G'day everyone. From Asia to Australia, I arrived at my hostel in St Kilda (a hip suburb of Melbourne) yesterday morning after a pleasant 7 hour journey. The hostel itself is massive. It's more like a hotel really. My roommates are really nice too. There's Brendan and Michael from Canada, Lily from Holland, Chris from Switzerland, and Paul from France. Apparently the guy who slept in my bed before me spent his whole time on the toilet with diarrhoea. I hope they've cleaned the sheets.
Chris said he was going to the beach, so after applying enough factor 30 to resemble a greasy chip, I joined him. We sunbathed, listened to Chris's rather odd taste in music through his speakers (Phil Collins!!!), and had a paddle in the sea. That was until I saw a jellyfish swim past me and I squealed like a girl. It doesn't bode well does it?
Just next to the beach, and my hostel, is a street full of bars and restaurants, packed full of trendy youngsters. Sadly on my travellers budget I'm limited to drinking the local delicacy that is 'Goon'. It's cheap, boxed wine, and on the box it says it 'may contain fish and egg products'. I'm not really selling it am I?
Nighttime then came along. The hostel had a pub quiz on, but with all my roommates out, I had to go on my own and find a team. That's one of the challenges of travelling on your own; having to go up to strangers and pluck up the courage to speak to them. It's hard, but people generally tend to be very receptive and are more than happy to speak to you. I found a team, but we didn't win.
I carried on drinking with the guys I'd met downstairs, one of which had the greatest beard of all time, and we headed to a local discotheque called Cushion. By then I think the goon had taken its toll on us, so we headed back to the hostel. From there we chatted till about 4am, and I even met someone from Liverpool!
Today was my first hungover day of the trip so far. I wanted to make it to the city, but I slept in till 2pm. Bloody goon! Determined to make the most of the hot weather, I dragged my pasty body to the beach again. Tonight I shall go the city instead, and I'll make sure no goon will be consumed.
Another thing that I've enjoyed since I've been here is the Aussie humour. On the flight from Singapore, the meal was a stir fried beef thing, so I told the steward that I'm allergic to peanuts and asked if there was any in the dish. He went away, and 5 minutes later came back and handed me a bowl of the most amazing fruit. Fruit I've never seen in my life.
"We can't confirm if the meal had peanuts or not mate, so here's a bowl of fruit straight outta business class. We wouldn't want your head swelling up like a balloon now would we? Tuck in". I like the Aussies already.