Greetings people of England (Sounds kinda lame I know)
So after a one and half hour flight from Brisbane (makes you realise how big Oz is) I had arrived into Melbourne, to one of Australia's largest cities; and into the state of Victoria for the first time! And it involved putting the clocks forward an hour for daylight saving; meaning=more sunshine in the evening, woooo!!!
After arriving in Melbourne airport and catching the skybus into the city, I had arrived at my home for the next 3 weeks, Nomads Industry (which is a chain hostel company around Oz and NZ, making millions from us poor travellers) and boy was it an interesting 3 weeks! As I was on a tight budget (the joys of travelling....) I went for the 14 bed dorm (the only 14 bed dorm) in a hostel that sleeps, over 400 people! And I was welcomed to the party room, 111. Also know as club 111! Bascially its the party room, where you never sleep, I was in for a great three weeks...... filled with really nice irish and italian people who had been living in this crazy room for over six months....... So let me expand on my experience in 111! So literally every night they would get home from work around 11.30ish pm, put on loud music and drink before heading out (always fun when you have an early start the next day and they are blasting music out till past 1am). Then they would return around 4am, making as much racket as possible and then Dario, the charming italian would then blast out his music again, and keep every in the room who wasn't parting, up, which was always fun...... So that can be one of the negitives of travelling and staying in hostels, I really do sound like a whinney pom now, ha! Why didn't I change room you ask?! Because being a traveller, your always on a budget, and the rooms were more expensive because of the Oz open; and I didnt want to pay any more then I was, okay, ha! There were some adavantages to the room, as I meet some really cool people who I have meet up with since in Sydney, which was rather awesome, whlist putting up with the dross, ha! But this did also mean, sometimes I gave in and joined in with the partying too, if you cant beat them, join em eh?! So I had to get back on the joyous goon once again, wooo.... It does such a good trick of getting you drunk though, woop! Ha! So I headed to a few backpacker nights out and to the treasury casino, which was absolulty HUGE, 3 floors of hardcore gambling, and even two clubs inside, and you guessed it I went to one of them! It was awesome! Nothing like it in the UK for sure!
So being in Melbourne for nearly 3 weeks allowed me to really explore the city and get a feel for Melbourne life! Allowing me to find all the hidden alleyways filled with trendy cafes, resturants, cool shops and bookstores (much to my delight, but not my budget!). To sum up Melbourne I would say its a very cool city, very funky with a really chilled, good feeling atmosphere, which I really loved. Melbourne is filled with lots of culture, history and quirky things! Whlist in the city I did many things: visiting the beautiful botanic gardens, a tour around the Victorian Parliament (which had a lot of British impact on it), federation square a really cool place to chill and one of my favorite places in Melbourne (where they showed the Oz open and had cool live bands play)! Walking along the beautiful Yarra river, visiting musuems about Melbourne's history and an exbition about the movie/tv industry which is a big interest for me, art galleries and the fancy area of Southgate! As well as this I visited the aqaurium, and saw penguins for the first time (I know penguins in Oz, weird huh?!), as well as seeing many other cool creatures, huge mantarays bigger then me, swimming over my head, and sea turtles which were the most magnificent creatures ever! I also visted the funky St.Kilda suburb, and hit the beach (topping up the tan). So I managed to pack in many things, and I haven't even started on the Australian Open yet!! Unfortunalty I didn't manage to go on the Neighbours tour (bad, I know), but I will be back in Melbourne again. AND I will for sure visiting Ramsay St; would be great to meet Carl Kenndy and his band (haha)!
What's that your all saying?! What about the Australian Open?! Details please!!! WELL....words cannot describe how amazing it was, a dream come true for sure!! I went to the Open for 6 days, and had to constantly pinch myself that I was there; as I couldn't believe it! I know 6 days, I was lucky, I bought a 5 day ground pass, which got me into all the courts; apart from the Hisense Arena and the main court Rod Laver! I managed to spend a day on the Hisense arena too (thanks Cath)! I didn't manage to get onto the main court, as the evening matches I wanted to see, were always sold out, which sucked, but that so I guess I have an excuse to come back, so I can go onto the Rod Laver court! There were 25 courts, and I managed to go on every one, bar the Rod! So who did I see, you ask?! Well quite alot of players in 6 days for sure: Murray (was soo awesome cheering him on, especially on the other side of the world), Nadal, yes Nadal (but only on the practise court, but hey, I was like les than 1 metre away from him), Roddick, Birdich, Tsonga, Sodlering, Ferrer, the Byran brothers, Pat Cash and Pat Rafter (two tennis legends) so they were probably the best people I saw, as well as many other lesser known players! On the women's side I saw: Sharapova, Jankovic, Petroviv (semi-finalist), some lovely aussie ladies, Mattek-Sands and as well as before, some lesser known players! So overall I had six days of heaven, watching tennis from 12-10pm every day, watching some awesome matches, supporting the Brits, eating some good food and getting my big nose burnt all the time (not a good look people, ha)!
