Well the flight from Brisbane to Melbourne went remarkably quickly – might have had something to do with the fact that we left early & therefore arrived early. We flew into Avalon Airport – which is basically across the water from Melbourne City, took about 50 minutes or so to get into Spencer Street Station.
I am staying at Hotel Enterprize on Spencer Street – so I just walked from Spencer Street Station – which looks big on the map but in actual fact is HUGE!!!!!!!! Its a good 3 city blocks long and of course the shuttle from Avalon was at the far end of the station.... One thing tho, even tho it was 10.30-11pm there was really no worry at all. There were heaps of people around and I felt nothing but safe.
The hotel – um... not really sure what to say, its quite different I guess. The room I am in is a Courtyard room and I’m on the 2nd floor!!! Its actually really quaint. The room is very basic and dated to be honest but at the end of the day I am only here to sleep really, I don’t really expect to spend too much time here.
I had forgotten how big Melbourne CBD is. There is just so many bright lights. Its way bigger than Brisbane I think but then again I think Brisbane is more compact where as Melbourne is more spread out – which is really why trams are so damn important!!
Its now 11.30pm but its really 10.30pm coz Brisbane is an hour behind. Tomorrow am off to the Day in the Life of Pompeii exhibit at the Melbourne Museum, can’t wait. I am also planning on going up to the observation deck at Rialto Towers & Eureka... charging the batteries of my cameras so will be primed and ready to go
Photo count 11 (mind you I did arrive at like 11pm!)
Day 2 – 23rd October Melbourne 3.30pm
After an alright sleep (I always find it hard to sleep a full night in a strange place), I got up and was out of the hotel about 8.15am. I thought I would meander down to the Melbourne Museum for the 10am opening for the Pompeii Exhibition. Ok so I have been to Melbourne before and have used the trams but given that it was rush hour I thought I would walk and take a few pics along the way – took me till about 9.40am to get there – its a friggin long way!! I basically walked the length of Flinders Street – which is a very long street. My feet were so sore at the end.
A Day in Pompeii – Melbourne Museum 26 June – 25 October. This was the reason that I decided to spend too much money and come to Melbourne on the way to Chch. One of those places I want to go in the world – Pompeii. Its amazing that so much has been retained because it was buried under so much ash. It was a pretty impressive exhibit – tho I am not sure it was worth the trip down here. They did have an amazing 3D movie, tho at 7 minutes I think it was too short. The one thing that really did stand out to me (and I am sure a lot of others too!) – the body casts... these were casts made of those who had been buried by the ash and died. Over the years their bodies had disintegrated and left these holes basically. Some guy decided to use these as a cast mould and the result was these amazingly realistic body casts of people who had been consumed by the ash... pretty sad.
After the exhibit I decided to get a tram into town – wanted to go to Target because I needed new sneakers... they didn’t have any so had to go to Payless Shoes (its not really important, but I thought I would put it in there). While I was in town I went to the Rialto Observation Deck... pretty impressive – you can see for ages! Not only did I get 25% off, the ticket also means that I can go back tonight when its dark... so of course I am going to. Will try to get some good night photos. Ended up having lunch up there, which was quite nice.
Was on my way back to the hotel and decided to go to the internet cafe – gotta check my FB... how can I live without it!!! Talked to Jaimie for a little bit, checked FB, checked my acc – not sure why coz there isn’t anything in it!! Then left... I was gonna come back to the hotel but then I decided to go down to Federation Sq to the Information Centre coz I wanted to find out how to get to Brighton tomorrow. Luckily there was a tram stop right across the road – I had already walked that this morning! Got the info and then of course I decided to walk back to the hotel coz there was photo ops along the way!!!! Finally got back to the hotel about 3pm – after leaving early this morning, it was like a work day!! I don’t think I have ever done this much walking ever! My feet are killing me and my knee is sore but it was a good day! The temp was just right for doing all that walking and Melbourne is pretty flat so its a pretty easy city to walk around. Tho it is also just as easy to jump on a tram and go a couple stops – you just don’t get the photo ops like you could when walking.
