Day 233 - Melbourne

Goodbye sydney - Hello Ramsey Street!



So, its a new year and time to move on. 6 weeks in sydney has been AMAZING. Yeah, the first few weeks were a bit rubbish. pressure to get a job, not 'feeling' the city, all that stuff. But since that all went away, I've turned into the biggest sydney fan ever. Its the job. and the clubs. and the people. but yeah, I'm so hot for sydney these days. But I can't afford it. So I either stay, and sack in the rest of my trip. Or I go, move on, borrow more money, and globe-trot for the last 4 and a half months of my year away.

and on that note, please acknowledge that I have only FOUR AND A HALF MONTHS LEFT on my 12 month trip. How rank is that! Right, I'm sure I left like 2 months ago or something. not 7 and a half months ago. It doesn't add up. No wonder i have no money left.

Anyway, we're leaving so after spending a couple of lazy days sorting stuff out and packing everything up, spending time with Georgie (who I LOVE) and the kids from the flat (especially Sarah, Dan and Kirsty who I LOVE LOVE LOVE), I text everyone I know and get them all to come down to the rank Sidebar for a pint before I leave. which most of them do. And its raucous. At 5am I'm caught trying to sneak Jenna and james into my hostel via the building site at the back, and end up drunkenly falling asleep and having to pack my entire backpack up at 9 in the morning with a hangover strong enough to kill rats.



   



Anyway, despite the killer hangover, myself, sam and eve start mentally preparing ourselves for the most evil that rapes backpackers of their happiness and good will - the night bus. yes, sydney to melbourne is a mere 17 hours away on the cheapo bus, and its the first nightbus since my 40-hour special in south america. Its gonna be hell.

and it was. Right, I don't wanna complain too much because I know you have NO sympathy for me travelling the world for a year and only working for 3 of those 52 weeks. BUT, australian buses SUCK BALLS. No dvds (in south america EVERY bus had dvds), no reclining chairs, no headrests, aircon that makes the journey feel like its via the south pole, and no blankets or pillows. This bus SUCKS. AND, it costs about 3 times as much as in south america. I HATE AUSTRALIAN BUSES.

So yeah, as you can gather, a sleepless, painful, freezing night on a rubbish bus led to one good thing about the journey - opening my sore eyes to see the beauty of melbourne unfold before me. At 7am, with the sun just up, we're driving through the city and its NICE. The buildings are old school, colonial architecture, backdropped by huge skyscrapers and with a huge river carved through the metropolis in the foreground. Its nice. I have no good photos of it, but its SO NICE.

Melbourne seems to have a bit of a younger-brother complex towards sydney. It seems to think its the best city in the world, but can't seem to shake enough people away from sydney to its beautiful suburbs and gorgeous beaches. It KNOWS its cool. It just wants everyone to see it. Here's the advert for melbourne that is showing at cinemas all over australia. The first time I saw it, I thought it was for some parisian fashion house, or a new perfume or something. Its not. Its for Melbourne. But check out the city - its beautiful.



Anyway, after arriving and gawping at this place, we drop eve off at a hostel and shoot off in a cab to the Brunswick area of town to meet my old mate from Brighton, Mark...



Now, mark is amazing. he smiles at least 95% of his waking life (I reckon he smiles in his sleep too). He has dimples that look like gunshot wounds, and when he's not smiling its because he's laughing stupidly at comic strips, singing Belle and Sebastian songs or complaining about ignorant non-vegetarians. He's amazing. And he's agreed to put us up for 3 nights while we explore the city.

So he whisks us out round the arty quater of town (brunswick high street), and then into town to wander around the city centre and soak up the views as we cross the bridge. We end up wandering around St Kilda (where melbourne has the pleasure of having a beach) and eating at a vegetarian restauarant (anyone who knows me knows that this is a big deal for me). Its so cute. I love melbourne. Its old and homely and stacked with character.



And after going out to one of australia's ONLY gay indie nights (which was awesome I might add, despite neither of us being really in the mood for it), mark tells us that day two in melbourne would be spent on the set of NEIGHBOURS!



That's right. We pay our $40 (17 quid), hop on the neighbours bus and wait for our 'cast star' to turn up for a meet and greet. and today the star was LIBBY KENNEDY. I love it. she's been out of the show for, like, 3 years, and still comes back to meet fans. It wasn't toady, which I would have liked. Or harold bishop. But libby is good enough. and I flirted a bit with her - enough for her to wink at me and flirt back a little - and got her to sign my free Neighbours postcard, then we left her in search of THE ramsey street, via Erinsborough High School.







So Ramsey Street, or Pin Oak Court as its really knows, is tiny. Its about the right length, but you'd be lucky to get a fiat punto round it without having to do a 6-point turn. Its tiny. BUT, its totally exactly as you'd expect.





There's only 6 houses on the close, even though in the show the house numbers are all in the twenties. I liked how the number '2' is etched into the wood where the film crew come every monday and stick one on.



But aside from that its totally what you'd expect. The houses look the same as I remember them, and the tour guide knows everything that's every happened in any of the houses, right down to the order of people who lived there. I don't care much for neighbours, but being here is weird. I liked the security guard stood near Harold's house - apparently an english couple tried to shag in the buses around his house once, so since then they have to employ someone to keep the peace.



Anyway, the whole thing was nuts but I loved it. Probably not worth the 17 quid, but worth it for the fun. and being there was mental. its a well known fact that on a tuesday night in melbourne, you can pay the same price to spend the evening in a pub with some of the cast, specifically harold and toadie, and get drunk with them. Eve's on a mission to pull toadie, but sam and I will have gone by then. Oh well.

And day three was reading comics (mark has SO got us both into comics)...



...wandering the city again, this time exploring the museum (along with its RUBBISH sneaker exhibition which was SO RUBBISH)...







...wandering the botanical gardens and the war memorial...







...walking around some trendy streets, and seeing this in the window of an antique shop...



...and ending up in St Kilda to meet kris (who we met in peru) for a drink...







And early on day 4 we're packing our stuff up again and saying goodbye to mark, as we prepare to catch a flight to Perth - western australian. I heart melbourne. fact. If I had another month here, I'd hate myself for leaving sydney, but I'd wanna spend it here. Its so cool. Maybe a little too laid back for a boy like me, but I could maybe get used to that. If I come back to australia ever, expect me to rave on about how nice melbourne is up close.