back to the hostel to make sure I had my ID before I met up with my friend (who I first met in Port Macquarie).

 Turned out I had my ID in my bag the whole time, so I just walked to Hyde Park to meet M and her friend C. While the rain had been coming down hard when I went for a walk on my own in the morning, it now suddenly got sunny, which was really nice. Now, you’re going to have to excuse me but I didn’t pay attention to street names I just wandered about with M and C. We started with looking at the vintage cars near Hyde Park. There were so many nice ones. I might not have a licence, but I do love looking at nice cars, old and new.

 After looking at the cars we walked to The Rocks. We wandered around a bit but then we started getting a bit tired of being on our feet and we wanted to sit down for a bit and have a drink. Most places were busy, I think everybody had the same idea as us. We finally found some seats at the Lowenbrau, where I ordered my first beer!! I've had some sips before but never liked it, but I thought since we were in a beer place I might as well try one. I prefer wine, or cocktails, or Alco pops…. Not a beer person. I spent about an hour getting it down my throat. M and C had a big glug each from it as well. At least I know that if I'm short on cash when I'm going out I can just buy a beer and it will last me all night, and I won’t even get drunk! I can’t remember what the beer I tried was called, but it had limonata or something in it. Not normal lemonade because it wasn't a shandy. Just tasted like beer to me though. It’s a bit sad isn't it? I worked in an English pub for about 20 months, but my first beer is in Australia…

 After our beer it started raining again for a bit. We found a fairly dry park bench and M and C shared their sandwiches and brownies with me. Then we went back to Hyde Park. We thought about looking inside the cathedral there but it was closed. So we made our way to Darling Harbour. Because it was still a while before the fireworks and stuff started we found a café to sit down in for a while.

 We then walked onto the bridge at Darling Harbour. There were so many people there, I could hardly believe it!

 We had to stand through a lot of what I would consider boring stuff. But then there is always some boring stuff on National Days though, depending on what you consider boring. The governor talked, there was like a boat parade or what I should call it, loads of nice boats, there was also some tall ships, meaning we got to see the bridge twist, which was cool. I wish I had been standing closer to the middle so I could have seen it closer, and gotten a better picture of it. 

Then there was a police chase and rescue demonstration by boat. I think we had to stand there for a little over 2 hours before the lights and fireworks show finally started. It was worth it thought, it was really good! Much better than when I was here in July.

 When we were getting off the bridge after the fireworks it took a while because of all the people. We also took the longer route, to King Street I think it was, so that we wouldn’t have to wait for half an hour to get up the stairs and get squoshed to death while doing it. M and C walked me part of the way back to my hostel and said bye when they got to one of the train stations they could use. After that I just went back to the hostel and to bed. After being on my for about 12 hours I was rather tired.

Any Australians reading this; how did you celebrate Australia Day this year?

Day 3 – Blue Mountains

Myself and a group of 15, 13 Brits and 2 Canadians, went on a Blue Mountains tour today. As we were driving there I was hoping the weather would clear up for us. It didn’t.

It rained the whole time we were there. Luckily we made a small breakfast stop before we even started the tour and we got to buy some rain-ponchos. I’m also glad I remembered to put my trainers on as I would not have been able to walk in my flip-flops, the guide did make sure everybody had suitable shoes before we left though, so that was good.

The first mountain stop we made was at Wentworth Falls. That was a really long walk. Loads of nice scenery, but because of the weather there was a grey wall instead of a view. We walked for a long time and the last bit before we turned around and headed back to the bus was down some really steep stone steps, carver out of the mountain. We got some pictures of the waterfall there, which was very pretty, and then we had to go back up the really steep stairs. I was fine, I was right behind the guide, which I liked because I meant I wasn’t stuck behind someone really slow.

Pizza oven?

 A girl started REALLY complaining on the way back to the bus. Honestly, it was like listening to someone between the ages of 5 and 16, it was so bad. I just wanted to slap her! Why would you go on a walking tour if you don’t want to walk?! She complained for the rest of the tour. We stopped at a YHA in Katoomba for lunch, which was a nice vegetarian pasta and bread-rolls which we put ham and cheese on ourselves, so I left the ham off of course.

After lunch we went to our next stop at Scenic World by Katoomba Falls. Miss Whinge opted out of that walk along with two others, and they stayed in the restaurant and souvenir shop, while the rest of us walked. This walk was only a short one, maybe an hour, and it was all downhill. We could have seen the Three Sisters on this walk, but because of the weather we didn’t. To get back up again we took this really cool train which went backwards and at a 52degree angle. It was really cool, but because I was sitting in the middle I wasn’t able to get any good pictures.

Just some small puddles...

Since I didn't get one of the "real" Three Sisters...

I would love to take this tour again when the weather is nicer, unfortunately it’s impossible to predict the weather, and even the forecast can be wrong, weather changes very quickly. It was a nice walk even though it was very wet; I just wish I had seen more of the scenery. My pink and white trainers were black by the time we finished. People tried to avoid the puddles, whereas I just walked straight through them because I knew my shoes would get soaked anyway and I couldn't be bothered spending half an hour trying to figure out how to get around every single puddle without getting my shoes wet.

When I got back to the hostel I had a nice hot shower (aaaahhhh…), I washed my shoes, they probably won’t be dry for a week, and I wrote some post cards, and this post.

I will probably feel the walk tomorrow. My feet were very tired and cold by the time we finished; they were on the verge of shaking because they were so tired! But if you’re ever in the Blue Mountains area you should definitely check it out, it’s really pretty, even when the weather is bad, just remember proper walking shoes and a raincoat.

Oh, and I did manage to make my Wi-Fi time last all 3 days.

Next stop: Canberra. Any suggestions as to what I should check out while I’m there?