On May 25th, a bunch of us went to Melbourne. Our flight was at 8:45AM out of Sydney. We had to take a train ride at 4 in the morning to make it to the airport on time. It was Hannah, who lives on campus, Elyse, Leah, Doug, Karen, Karleen, and Adrienne, who live in the house next to me, Austin, Jide, Michael and I.
We landed in Melbourne around 10:30AM and it was coldddd and rainy. It was a bit of a bummer. We waited for forever for the hostel shuttle to pick us up and take us there. Once we got there we had to wait to check in, so we ate at the café and talked to one of the travel agent women. She hooked us up with a good deal on a Great Ocean Road tour as well as helped us figure out what to do during the rainy day. The rest of the day we walked around the city and hung out. That night we ate $5 pizza and went to the hostel bar for drinks. I was too tired and didn’t feel like drinking at all, so I went up to shower. Once I got downstairs most of the boys were a little drunk. The bar had a deal on these drinks called skittle bombs, and all the boys wanted me to drink one with them. I kept saying no, but then Michael bet me with whoever wins rock paper scissors gets to decide. I lost to him. I had to drink a skittle bomb. It wasn’t awful. After that a bunch of them went to some bar in Melbourne and I went to bed.
We woke up the next morning and went to the Queen Victoria Market. It was an open market where you can barter with the tent guys. It was cool. I bought a couple things for friends at home! ;) Then we went to get lunch and headed to an AFL game. I went to one in Brisbane, but this one we got to sit pretty close to the field. This time it was the Hawthorne Hawks versus the Richmond Tigers. It started pouring so we went to a higher deck that was covered. The Tigers were winning when we left. We then went to this thing called the Eureka Skydeck. It is the highest viewing deck in the southern hemisphere. Also it has the fastest elevator! We got to the 88th floor in 44 seconds. My ears were going crazy from the pressure. Then we went to the hostel to eat and relax. None of us wanted to go out because we had an early morning the next day. Instead we played this game called Mafia for like two hours. It was pretty fun and easy going.
On Sunday we woke up and got picked up for our Great Ocean Road tour. The tour was incredible. We got to see the Twelve Apostles, Bells Beach, Apollo Bay, Lorne, Torquay, and the Gorge and Cave. We also stopped at Koala Cove. We got to see heaps of wild koalas and the birds there were super friendly. They would land on us. I got a scratch on my forehead from one landing on my head. They were everywhere. It was all beautiful and so much fun. It was a very, very long day though. As soon as we got back to the hostel I fell asleep.
On Monday we went to this place called Graffiti Alley. It was so cool. There was graffiti art all over. We all signed it and wrote stuff everywhere. It was pretty neat. All the art was really nice even though it was graffiti. Then we explored more of the city. It was nice out so that was pleasant. We then headed back to the airport to get back to Newcastle.
On May 18th we all woke up at 5AM to head up to Byron Bay. The drive is about eight hours and there were eleven of us going. We rented three cars. I was in a car with Jide and Austin. I had the whole back seat to myself. I slept the majority of the time, but when I wasn’t sleeping we were all singing at the top of our lungs. It was not a bad car ride.
We made it to Byron around 2PM. We checked into our hostel and then I went up to the beach. Some people went to eat food or to shop, but all I wanted to do was lay on the beach. It was beautiful there. It got a bit chilly pretty quickly though. So after hanging on the beach for about an hour and a half I went back and showered and got ready to go out.
Before dinner we walked around town, which was absolutely incredible. There were heaps of shops; they were so cute and so beachy. Then we walked up to the beach and saw the sunset. It was beautiful.
Anyways, then we went to this place called Cheeky Monkeys for dinner and drinks. I got chicken parmesean for dinner and with dinner we had a free drink. My drink was really disgusting wine, so I gave it away. The night started really early and my friends got drunk pretty fast. People were playing games, including giant jenga and throw the ball in the hole, as well as dancing on tables. It was pretty fun, but there was some drama with all the people I was with. I stayed out of it and just enjoyed my night.
Brittany, a friend who lives on campus, and I walked back to our hostel from Cheeky Monkeys and just hung out in the hostel. A few people came back a little later and were a little bit sick, so I was stuck helping them, if you know what I mean. Soooo much fun.
