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Lynds' Travels
Hello,
Melbourne was a great city, more relaxed than Sydney, but just as easy to get around, being that there were free trams and free sight seeing buses that ventured around the place, the only downer on my week here was that it rained quite a lot and, as expected, it was really cold.
I stayed in a place called Toad Hall, recommended to me by Karen, and it was exactly how she had described: a hostel that thinks it's a B&B. It was really nice, very clean and cheap, but it certainly didn't have the feel of a backpacker place, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Whilst here I obviously did a fair bit of sight seeing, though I must admit I'm getting bored of visiting museums now, therefore the only one I went to here was the Immigration Museum, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I went on a tour bus all around the city, visited the casino, did lots of shopping, walked along Lygone street, which is full of boutiques and cute shops, the best being Koko Blacks chocolate shop (though I could only afford 1 truffle, it was very expensive!)
I ventured on 2 day trips whilst there the first being to Phillip Island to see the Penguin Parade, which I was so pleased to have seen. The tour takes you to areas along the way, such as a wildlife centre and The Nobbies (basically a rock in the sea) I was focused on seeing the penguins.
At about 6.30 pm the audience take their seats on the beach front and just after the sunsets you are able to make out tiyn figures in the sea where the waves are breaking over the penguins backs, which is luminated by large stadium like lights along the beach. As the penguins get braver they swim, en masse to the shore where they dart quickly out of the sea to stand in a large group on the shore. They edge forward very slowly towards their nests, which are in the shrubbery and bushes past where the audience are sitting. However if one gets scared and starts to waddle quickly back into the sea, they all run together. They stick in this group so that the seagulls and other prey don't get them! It is just the sweetest thing I have ever seen though, baring in mind that these penguins grow no bigger than the size of a ruler - 30cm - and are actually affectionately known as Fairy Penguins, they're so small.
After watching several groups waddle up the beach you can go and view them from a deck where you see them actually walking to their individual nests.
My second day trip was to the Great Ocean Road. This was a really fun day out, especially because all the people on the trip were roughly the same age and we all had loads of fun.
Great Ocean Road trivia for you: The Govenor of Victoria actually commissioned the road to be built, initially to employ and as a way to repay those that had fought in WWI and had returned to Australia to find they were jobless. He estimated the road would take 3 years to build, which he greatly underestimated, as it was finally finished 13 years on. Fact 2: The entrance to the Eastern end of the road is marked by a wooden sign, which has actually burned and been replaced 3 times in bush fires. I wonder why they keep replacing it with wood then?
One of the most exciting parts of the trip was that I got to see koalas living in the wild. They are much bigger in Victoria than in the rest of Australia and the state have put a total ban on touching koalas, listing them as protected animals. You can't stroke them in a wildlife park where you can in other parts of Oz. I seemed to have a knack for spotting the koalas in the trees, which I'm putting down to my encounter with Steve Irwin not long ago!!!
The second most exciting part of my trip and one of my favourite adventures on my travels in total was a helicopter ride over the 12 Apostles. These are 11 (1 crumpled into the sea some years ago, though you can still see the remains!) large rocks, which used to be a part of the mainland, though have been eroded by the sea to now stand alone. It was extremely windy, interspresed with heavy showers of rain, and at the same time the sun was trying to push hard through the clouds, which created rays of light on the sea and the occassional rainbow. Although it was cold and I got rather wet, the weather made the whole experience exciting and atmospheric. I could just imagine Heathcliffe running over the hills!!!
Melbourne is presently holding a comedy festival and I met up with 2 people, Karen and Grant, to go to a show called the 'Space Cowboy' who has more to do with mind-control than stand up. He was amazing though and I came away from that completely confused and bedazzled. At one stage he pulled Karen up on stage and she had to pick an object written by several members of the audience. She then had to draw it and colour it in her head. As she did this the 'SC' was doing so too and he had the perfect picture drawn of what she did. The most amazing part being when he said to her, have you forgotten to put in an eye, which Karen admitted he had!!!
Later I got asked up on stage to bend spoons. I must admit I was a little sceptical, especially because he was moving his hands under mine, asking whether I could feel the energy and heat, which I couldn't!!! He told me to imagine the spoon was chocolate and to see it melting....I didn't for ages and nothing happened, so he told me to really try! I didn't want to be shunned or booed off stage, so I really concentrated and as soon as I pictured it as chocolate melting it started to bend until the end of the spoon actually dropped off and fell into my hand, which I promptly dropped as it was really hot. Wierd I know. There is no way he could have bent the spoon, where it broke, as I was watching all the time and his hand was much lower down. He gave me the spoon as a keepsake too and I couldn't bend it without 2 hands! I can't explain it....but from now on you can call me Uri!
On the Friday night I went to another comedy show, luckily for free this time, as some girls from my hostel had won some tickets and invited me along. The show wasn't as mind-boggling as the night before, in fact it was a British guy called 'The Spiderman' who actually did do comedy. It wa a great night out though, even though I had to be sensible and leave the bar early......can't miss my flight again due to a drunken night!!!
On the 6th May I boarded a very early plane to take me back to Perth for a final visit with my family before I left the country, though my bro and Juli didn't actually know!!!
See you soon.
Love Lynds x x
On the last day in Melbourne I planned to visit St Kilda's, though it rained so hard I really couldn't be bothered! That's something I'll have to do next time I visit Oz!!!
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