Week 2

Four Seasons

Although we had a good go at it on Saturday night none of us were too hungover to crawl out of bed and make our way down to the beach. Another really hot day was cut short when the sky came over very cloudy and a sudden breeze made it a lot cooler. They say that Melbourne can have four seasons in one day and we were starting to see evidence of it. So we left the beach and made our way to the good old pier to have a few bottles of beer.

When we got back to the hostel we had found out to our disappointment that the $5 Sunday Roast had been cancelled. What else would we normally eat on a Sunday ….. mmmmm curry. After such a great alternative we were left even more disappointed as this was our worst and most expensive meal to date, how much we were missing the Akash!

Beach Bums

After spending a good majority of our first week down at the beach, we thought it a good idea to take a trip into the city and start making some use of the guide book and seeing some sights.

Our first stop was the Crown Casino which is the biggest in the southern hemisphere so unless you’ve been to Vegas you’d be amazed at the size of it. We were all pretty good and resisted the temptation, for a few days anyway. A nice stroll along the river gave us our first glimpse of the MCG and how impressive it looked. Just can’t wait to be in there on Boxing Day singing along with the Barmy Army.

Next up was Federation Square which is known as the focal point for Melbourne. It’s a big open plaza full of many café’s and restaurants which are covered by dramatic glass and steel atriums. We stopped for one quick drink, after all it would have been rude not to. This was opposite Melbourne’s main train station – Flinders Street, a very brightly coloured structure similar to my old work place.

Then we headed to Brunswick St as I had inside information that it was the liveliest street in Melbourne, which was backed up by the guide book. It was a bit of an eye-opener, lots of cafes and bars and some very weird shops to say the least.

On our way back we walked through Chinatown which is the only continuous Chinese settlement in Australia. Like London there are lots of restaurants and I’m sure we’ll be heading back there soon to test one out.

Where Did It All Go Wrong (….Or Right Even!)

Well there’s not really much to write about as to what we got up to on Tuesday night as frankly none of us can quite remember. I’m sure you can work out for yourselves as the pictures will tell a better story than we can!

Just Bums

After last night’s antics, you could say today was a bit of a write-off and we hardly moved from our beds except to eat. We were catching up on some well needed sleep as we were finding it really hard to keep up with this flashpacker lifestyle. With the 3rd test starting the next day, we were taking it easy in preparation of another hard days work down at the pub.

Bad Shots

First day of the 3rd Test with us desperately needing something from this one to keep the Ashes series alive, the last thing we wanted was for England to be 3-0 and us having nothing to play when we get into the MCG on Boxing Day.

Before we set off to find a bar, we made our way to the bookies to back England to come back and win the series 3-2 – at 66/1 we were onto a good return! Eventually we plotted up in a bar called Greasy Joe’s and immediately made ourselves at home by plotting in up on the sofa’s with beers in hand.

With England bowling first and the Australia in good batting form I thought we’d make the day a bit more interesting by coming up with the proposition that we would drink a shot for every Aussie wicket that fell. Everyone agreed safely thinking we’d only be drinking 3 or 4, how wrong could we have all been! The shots were flying down as the wickets were falling and we even had the Kiwi barman joining in. When he offered free shots for the 5th and 10th wicket I don’t think that even he thought he’d be giving any away! Fair play to him though and he stuck to his word, I think he was just as pleased to give them out as we were to receive them. We met three young English guys who thought we were all mad but I’m sure they wish they’d have joined in.

At stumps we were all quite on our way as you could imagine and I think we can say that we at least tried to match the cricket team’s efforts, just in a different way. We headed back to our hostel, me and Johno were quite happy to close play for the day but Jacko and Whitto were keen to bat on. I don’t know much about their night all I can account for is Whitto’s return at 5am with a majorettes baton, bubble gum machine and toy mobile!?! I didn’t see Jacko until I re-woke 6 hours later?

The Worst Backpackers

Feeling sorry for ourselves after enduring a battering from the Australian batsmen in the cricket and coming to terms with the fact that the Ashes (barring a miracle) are lost, we needed to drown our sorrows and being a Saturday night it seemed a good idea to head out.

We made sure that jeans and trainers were are attire for the evening after our problems last week and headed to Fitzroy St. There was a club we wanted to try called One Love and by judging by the queue and people in it, that’s where we wanted to be. We wanted a few drinks first though and went in a bar next door which was buzzing. The first round was ordered and looking at the drinks and bill we cemented our title as the ‘worst backpackers in the world’. We’re meant to be on a budget, oh dear.

The queue for One Love was even longer, so we weaselled in but still had no luck as it wasn’t moving at all. We found another club - Area 61, it closed at 7am and played House so we were in for nothing …. erm well $15 anyway! Again we had another good go at it and returned home with it light outside.