Anyways, the next morning, I woke up to find that all my cash had been stolen out of my wallet. Same with Brittany and Elyse, the two other girls who were in my hostel room. It was a huge bummer and pretty sketchy. My wallet was in my purse which was in my backpack…so someone had to dig pretty hard to get just the cash. We think it probably happened when I was taking care of people in the bathroom and Brittany was in the other people’s room. Not sure though. Sucks. At least it was not my credit card or id’s or anything.
I went up to the beach after finding out I had no money and made the decision to drive back to Newcastle with Michael, who was leaving that night. So I enjoyed the full day on the beach, playing in the water, taking pictures, watching my friends dig holes, and walking up to Cape Byron Lighthouse. The walk took a lot longer than we all expected, but it was so much fun. We weren’t wearing any shoes, and it was an uphill hike on rocks and pebbly concrete. Our feet hurt a lot, but it was worth it. The lighthouse was beautiful and the views were incredible.
After that we went back and showered and stuff, then Elyse, Brittany, Ger Bear, Michael and I got dinner and headed back to Newcastle.
The drive home was hilarious. Michael was driving, because he had taken a nap in order to stay awake through the long drive. We stopped at Macca’s to get Michael a coffee and to get the rest of us 30cent ice cream cones. We also attempted to use their toilet, but that wasn’t happening. Conversation with the lady in the drive thru window went as follows:
MICHAEL: hello?
LADY: hi, yeah what can I get you?
MICHAEL: yo so can we use the toilet?
LADY: what?
MICHAEL: the toilet? Is it open?
LADY: excuse me, mate, what?
MICHAEL: uh the bathroom…the toilet can we use it?
LADY: no, no sorry mate it’s closed.
MICHAEL: oh okay uh can we get three 30 cent ice cream cones?
LADY: nah, sorry mate, the ice cream machine is on heat mode.
MICHAEL: oh cool great uh can we get a double cheeseburger and a coke?
LADY: yeah sure, anything else?
MICHAEL: can I get uh three waters?
LADY: yeah sure.
MICHAEL: okay yeah can I get a latte?
LADY: sorry mate, our café is closed.
MICHAEL: okay great can I get another tap water?
LADY: uh sure.
MICHAEL: yeah uhm that’s it.
LADY: okay so four tap waters, a coke and a double cheeseburger.
MICHAEL: yeah and uh some chicken nuggets?
LADY: okay sure pull around
MICHAEL: what?
LADY: yeah just pull around the front
The chick in the window was soooo mumbly and everything was closed it was the weirdest thing. I could not stop laughing because the woman definitely couldn’t understand Michael, with his New York accent, and we couldn’t understand her with her mumbly voice.
Then we saw wild dingoes. Then we ran over a wild dingo. We’re pretty sure it was already dead, but it made a loud, loud noise. Then we heard people setting off fireworks or something and we freaked out. It was a great, giggly ride home in the middle of the night.
I wish I could have stayed in Byron longer, because it was a great place and it was heaps warmer than Newcastle is now.
Made it back safely from Melbourne.
Need to update about Byron Bay and Melbourne.
Been working heaps hard on school work but.
Hopefully I’ll update before I head to Sydney for the weekend.
It’s my last week of class. I have to turn in my photography project tomorrow, turn in my video project tomorrow, turn in my final film essay on wednesday and go to my final lecture for sociology on wednesday. Then I’m done except for my soc final on June 8th.
Woop woop!
I’m going to Melbourne, VIC!
We are waking up in 3 hours to walk to the train station, to catch a train to the Sydney Airport.
It’s going to be:
Michael, Jide, Hannah, Austin, Elyse, Doug, Leah, Karen, Karleen, Adrienne and Me!
I’m very excited.
LOVE YA
BROKE. i got them for my birthday in september. i was using them last night fine. this morning on my walk to the train they stopped working. sucks. now i need to buy new ones. i don’t even know why this happens. headphones break like every six months for me. they didn’t get wet…or sandy like they normally do…the wires just broke inside i guess. wahhhh.
So just incase you didn’t know, Dallas Green (City and Colour) is my favorite musician. While I was on my road trip to Byron Bay, we heard this broadcasted over Triple J, an Australian radio station.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVHk4dc7yaE&feature=related — one of my favorite songs by City and Colour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHV04eSGzAA&feature=related — the song he was covering by Kimbra.
