Here's to the Night (Melbourne Part One)

So I’m back from Melbourne and I already miss it. Melbourne is a beautiful city and I think that if I could live anywhere in Australia, that I would live there. The weather is great, the city is big without being overwhelming and it’s just so full of culture. But now, I’m starting to sound like a brochure, so I’ll just tell you what we did…

5 of us (Daniel, Lauren, Steffan, and Alex- who all happen to share an apartment) left Thursday afternoon, catching TT coaches to Brisbane, where we took a train from Brisbane down to the Gold Coast to catch our flight. Let’s just say it was not the most enjoyable plane ride I’ve ever had seeing as how I was seated next to the crying baby. Great. We landed in Melbourne that night and rode the bus into the city where we checked into our hostel.

The rate we had been told for the hostel was that we paid $26 one night and get the other 3 nights for one penny. I was skeptical at first, but we called to double check these prices and they were right so when we got there and they told us that it should have been $26 per night for all of us, we protested. Luckily, they let it slide and even didn’t charge us for the one night, which left each of us paying our $2.50 deposit for our 4 night stay. However, I will say that the hostel quality matched the price we paid. Let’s just say it wasn’t the cleanest place I’ve been, the bunk beds caved in enough so that I was scared for my life every time Steffan got into his top bunk and “free breakfast” means that the staff puts out white bread and jelly every morning. AWESOME. But it just meant that we were more motivated to get out and see the city.

Friday morning we got up and walked around downtown, seeing Federation Square and all the main streets that we were close to. Daniel even bought us flowers from the street in honor of May Day! (which is an unheard of holiday down here) We went to China town and had lunch before walking down to the Queen Victoria Market where they had crafts and fruits and veggies and pretty much anything you could ever want to buy. We bought a lot of cheap fruit and I got a lot of gifts for you all back home.

Melbourne (supposedly) has the biggest AFL (Australian Football League) stadium and we were able to get tickets for Friday night’s game for about ten bucks so we all went and sat in the nosebleeds watching Aussie Football, which to me looked like a mix between NFL and Rugby. I’m sure to anyone sports-inclined, they will say that it is completely different, but whatever. We had no idea who to cheer for (Melbourne Roos vs. the Collingwood Pies) but our team (we eventually decided on the Roos) ended up winning and that’s what matters anyway, right?

We left the game, making a quick stop at Mackers and went to this British pub where Daniel had his first legal (in the States) drink at midnight in honor of his birthday. After that, we headed up to the Fitzroy District where we had heard there were a lot of great bars and clubs. We stopped at a few, ending at one that heralded “90’s Night” where we danced the night away to Ace of Base, Counting Crows and B*Witched. Perfect. At the last place, I ran into James, who I had met while I was in Sydney the first weekend for CIS which was really exciting and we talked about how we’re both going down there soon during the same weekend so we will have another reunion. All in all, it was a fun night and I was already in love with Melbourne.

Everyday is a Holiday with You (or Installment 8)

It was a bit sad leaving Nelson, knowing that we only had one more destination before heading back home to Australia (is it weird that I feel like it’s home?) But the thing that made it DEVASTATING was the fact that about halfway through our Harry Potter audiobook, Emma realized that only half of it got uploaded onto her iPod. We were depressed about this (obviously) but we journeyed on, stopping in Picton for some lunch and listening to 90’s music (always a surefire way to get me back in a better mood).

We checked into our hostel in Christchurch in the afternoon and discovered this market that was held right across the street that sold food on Fridays and crafts on Saturdays/Sundays. So we walked over and checked out all the homemade food (and Lauren and I bought some cupcakes. Typical.) After dinner, we went grocery shopping (yes, again…) where we discovered the best grocery store we’d seen by far. It was set up kind of like Costco and had really cheap prices, but you didn’t have to buy in bulk. This is what I call a win-win. We called up the guys we had met in Queenstown and were planning on going to see this improv comedy show with them, but it was sold out. So instead, the guys invited us back to their flat were we met a bunch of their other flat mates and friends (almost all of whom were international as well, which was neat). Their flat was located right in Cathedral Square which is basically the center of Christchurch and they lived behind this alley above 2 bars which made for a fun time. After hanging out in their flat for a bit, we went out to this 80’s club called Boogie Nights were I felt like I could’ve seen my parents dancing across the room. But it was a blast.

The next day we slept in and walked across the street to the art market again, checking out all the handmade scarves, pottery, and the international food booths (mmm, Nutella crepes…) The whole thing was like the Ann Arbor Art Fair on a small scale so it was cool. Also right across the street were these giant Botanical Gardens were we spent the majority of the afternoon. They had this rose garden which had over 100 different types of roses and a greenhouse and this lake which you could canoe on. It was absolutely beautiful. After dinner, we met up again with Anja and Antje and were invited back over to our new friends’ flat. We went out again that night to this Irish bar called Sullivans (where they played EXCELLENT music) and made several other stops that night before crashing into our beds.

Our last full day was spent looking at the Art Gallery and listening to this Salvation Army band that had set up right outside. Apparently, the weekend we were there it was this big jazz festival so I felt like there was always some sort of live music playing. Because we were leaving the next day, we needed to finish all the food we had bought which meant only one thing: binge hardcore. :) After stuffing ourselves, we hung out for the last time with the people we had met and ended up watching a movie at their place. We watched Defiance (with Daniel Craig) and it was actually really good. It was really great knowing people in Christchurch because we would run into them everywhere, like at the grocery store or at the art market which just made the weekend all the more fun.

And thus concludes the tales from New Zealand. The next morning we sadly returned Ellen, our rental car and boarded the plane back to Australia. The trip was amazing and I would tell anyone to go there. Now I am back at school (trying really hard to get out of vacation mode and back into school mode) and working my butt off because there are more trips to plan and more places to see! More updates soon (although you’re probably super sick of this blog by this point) and I hope you all are doing well!

P.S. For all you who were dying in anticipation wondering what happened to Lauren's camera, the hostel sent her an email the other day saying they had found it! :)