An update from Melbourne this time. My last days in Perth were pretty boring as it was way too hot to really do anything. Spent some time by the pool of the hostel, had some Carlton Cold's in the hostel bar and did some walking around town. After Victor and Frida had gone, I didn't really feel like making an effort to get to know people so just had a few relaxing days in which I finished three books.
Last Sunday I flew to Melbourne. My mate Glen waited for me at the airport and we went to his appartment as we were both too tired to go out. I am staying with him in Elwood (near St Kilda) now which is excellent. When the weather is good, I just walk to the beach in the morning and spent a few hours there. Then home for lunch and to town to do some sightseeing and stuff. Pretty good! Ciaran got here as well, so Monday night had dinner with Ciaran and Dan (his mate from Sydney who had also arrived here). Phil will get here tomorrow so we should have a pretty good Paddy's Day together (Guiness, Guiness, Guiness!). Today I went to Victoria Market, the biggets market in the Southern Hemisphere according to the aussies. Managed not to go nuts at the deli section, but oh my god, did that food look good! Might come back on Saturday to try a few more things. Were Madelon here, I am sure we would have gotten ourselves a fantastic munchy food dinner.
Not too much more to tell, really. My impression of Melbourne so far is that it's nice, but not as good as Sydney. The people aren't as friendly here. But I've only seen a little bit. Sunday Glen is taking me to Phillip Island, really looking forward to seeing the koala's and the penguin parade.
Just 1.5 day left in Melbourne. Had a pretty good time here. Phillip Island yesterday was brilliant, the penguins were incredibly cute! Monday was paddy's day. Unfortunately, the Irish pub we went to wasn't so Irish. The other pub in the city had a huge cue zo we had a very early night. Spent Saturday with Ciaran and Dan: sat in a cafe in Fitzroy for a while reading the paper and saw Delta Goodrem (Neighbours soapie-singer) perform in the Lunapark (English boys are crazy about Neighbours, weird....). Afterwards went to the beach to take some photo's and have our picknick dinner. After a little while a huge white limo stopped and Ashanti (reasonably famous R&B singer) came out. The three of just became big kids an got all excited and took loads of photo's of the singer with two complete strangers (a bride and groom) who happened to be on St Kilda beach (strangers to us, that is, hopefully not to each other). Visited a few museums in the past days (exhibition on Ned Kelly, Immigration museum and Jewish museum), always a good way to get to know a country. Other than that just chilled really!
The Iraqi (or US?) crisis is a very hot topic here, especially with Howard involving Australia more than a lot of aussies are happy with. Many shops have anti war signs in their windows, demonstrations are planned in town and Starbucks runs out of newspapers before noon these days. It's interesting to follow it from here, however most backpackers seem to rely on BBC World and other European sources rather than the ozzie news and papers (as they are not really all that good).
My last 12 hours in Adelaide, time for a quick update before meeting Jeannette for dinner.
From Melbourne, I did a three day trip to Adelaide via the Great Ocean Road. Absolutely gorgeous, even though the weather was a bit crap. The whole tour was fantastic: good crowd (English, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, German, Swiss, American, Korean) and good driver (Adam) as well as great food and great music on the bus. The first night we spent in a hostel in Port Campbell. We had the place to ourselves and decided to paly a game of Psychologist. It's a bit complicated to explain, but I now know more about the sex life of my travel companians than I do of my best mates. Whenever I saw the bloke from Stoke after this game, I pictured him with twins (need I say more?).
From the Great Ocean Road we went on to the Grampians. F*^king awesome, one of the highlights so far. Did two hikes, one to a summit (Pinnacles) and one to a waterfall. Both were amazing. Loved the place. Saw loads of roo's too.
The past four days I spent in Adelaide. Didn't do much. Just chilled in the hostel, which is just lovely, strolled around town, read the paper and such. Today visited the chocolate factory with Jeannette. I had a bit of an overdose on beautiful things so really needed to just chill here. The hostel is just so great: loads of comfy coaches, a big dorm, big video library and yesterday we had a fere BBQ with loads of food and desert as well. Shame to leave ths place tomorrow!
