After a nice few days spent seeing some of the sites in Malaysia it was now time for us to get on yet another flight. After spending the day site seeing we decided that we'd head ridiculously early to the Kuala Lumpur airport. We arrived at the airport around 19:30 for our 23:45 flight wondering how we would kill some time (baring in mind we've watched all the Breaking Bad series' now). In hindsight 4 hours or so wasn't too bad, when we arrived to the airport to find that our flight had been delayed until 05:35!! To be fair we've done quite well considering this is something like our 9th flight and we haven't had any major delays. Luckily after talking to someone who looked important (and very busy and understandably stressed out) he managed to squeeze us onto the next plane out to Melbourne. Fantastic! All we had to do was check our baggage in, run from one side of the terminal to the other, go through security, catch the airports internal train service and then walk to the other side of that terminal. At least we weren't sitting around wondering how to make the time pass, plus it did mean that we would arrive in Melbourne earlier giving us more time to explore.

We arrived safe and sound after our second Malaysian Airline flight, with myself being extremely relieved to be back on earth after a bumpy flight on this now very famous airline (although I'm pretty sure Emily actually managed to grab some sleep!). This relief was short lived after we realised how disappointingly overcast and COLD it was in Melbourne, finding ourselves digging through our bags to grab our hoodies.

Australia is fairly well known for its right immigration policies (something the UK should probably consider!).
After hearing of some of the 'horror' stories travellers experience at immigration at the airport we were ready for the interrogations relating to our visa, all the paperwork, bank statements, goods to declare, baggage searches etc. However, we were strangely disappointed when they just let us right through with no problems at all. We even went to declare our goods (coconut bowls, tea, muddy shoes etc.) which is an offence if you do not incase you bring in contaminants or anything that is not indigenous to Australia and she was just like 'G'day, ahhhh no worries mate, enjoy your stay' and let us straight through. We were fully expecting border force drama as we went through.

We got a bus (always a joy, especially with backpacks) and then a free transfer to our hostel in the city. When we arrived I took the opportunity to catch some Zzzzz's after not sleeping throughout the night. We stayed in a 6 bedroom dorm, with prices in Australia being horrendously more expensive compared to what we've become used to. This wasn't really a problem though, there was one girl that we never even saw and she only stayed one night while we were there.

After having a much needed nap we met up with Jen - a friend we made while we volunteered at the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai. Jen caught the train from St Kilda where she lives to come and meet us and give us a quick guide of Melbourne. We spent the afternoon catching up, stopping in the odd rooftop bar for a drink before heading out for dinner. We really enjoyed being back in a civilised western country where the grass is green and maintained, people speak English, vehicles abide to road rules and there a good menu doesn't mainly consist of dishes made from some combination of noodles and rice. Although we do not appreciate how cold it is here having become fairly well acclimatised to tropical conditions.

We spent our first evening at the hostel bar. The hostel had a great atmosphere and really easy to meet some new people, although we didn't just meet new people! We grabbed our first drink and walked toward the pool table for Emily to notice that the guy holding the pool cue was a guy called Steven whom she used to go to school with!! Turns out that Steven has been staying and working at the hostel for 4 months now, also working as a Graphic Designer in the city and fairly settled into the Melbourne lifestyle. Such a bizarre moment. While we were talking, Steven then began to introduce us to some of his friends. Eventually we got around to a guy called Mo - we both stared at each other for a little while (not in a homosexual kinda way lol) before we both came to the realisation that we used to be in the same class during our studies in first and second year at Nottingham Trent University. Crazzzzyyyyyy! The world really isn't that big in this day and age and spent the rest of the night having a mini reunion catching up on the last few years.

The following day was spent mainly walking around the city, doing some much needed shopping for essentials and a few bits of clothing (getting rather bored of circulating the same attire for 3 months). We got to familiarise ourselves with Melbourne pretty well and have began to love the city itself already. It's unbelievably clean, the people are really nice, it's easy to get around and it's not far from the beach!

After a very long day walking around shopping and not really grabbing a proper lunch it's safe to say that our legs were almost ready to cave in below us and make us drag ourselves around. Deciding that we should probably get some refreshments we headed to the hostel bar (big surprise ayy?). Steven was on shift behind the bar tallying up his hours to get his free accommodation with the hostel. Steven being an absolute legend put a whole dominoes pizza (yep dominoes is a thing here, granted not as tasty though) aside for us to dig into - normally customers get one slice with each drink during the promotion.

We later found out that many people that visit Melbourne find themselves stuck here, but for all the right reasons. They got themselves jobs while on their travels because there are so many opportunities and stay in one of the worlds most liveable city's. Emily and I can definitely see the appeal, and decided that we didn't give Melbourne enough of our time. So we've decided that after our next adventure in the camper van from Adelaide and through the Great Ocean Road, and welcoming the new year with a very big bang in Sydney that we will be easing back to Melbourne to experience the lifestyle and top up the travelling fund :).

C & E x