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Hi again.
I am now in Brisbane, after a long and eventful bus journey, but I will get to that later!
Continuing from my last blog yesterday, I got up to Melbourne before i went and had my free $18 Steak and Pint (Yum! :P )
I stayed in St Kilda, which is a region south east of the centre of Melbourne city, which was like a 20 minute tram ride. I realised that the Melbourne Grand Prix is just a 5 minute tram ride from where I stayed, and i watched it in Aukland before i left for Melbourne, so i JUST missed the opportunity not only to see a Grand Prix, but then The Who played a gig afterwards, so i was slightly miffed. But nevermind... One day! The first day there i just explored around St Kilda, (and i stepped on my first of many beaches in Oz) and i just sorted out sending some stuff home, shirts, souvenirs, and stuff i didint need anymore like my NZ guide book. That evening i called one of my friends I met back home, Lester, who was my cricket club's overseas player in 2007, and i organised to meet up with him after his work the next day. When we met up he took me on a quick nightlife tour of the city, and we went to the Casino food court and had some dinner. After that we walked around the casino and watched a few different games. We saw a bloke blow $200 on 1 hand of black-jack. The dealer got a 7 card trick! He was a bit pissed... i think he blamed us for watching... ;P
Lester kept asking me what i wanted to do whilst i was in Melbourne, and to be honest i didnt really know. But i definately wanted to go see an Aussie Rules Footie' match sometime in Australia, and luckily there was one on at the weekend at the massive MCG! So we organised to go and see it with some of his friends. It was between Melbourne "Deamons" and the Collingwood "Magpies", and i didnt really have a choice on which team to support as Lester's friends were Melbourne supporters. Melbourne got off to a very good start, and led after the first quarter by around 10-15 points, but then it went all downhill from there. Melbourne kept giving the ball away really easily, and Collingwood kept scoring from those mistakes. The score at the end was i think 115 ish - 70 ish to the Magpies. Lester's friends got quite annoyed, frankly... Was a good day in all though.
Again lester kept asking me what i wanted to do, and i planned to go to MCG and stuff on Monday when he was working, so i didnt really have any idea, but then i remembered something a friend said back at the hostel, about the Great Ocean Road. So i mentioned that to Lester, and he said we would do it tomorrow, picking me up at 9. So i woke up the next morning, thinking it was 8, and it got to 9 and still no sign of Lester. I turned on the tv, and quickly discovered that the clocks had changed (!!!) The day it happened is different to when it happens in the UK, but still, I could have had an extra hour in bed!!! Nevermind...
The Great Ocean Road itself was very long. It spans most of the coast between Melbourne and Adelaide, but still, it was a very nice drive, with some amazing views. The main attraction of the GOR is a heritage site called the "12 Apostles", where at one point, there were 12 stacks of rocks just off the coast. I counted only 9, but still, it was a nice place to visit, especially with the evening sun setting in the background. The drive was very long though, but with some very special views, and also a sighting of a couple of wild Koalas (!!! :D )
The next day i went in to town, and visited the MCG, and its museum which has lots of Australian sporting memorabilia, and it also had a MCC museum (Melbourne Cricket Club) of how the ground originated and the history of the Ashes. Very similar to the MCC Museum (Marlybone Cricket Club) at Lords in London. I also had a look around Melbourne Park, where they hold the Australian Tennis Open, which is right next to the MCG. There were no tours available at the time for the main indoor courts, but I managed to see the other courts around the main arena, and also around the arena e.g. Press rooms etc. After that i went to Albert Park, where they hold the Grand Prix, and i took a few photos of the start/finish straight. After this i went in to town to meet up with Lester again. We had a subway, and then went to see one of the many comedy acts going on during the Melbourne Comedy Festival.