Currently I am sitting in my hotel room listening to a bunch of (for a lack of a better word) yobbos making a lot of noise – there was even a sports horn at one point. I also know there is A LOT of booze coz I saw them come in with it – should be an interesting evening! I have found that this hotel is rather noisy – esp on the Courtyard side – not sure what its like in the other rooms. I think coz it echo’s a lot and the noise carries a lot.
One thing about Melbourne... the men are EXTREMELY good looking... seriously, its like walking into male models all day!!! Not that I am complaining of course ;)
Photo count – so far today 441
9.22 pm
So I did a spontaneous thing. I headed out to go find something to eat and then go up the Rialto tower again, somehow I ended up at Southern Cross station on a train to Brighton Beach!!! I had planned to go tomorrow but somehow I just decided to do it tonight. Actually it worked out pretty well. I went out there, took some pics, came back into town and was heading up to the Observation Deck about 7.30ish.... not too bad I thought. Had to hang around for the sun to set but took a “few” photos.... hahaha.
Then tried to find something to eat – man its hard in this place... ended up going back to Southern Cross station to Hungry Jacks... so not my favourite but when in Rome... Finally got back here about 9pm... and unable to move!! I am in soooooooooooooooooooo much pain right now. My legs feel like they are never gonna work again, my ankles are gonna take out a hit on me I am sure of it and my knee... well lets just say my knee isn’t talking to me right now! Every time I move I think I am going to die!!!
Ok maybe a little drastic, but seriously.... you have no idea how much I have walked today!! So to give you an idea:
Ok so my hotel is the 2nd on Spencer Street south of Collins Street. I walked down to Flinders Street, all the way along to Spring Street, up Spring Street to Carlton Gardens where the Museum is. Around the Musuem then a bit thru town, and then from Swanston Street back to the hotel. Trust me its a long way!! This does not include the walking from Brighton Beach Station to the Bathing Boxes (about 15 min walk each way). It also doesn’t include the fact that I had to use stairs in a few places either (Flinders Street Station, Brighton Beach Station, Information Centre Federation Sq)... so when I say I am in pain, it really is because I am.
Photo count – grand total for today = 824
Day 2 – 24 October 8.45am Melbourne
Deciding what to do today.... since I went to Brighton Beach yesterday instead of today. Will go to St Kilda still. I am still a little sore but no gain without pain... or something like that!! I have been checking out my pics from yesterday, a little disappointed because I haven’t put my Nikon software back onto my computer so the only way I can look at them is via Picasa because they are all Raw... I am trying something otherwise I will be posting the photos when I got home!!
I think some of the ones I took last night were actually quite good, I will see if I can find one to show:
So this is one of the better ones. Of course I didn’t take my tripod – I really get reluctant about my tripod because I find it so restrictive, even tho I have bought it with me.
2.30pm
Am back from St Kilda... actually only spent about 45 minutes there... It was nice but I really couldn’t be bothered to be honest. I ended up coming back into town and wandering around for a while, had lunch and then jumped on a tram back here.
I am gonna have to be in bed early tonight since I have to be up about 5.30am in order for me to check out, get to Southern Cross & get out to the airport for my 9.35am flight... and then I’ll be home.... yay – can’t wait to get some good old Kiwi air into me. Its been a while – I haven’t been home since February and that for me is a very long time not to have been home!
Will head down to the internet cafe again today and use up my minutes.. I think I have $2 left so that should be enough to upload a couple photos and see whats happening in the world of FB.
Man Melbourne has some really amazing architecture. Its really hard not to stop every couple of minutes to take photos – ok so I don’t actually not stop but sometimes you wonder how many is too many if you know what I mean. I love taking photos, don’t get me wrong but if there aren’t the people out there that like seeing them, then is it really worth taking them in the first place...
Total photos for Melbourne - 1312
Next Stop Christchurch.... To be continued
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