There was a great atmosphere, as everyone had the same interest, seeing great tennis and players, so the atmosphere was pretty electric! And the aussies were great fun, dressing up and shouting, AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE, OI, OI, OI! Which made the atmosphere very fun! The first week, there was a huge amount of atmosphere as there were matches going on on all 25 courts and the place was packed, the Australian Open grounds are huge, much bigger than Wimbledon it felt! My last day was awesome, but also sad, I had gotten into a routine of going to the tennis very regularly, and then suddenly it was over... Boo! All good things come to an end, as they say! And I will forever remember being at the Australian Open 2011!
So on the 26th of January every year around Oz, is Australia day!!! Where the entire country has a public holiday and celebrates being an Australian and what is important to them, ie family and friends and living in such a beautiful country! It's also all about drinking..... and that is exactly what we did!! I went to a pub garden with friends and had lunch, whlist soaking up the sun in a chilled atmosphere with a beer in hand! In the evening we went to federation square to watch the fireworks, and then went to a backpackers club and danced the night away! So all in all, a pretty awesome day! Another great memory to add on my journey!
As you all know Australia has a wonderful climate (if only it were the same in the UK....LOL, although I must say I do miss the seasons) but this does mean it can be a volatile climate. So as most of you probably know, in January there was some MAJOR MAJOR flooding in Queensland. It had been one of the wettest summers (talk about unlucky), so the rivers, and ground were already pretty saturated before the storms and torentail rain came (and dams at bursting point). So this caused serious serious flooding where whole towns were literally washed away, water as high up as 10 metres, causing entire towns to be emerged in water. Many people were left left homeless, without any possessions but the clothes on their backs. In some places the flooding happened so suddenly that people were running for their lives! Peoples homes becoming submerged and having to stay on the roof to be resuced. And unfortuanlty many people lost their lives in the tragic floods, and there were many heartbreaking stories. The floods caused millions of dollars in damage, to infrastructure, homes and crops, and Queensland is still recovering now (their tourism industry has been hit hard). But aussies are tough fighters with strong spirits and pullled together everywhere to help their fellow aussies! People really rallied together, donating and raising money, as well as volunteering and helping the hit areas with the recovery process. Luckly Mary and I were fine, and where Mary lives wasn't hit (thank god), so we were okay. I actually left for Melbourne the day before the floods hit Brisbane, which was pretty crazy/good timing on my half! If your saw the images on the tv and videos, the scenes unravling before your eyes, was just so surreal, I couldn't believe what was happening and the devastation that it caused in many ways. I was so glad I had done my travels done the east coast, as that area, was hit really badly; and I knew many people who had to cancel their trips there or miss out parts such as Fraser Island and Whitsundays. It made me very grateful, I missed all the crazy. But it seems now Queensland has really pulled together and recovered alot; and is now again open to travellers.
A few weeks laters, Queensland was hit again, by another natural diaster, this time in the form of a cyclone; cyclone Yasi. Which mainly hit northern Queensland which wasn't really affected by the flooding. It was orginally believed to be a catory 5, the worst, but thankfully got down graded a few hours before it hit. But it still caused alot of structural damage, but nothing that couldn't be fixed! The worst dmaage was done to bannana crops, which caused the prices of them to go up hugley afterwards (glad I don't like em anyways). Thankfully no one lost their lives. I did have a friend staying in Cairns, which got hit, but she was fine!
Rather depressing topics I know, but its all part of the experience of travelling and dealing with new things, and makes you realise we are quite lucky in the UK and don't have such a volatile climate.
So after making some treausred memories in Melbourne, and leaving the crazyness of room 111 behind; I jumped back on a plane and headed back to Brissie for a few days! Again staying with the legend that is Mary, whlist I recharged my batteries. I also got to finally take Mary on a fancy lunch as a crimbo present, was such good food, and of course I had steak, mmmmmm!!! So after a few days chilling in Brissie, I was ready to hit the road again and finally jump back on the bus, excitement!!! And my next stop was Surfer's Paradise! My next blog will let you all know what paradise is like...... ;)
Until next time,
Angus x
