3 weeks in Melbourne has marked the end of my 3 month holiday.... SAD FACE.

I landed on Tuesday the 25th of February and got the airport bus into the city to meet my friend Alex. I knew her through a friend from home and she offered me her place to stay whilst I was in Melbourne. She was working at the beautiful Adelphi Hotels "Om Nom" dessert bar (holy s***, this place does the most amazing desserts and liquid desserts - yes my two favourite things combined in one glass, DESSERT AND ALCOHOL!). Alex lives with her boyfriend Luke who I worked with in Magalluf, but he was off to do farm work, so it was just me and Alex in her awesome wee flat in Fairfield. It was only about 15 minutes on the train from Flinders Station (Melbournes main city train station) so it was awesome being close enough to the city but being able to come away from it too.

I caught up with Lesley and Helen again (yay!). Lesley is living in St. Kilda (a suburb 15 minutes on a tram from Flinders where the beach is) and working in a restaurant of the Novotel. We had dinner and drinks there, then I crashed at Lesley's (which ended up being like my 2nd home throughout the 3 weeks!). Helen had flew to Melbourne after South Africa and was staying at Habitat HQ hostel in St. Kilda so we went for lunch and done some shopping.

I had a voucher to use for a gift experience, so I took Alex and I into the city to do the Ice Lounge on Southgate and the Eureka Skydeck. The Ice Lounge was -10 degrees so they provided UGG boots, a fleece lined jacket and two pairs of gloves. EVERYTHING was made from ice inside, including the glass you were drinking from, the tables, the seats..... There were Star Wars models made from ice and everything! As part of the deal, we had a drink and a shot. We managed to stay in for around 30 minutes but after that, it was too cold!
We went round to the Eureka Skydeck after, which is the highest public vantage point in the Northern Hemisphere. You go up in a lift to the 88th floor where it's a 360 degree viewing point of the whole city. You could go outside to viewing decks and then you went on something called 'The Edge', which was like a glass cube that projected out 3 metres from the building. When you got inside, you couldn't see out the panels, but then the screens started flickering and you were left with the floor, sides and ceiling being completely clear! It was so so pretty! They took our photos and it only cost us $5 to have them emailed to us! Both deals worked out at around $40pp, totally worth it. We had drinks and cocktails (2-4-1 on a Sunday) at the Asian Beer Cafe afterwards and headed home.

I had another night with Lesley and her room mate Olly up at the Queen Victoria night markets. There were tonnes of food stalls - all kinds of food available - there were bands, drinks, jewellers stalls and clothes, memorabilia etc too. That was such a good wee night. Then up to the Asian beer Cafe again haha.

We also had tickets for Future Music Festival YAY! Literally waited on this day for about a year. I had to sell my Future ticket last year to go to Casino and work so I couldn't actually wait! Lesley organised us a mini bus so Helen and Danny got loads of people from their hostel to fill it and I got ready with Lesley in the morning. I done our make up with leopard print as it was 'Safari Themed' and the tag line was 'Rumble in the Jungle' haha. We seen Maya Jane Coles, Kaskade, Eric Prydz then we went to The Haunted House tent which was absolutely UNBELIEVABLE! They had it all set up to look like a wee haunted house and then what seemed like the click of your fingers it changed to a tree effect haha it was so so cool. We seen Knife Party there and ended with Chase and Status! I ended up staying at Lesley's the next two nights as my friend Ryan (who I know from Broxburn) arrived from Perth so we had drinks at Vineyard in St Kilda the next night.

We had the Grand Prix (see separate blog) and by then it was time for me to pack up.... I spent my last day with Lesley as that wee traveller is heading off to Thailand, Bali then home in June so I don't know when we will cross paths again. We had an awesome tourist day - there was a free exhibition on at the Arts Centre near Flinders Station for the 50th anniversary of the Beatles tour in Australia. It was BRILLIANT! There were videos, interviews, scrapbooks, memorabilia.... All sorts. Couldn't believe it was free, we were there for ages! We had a wander down some of the graffiti lanes near CBD as well as Melbournes famous for them, then had dinner at a Federation Square then drinks in St. Kilda.

I wouldn't have got to do half the things in Melbourne or have as much fun as I did without the help of some amazing people. I even had a night at Alex's dad's house where her stepmum made us a cracking dinner and my mums best friends Jim&Jesse took me out for dinner one night as well! Too many awesome people came into my life here!
I cannot believe this is the end of my 3 month holiday, I'm away to sob my heart out (for the 3rd time) and reminisce over everything I've managed to do - Sydney for Xmas and NY, the East Coast, Darwin, the Outback, Melbourne, the Grand Prix, Future Music... And although I'm completely and utterly skint, my liver is almost definitely about to fail and my wee heeds minced cause I am thinking I should have maybe went somewhere different instead of where I'm heading now..... But I can't be more proud that I done what I set out to do. Now it's back to Springsure until next week when I move to Injune, Shane and Anna's other roadhouse. I don't have a plan, I have ideas of what I want to do but for once I'm finally ok with not planning everything - it never goes to plan when you're a backpacker anyway - but all I know is I want to work my ass off the majority of this year until the parents come in OCTOBER weeeeeeeee! But who knows what's round the corner.... Watch this space :) the adventures only just getting started!