The next morning I jumped on a Oz Experience bus out of Melbourne, headed for Sydney with 2 stops inbetween. Quite quickly on this bus, i met someone, not only who lived in Sarisbury, which is just 2 minutes down the road from me, but also was the big sister of one of my old school friends, Julia Paynton. I teamed up with Rosie, and someone else we got talking to called Ben, in a "name that theme tune" quiz, which of course we won, and the prize was alcohol for that night. We got a BIG box of goon (Cheap Wine, in a bag, in a box). We stopped for the night in a place called Lakes Entance, and after losing the football we found on the bus, we decided to attack our Goon. Lets just say that night was quite fun! Especially with the Ring of Fire!!! ;)
Next morning, slightly hungover, we headed to and stayed in Mt. Cosiosco, which in the winter is a large Ski field. I was quite surprised that Australia actually got snow! :P
That night was slightly quieter, with some people still feeling the effects of the previous night. However i and a few others felt fine, and hit the bar for a couple.
Next day, up early yet again, but this time we were going to get in to Sydney. One thing i had so far discovered, that unlike NZ where all the major stops were at least 5 hours at the most away from each other, in Oz you tend to stay on the bus for most of the day, at least in the south east. I think as i get north of brisbane there are a lot more stops available, but still it takes ages to get anywhere! Oz is HUGE!!!
Once in sydney, we quickly got to our hostels, changed, and went on a Booze Cruise, where we jumped on a yaght, which had a VERY expenisve bar on, and also a DJ. Didnt drink too much there, but afterwards we went out to a cheaper bar.
The next few days we spent in Sydney seeing the sights and going to beaches, Bondi, Manly etc. One morning, when everyone was sleeping in, i decided to go off and climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge. (On a guided tour of course :P ) Turned out to be a very good day. Weather was perfect for it, and you learnt a lot about how it was created and the general history of the city.
The next day i arranged to meet with yet another friend from back home, Jenny Worth. She was out here for a yacht sailing course, which she decided would be better to do here rather than the river hamble. Good choice i think...
Yet again we had an early start for the bus out of Sydney, but this is so we can get to our overnight stop in reasonable daylight... This stop was a t a place called Spot X, where early the next morning we would have a surf lesson. The lesson was more aimed at people who hadnt been surfing before and getting them stood up on a board, so they left more experienced people to themselves, and gave tips etc. Back on the bus again, we passed through the world's only Koala Hospital, which houses any Koalas which seem to be ill, or hurt in an accident. Was cool to see Koalas so up close!
Eventually we got to our next stop, in Byron Bay. Its a very surf-ish sort of town, with lots of surf shops and bars and stuff, much like Raglan. I stayed here for 5 nights, going to the beach most days, and for walks around the bay. We also took a tour to the weed / stoner's capital of Australia, called Nimbun. It was a very weird place, with steet vendors trying to sell you their products. I bought nothing there, except for a hackie-sack / bean bag. :)
Today was my final day in Byron, and we went to the beach, again. That seems to be the only thing to do in Byron to be honsest, but still it was enjoyable. This time the bus was at 3:30 in the afternoon, which was a relief. I had one of the drivers from my first trip from Melbourne to Sydney, known as Sqirtle, for currently unknown reasons. One of the main optional overnight stops before Brisbane, was Surfers Paradise, which is very much like Byron Bay, surf town, with good night life. I worked out on my intinerary that if i wanted to fit everything i wanted to do in, i had to leave out a couple of "recommended" stops, one of which was surfers. But at one point it looked like i was staying in surfers paradise whether i liked it or not, as our bus broke down about 3km outside of the town. The gear stick had actually come off and out of the gear box! I remember Squirtle saying he was having some trouble changing gears earlier on... But oh well. We were stuck for about an hour before our replacement bus arrived, to take us to surfers, and then on to Brisbane.
There!!! Now you are up to date!!
Ill try and keep this going a bit more often from now on, A) to keep you updated, and B) so i dont have to right massive essays, like this one, and spend quite a bit on internet time...
But nevermind. Tomorrow is ANZAC day in Oz, similar to our Rememberance Sunday. So i will go around the town and watch some parades and look round etc.
Speak soon!
xx
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