Melbourne, Victoria

Melbourne
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After a 3 hour flight with Qantas, which was a bit rocky due to alot of cloud and high temperatures leaving Ayers Rock, we arrived into Melbourne. A 1.30 hour time difference means we're now GMT +11 hours. We got our accommodation sorted pronto with Hotel BakPak - we agreed to stay the weekend (3 nights) and got the Airport Shuttle for free (normally $12).

Over the weekend we did alot of walking around the CBD. There's loads of shops, cafes and bars here. The music scene is equally impressive with everything to choose from. Ask anyone for a good place and they ask you first, what kind of music do you like :o) Alot of places are unassuming which is nice. And the best bars are down lane-ways you wouldn't even notice - some really cool, funky places. On Friday night we bumped into an English couple we originally met outside a MacDonalds in Cairns, so we had a few beers with them which was nice, and they introduced us to a cool bar.

Melbourne
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Other things which happened over the weekend of interest: I had a 'something about Mary' experience trying on a new pair of shorts (thankfully no bleeders :o), we checked out Casino Royale in Melbourne Central (this place is huge, excellent [like the new Bond film]), we had our worst night of sleep in a hostel yet - the details: some spa arrives into the dorm (8 bed no fan or airconditioning = sweat box = hard enough for everyone to sleep as it was) around 4.30am. Unsure of which bed is his and slamming the door 3 times getting himself organised he jumps into a free bed. Two minutes later an English guy who's bed he's sleeping in comes back (with a chick) and is like 'dude, that's my bed'. So the spa gets into the other free bed before making really loud orgasmic type noises. Unreal! I've never heard anything similar from an animal of the wild. Everyone is awake by now thinking what a weirdo. So the English guy then proceeds to have a night of 'passion' with his date. The 'passion' lasted approximately 23 seconds. I nearly pissed myself laughing, as did Kev, who was also awake :o) About 30 minutes later, another guy gets up to go to work. He banged the door around 3 times as well, at one point nearly removing my ear as he put his belt on. The backpackers life, it's all part of it hehe.

Melbourne
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On Monday we checked into Base which is in the suburb of St. Kilda. A place which used to get a bad rap but in recent years has cleaned up its act and we think it's really nice. Once again nice cafes, bars and shops. It's also near Chapel Street and South Yarra which have alot of appeal also. There's an excellent gym, swimming pool, sauna/steam room in St. Kilda baths which we're going to use extensively this week. Shed some extra weight hopefully before the Christmas festivities. That night we did the cliché must-do Neighbours night - the stars this week being Toady, Steph Scully and Stuart. The hosting bar (Elephant & Wheelbarrow) was crammed to the rafters as all the excited crowed (mostly English & Irish) waited for the stars to grace our presence. As we didn't get there early enough (doors open at 7pm) we had to stand for about 90 minutes until they did so :o) But, when those doors opened, bloody hell - the amount of photos being taken and screaming. Funny. Overall it was a very good night and it's just one of those things ya gotta do - especially if you were brought up on Neighbours like we were :o)

Neighbours Night
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Over the next few days, we took in a few sights such as the NGV (National Gallery of Victoria), Australian Racing Museum (we had a blonde moment thinking racing cars, nah horses & jockeys), more of the CBD, St. Kilda beach, Chapel Street, Prahran (loads of boutique shops). We're taking it easy drink-wise our brain telling us that Christmas is probably going to take enough out of us (if not our wallet). We also visited Federal Square, the Academy for Motion & Light taking in Eyes, Lies and Illumination (which was very interesting $12), Chinatown, the Italian Quarter (loads and loads of restaurants/cafes here).

Neighbours Night
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While in Sri Lanka, Matt met two Aussies from Melbourne, Bill & Rikki and it was Rikki's 30th birthday on the Saturday. We went to a really trendy bar initially on Chapel Street called Tyrst which was very cool. Afterwards we hit a club called Revolver. On paying the admission fee ($12) I asked the girl behind the counter what time did they close. She replied 'Monday'. I couldn't believe it. Brilliant! :o) Myself and Kev partied our asses off leaving the place around 8.30am. It was hilarious walking out of the place in the bright sunshine. After waking the next afternoon, we grabbed lunch before going to the Belgian Beer Garden (Melbourne's biggest Beer Garden). Another excellent place. A live band playing with everyone sitting around on benches. The bar serving proper European Beers like Stella Artois and Hoegaarden. We got chatting to some really nice Melbourne girls and had a right old laugh with them. We headed home around 11ish fearing getting up tomorrow and packing. We're leaving Melbourne tomorrow. After having such a wicked weekend we don't want to leave. But we're looking forward to the road-trip we have planned..