Hello again and here is an update especially for you of what's been going on in Melbourne since the last post, after we arrived from Tasmania.
We had a great first two weeks in Melbourne, fortunately booking in to one the best hostels we've stayed in on our first night in the city. Great location and facilities so we booked a couple of weeks there.
We were out and about the city most of the first week - proudly sporting our backpacker shorts and T-shirts, much to the disbelief of shivering Aussies - familiarising ourselves with the streets, lane ways and arcades.
We had some fun nights out with our friend Kristian who lives in the popular Melbourne suburb of Prahran, exploring the main shopping street and eating out at various cafes and restaurants.
You might remember I explained how Tom was planning a hiking trip after the first week where he would attempt to walk the Australian Alps Walking Track. Well unfortunately after splashing out on all the equipment and very expensive dried food supplies in the second week he returned to Melbourne on the train after lasting 5 or so days into the hike. Which was still quite a good effort really. But, in his own words to me, "Man I've lost all enthusiasm for this. Not how I want to spend my last month alone. Gonna come back to Melbourne." The phrase 'hate to say I told you so' came to mind. But I was just glad he was back and had realised that it was much more important to make sure he enjoys his last few weeks here and not be on his own. Two hikers died somewhere along the same track after coming in to difficulty as well! The conditions were pretty bad, although he didn't get far enough to encounter any snow.
Here he is outside his accommodation for the first night before embarking on the walk
Continuing the topic of accommodation... after another week of hostel accommodation after his walk Tom came across an ad for a flat-share in a city centre apartment overlooking the CBD so now we are lucky to be living in a place with views like this from the 19th floor, with some cool and funny flatmates too. And it's pretty cheap doing it this way too considering what you get for your $.
Gym, pool, jacuzzi, sauna, unlimited WiFi all included!
The climate conditions here in the city have been trademark Melbourne of course. For those of you who don't know about or haven't heard of Melbourne's frequently changing weather patterns the weather here is unpredictable to say the least. As I'm typing it looks like its another beautiful Aussie winter day, sunny and pretty mild, but today accompanied by what sounds like very strong winds which are constantly howling past the window.
I'm just waiting to hear a huge crashing sound of some scaffolding or rooftop objects being blown off of the high rise buildings.
There have been plenty of amazingly sunny winter days with crisp mild t-shirt-inducing weather. But like I said, the weather here is very unpredictable, so much so that the weather can change dramatically within the hour - due to Melbourne's geographical location - and up to four or five times in one single day, as we have experienced. This has led to one of Melbourne's catchphrases... "experience all four seasons in one day". Literally.
The Melbournites are more than used to it and use the layering technique to great effect but we on the other hand - who are way too cool and proud to carry around extra layers - have been caught out many a time wearing t-shirts and shorts in sunny morning weather and have come back to the room drenched or freezing cold in the afternoon. And vice versa, coming back sweating buckets! Not nice. It's all part of the fun though.
In general though, winter here in Melbourne has been really quite nice so far. Never have we been so cold we've been shivering or cowering in a warm lobby entrance. It's always been mild and comfortable. And if it starts to get uncomfortable you can bet the climate will change within a couple of hours anyway.
We did of course invest in some jeans and a jacket though which have been needed on some occasions. It also hasn't rained much at all thankfully so hopefully that will stay the case right up until we leave.
Moving on... Now that the partner in crime was back in the big city after the short lived adventure we had plenty of time to get out and do some backpacker sightseeing. On a budget though unfortunately. We applied for a few jobs last week and in the end I turned down an interview at an outlet store as by that time we only had a total of 4 weeks left in the country. What was the point. We could do with the extra money but I wasn't enthused about having to lie my way through the interview and deal with the hassle of taking on and learning a new job for such a short time, then tell them I'm quitting. And it was casual as well.
We are okay for money and have enough to last but we just can't do some of things we really want to do. Things like paying for big entry fees, transport costs to outlying areas of Melbourne, eating out at nice restaurants and going to expensive nightclubs have put us off. However we have managed to get out and make the most of the free or less expensive things and some of the highlights so far have been... in no particular order:
* Wandering and larking around the botanical gardens.
* Outlet shopping and visiting the famous markets.
* Checking out famous buildings, galleries and museums.
* Going to awesome nightclubs and not drinking as we refuse to pay ridiculous prices for booze. And in doing so proved you can have the best nights without drinking!
* City tours and exploring the famous graffiti lined streets.
* Seeing the colony of penguins at St Kilda beach.
* Festivals, shopping and restaurants in Melbourne's hip and cultural suburbs such as Fitzroy, Carlton and South Yarra. Very cool.
And some design related highlights:
* Blagged my way in to a trade only design show at Melbourne Convention Centre.
* Open House Melbourne.
* Booked on to a couple of graduate networking events at two of my favourite studios
* Business card missions... Searching, tracking down, knocking on doors and blagging my way in to some of my favourite studios like a design ninja.
Ive been hoping to try and manufacture a two week internship from them which would be ideal or even better an offer of long term employement in the future. But time is running out and it's looking less likely now, despite a couple of interested design directors who are I guess too busy to sort something out in time. Their loss, since I have been offering myself for free.
With our remaining funds we also managed to book cheap flights to Sydney for a few days which was a big one on our to do list. We couldn't grumble at $90 return to Melbourne. We fly Wednesday next week (6th August) for three nights where we'll hopefully stay at a hostel in Kings Cross where I stayed a few nights after the farm work training course back in March.
Looking forward to seeing a few things we missed out on last time and of course picking up our Christmas presents which have been patiently waiting all this time in Georg Jensen Bondi Junction. I will hopefully go for a drink with my ex boss Peter if there's time.
Here's a few of my favourite pictures I've taken from when we've been out and about in Melbourne. Plenty more places we need to visit to see and get pictures. We are planning to go out one evening and get some illuminated city shots at night as well.
Degraves St
Flinders St Station
St Pauls Cathedral
Fed Square
The Yarra
Arts Centre
National Gallery of Victoria
Hosier Lane
Flinders St Station
Convention Centre
Crown Entertainment Complex
Melbourne GPO
The amazing view from our room at night
Outside Queen Victoria Market
Some of Melbourne's very 'out-there' architecture
Lygon Street North
Brunetti Cafe Display Window
Royal Exhibition Hall
Looking down part of Gertrude St
Carlton Gardens
Our apartment building
View from a high rise tower looking towards Melbourne Central Shopping Centre
View from a high rise tower looking down the famous Collins Street
The ANZ and the Eureka Tower
Looking out towards Richmond from Melbourne East. Fitzroy gardens on the left, MCG and Tennis Centre (out of frame) to the right
Rear of St Paul's
Brunetti cafe off Swanston St
A part of busy Collins St
Flinders St Station looking East
...looking West
Looking South (Eureka Tower)
One of the many new luxury apartment buildings sprouting up all over the place.
Adriano Zumbo Gourmet Pattiserie
So I'm sure you get the idea about why we love Melbourne anyway. It has only made us realise more how much we'd like to come back and live here when we use our second year visas. These have been just a few of the highlights so far and I'll post another Melbourne update, along with some other posts, in a couple of weeks before flying home.
