Welcome to Melbourne!
We landed at 11pm (previous day), waited for a bus for an hour outside the airport, that the hostel assured us would be there. After ringing the hostel, they said ‘the bus transfers finish at 10pm’ – not the news we needed to hear. Feeling tired, we chose the easiest option, jumped in a taxi that took us from door to door. The hostel did apologise and reimbursed some of the taxi fee, so we “built a bridge and got over it” (a brilliant Oz saying that we’ve learnt – basically a longer way of saying – got over it). Straight to bed on arrival and were joined by our ‘lovely’ (not!) roommates (shared dorm room for 4 people). Our roommates arrived at 1am and were quite good at getting straight in to bed, but for the next couple of days were very grumpy and didn’t even try to communicate with us because they couldn’t speak English – they also slept at the times that nobody else does e.g. 12pm – 9pm which made it difficult for us to use the room when we needed to change/get ready for the next day.
We woke pretty early and headed down for our free breakfast – a long queue and only toast or cereal but we weren’t complaining!! The easiest thing for today was going to be getting our bearings with the city so we headed to a central point – Federation Square – which was roughly a 15 minute walk from our hostel.
On the way we walked through some of the small walkways that Melbourne is famous for – lined with shops, cafes and bars there was lots to explore. We arrived in Federation Square which was bustling with people and street acts. There was lots going on. The square is next to the very impressive train station building.
On the way we walked through some of the small walkways that Melbourne is famous for – lined with shops, cafes and bars there was lots to explore. We arrived in Federation Square which was bustling with people and street acts. There was lots going on. The square is next to the very impressive train station building.
It is fairly easy to get around the centre of Melbourne as there is a really good tram network. One of the routes is actually a free tourist tram which circulates the city centre. We thought this would be ideal and save our legs from even more walking.
After enjoying the tram for about 30 minutes we arrived at the Waterfront City – a large shopping centre on the edge of Melbourne Harbour. It was very modern and had some quirky shops. They are in the middle of building a huge Ferris-wheel like the London Eye. After grabbing a tasty sandwich from one of the shops we headed to the waterfront to admire the city and the beautiful boats that are docked there. The atmosphere was great and it was very modern and clean. There were lots of boats docked there and some of them were very impressive!
We jumped back on the tram and headed to the hostel to re-charge our batteries with rest and food! The kitchen in the hostel was not very big and there were always lots of people trying to use it, so we had to jostle for position and wait our turn for a pan! We enjoyed some pasta.... again.
After enjoying the tram for about 30 minutes we arrived at the Waterfront City – a large shopping centre on the edge of Melbourne Harbour. It was very modern and had some quirky shops. They are in the middle of building a huge Ferris-wheel like the London Eye. After grabbing a tasty sandwich from one of the shops we headed to the waterfront to admire the city and the beautiful boats that are docked there. The atmosphere was great and it was very modern and clean. There were lots of boats docked there and some of them were very impressive!
We jumped back on the tram and headed to the hostel to re-charge our batteries with rest and food! The kitchen in the hostel was not very big and there were always lots of people trying to use it, so we had to jostle for position and wait our turn for a pan! We enjoyed some pasta.... again.
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