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...