This all started ages ago, about going to Melbourne. Then one day on the way home after boxing one September Saturday morning, Mark and I decided to organize a trip! We both had two weeks off at Christmas so why not?
But I told Mark that I wanted to concentrate on finishing all the work for the fitness course first. Otherwise, if we started planning, I would get sidetracked. So for 2-3 weeks, Mark wasn't allowed to mention much :( But then I finished :) So we organised the hotel (a nice little apartment in St Kilda), the plane tickets (with Virgin Blue) and lastly the long term car stay at the airport. I printed off a diary thingy so we could write in what we wanted to do on certain days, looked up public transport around the area and of course places we wanted to go!
29th December 2010
Up nice and early! My brother was going to stay over and look after the house while we were away so I needed to change the sheets and get a few stuff ready for him. Left home around 7ish, got to airport around 815am. Once we were parked and stuff, we went and ate some brekkie. We then had a look around the airport before dropping off the bags (long wait haha) and boarding the plane.
We were both excited. The last time we went on a plane was for our honeymoon on the Gold Coast, so we were looking forward to this :) At 1145am, we were in Melbourne! Very excited. We got our luggage and boarded the shuttle bus heading to the city.
Once we reached the city, we needed to catch a train to Broadmeadows so we could pick up a phone for Mark. Getting to Broadmeadows, we asked for help how to get somewhere and about 20 min later, we were there. We got the phone and the lady was kind enough to drive us back to the station. We caught the train back to the city. When we got out, I looked around. Trams were a new thing to us and this Southern Cross Station was like our Central. Shows that all the planning in the world didn't prepare us for this. I saw a taxi (which was yellow!) and we asked for St Kilda.
Once we were in our room, I took a quick look at the guides which I had and we worked our way out to the trams haha. Back in the city we were. Bought our weeklies and asked how to get to Port Melbourne so we could eat Croatian food! We got to Dalmatino on time and we had a great dinner - just look at the photos! We listened to the live music for a bit before going and walking along the beach. We walked from Port Melbourne to St Kilda. Yes, it took a while. And I was very jealous of all the people I saw running!
30th December 2010
After a good sleep and studying the tram routes I had picked up, Mark and I decided we would visit Smith St in Collingwood and look at the warehouses/outlets there. We went to the Adidas factory and the Nice factory as well as a few others, but didn't buy much - not much compared to Parra Road. Finishing early from here, we decided to visit Harbourtown for more shopping.
We got to Harbourtown and found a place to eat, where we ate a nice lamb salad. We looked around and nearly saw stuff to buy but as always when it is something you really like, it is never in your size. Rebel Sport really disappointed Mark and he wasn't a happy chap! Afterwards, the tram took us back to the city and I found the Greek music store and got some good stuff :) We then went back to St Kilda and ate in. Went for a walk later around Luna Park and stuff.
Before going back, I found a place which had DDR and guess what??? It was EMPTY! Perfect for me, I think I spent about an hour playing, with people watching (gosh I hate that). Love my DDR!
31st December 2010
The run! We were up nice and early and caught the tram to Alexandra Gardens. It went well, mostly older people and males. I probably would have set a record or something lol but it was good :) I did 8km in 46min and 7sec while Mark did his first ever fun run, 4km in 29min and 9sec.
Today we decided to go to Chadstone Shopping Centre. But first, we needed to go to Preston, so we could go to the Croatian music store. On the tram, we heard these people talking about just getting out of jail and drug rehab programs etc lol. When we got off, we had to walk a bit and then we were there. Mark and I got CDs and a kid's book. We then caught the train back into the city, then another train into East Malvern. We then caught a taxi to Chadstone.
We walk in and the first thing we find is Allphones - perfect for me. I bought my new phone then we ate. We then went to the Adidas shop there and a few other shops. In my honest opinion, the shopping centre wasn't that great. I prefer the ones here.
We got back to our hotel and got ready to go out. We caught a taxi into the city as the trams were free that night and all we could think of was congestion! $28 later and we were on Lonsdale St. Walked into one place to eat and when I asked about haloumi cheese he said it was cheap cheese etc lol so we got up, left and went next door! I had my haloumi!
After we ate, we went back to St Kilda and a bit later, caught a tram to Alexandra Gardens and found a place close to watch the fireworks. As it was an alcohol free zone, it was calm and we got a good spot. Midnight came and the fireworks were amazing. They went for 10-15 min! We got a tram back and had a good sleep.
1st January 2011
Woke up late :) We didn't do much today. As it was New Year's Day, not much was open. We went back into the city and walked around. I went back to the Greek shop and bought more stuff. We also went to Rebel Sport but not much there. We ate at a Turkish place for lunch. We pretty much just chilled at the hotel afterwards. We then ate and decided to go out to the movies at the Crown Complex.
We watched Little Fockers which was funny :) We then played a bit on the pokies. I could hear Greek convos left, right and centre! After we had our fun, we went back to St Kilda and slept.
2nd January 2011
I had heard about the Hellenic Republic at East Brunswick, which George from Masterchef owns and we really wanted to go. So we caught the tram there. And when we got in there, it was busy as! Must be really popular! So we sat down and ordered our food. I had a cheese and spinach pie with poached eggs and Mark had a prosciutto thingy with eggs on bread. Both were really nice! The spanikopita had a very strong taste and was delicious! We took some kourabiethes, loukoumades and bougata back with us. We went afterwards to the city in an effort to find me a jacket. Nope, that didn't work. Mark had to buy himself a jacket and I wore it!
In the afternoon, we went back to the hotel and rested. When it was dinner time, we walked down Fitzroy St and found a nice place to eat. After this, we caught a tram to the Crown Complex again and went to Galactic Circus. I was ready to play DDR, the game which not many people play here. We bought our cards and I went on the older machine first. Did well. But I wanted Supernova, hadn't used it before. This one I had to wait for. But I finally got on and played :) I then went back to the older one. This time, I had people crowd around, I even had people just gawk at how I did it. I told them "Practise, that's all, ask my husband!" Then me, after so long, figured out how to get more songs to display and suddenly I had 'Witch Doctor' About bloody time! 'Ooh iiii ooh ah ah, ting tang, walla walla bing bang.'
I finally finished around 11pm :) and we made our way back to the hotel...
3rd January 2011
Oh home time! But first, we had to make sure we had a nice breakfast on the beach! So we woke up early and walked to St Kilda beach and found a nice cafe to eat at. Mark and I then went back, packed our things and went to the city to catch our bus back to the airport.
Not much shopping at Melbourne airport - damn! So we bought magazines and read till it was time to board the plane. Finally, we would go back to Sydney. Loved Melbourne, but it was good to know we would be going back!
A few things we learnt about Melbourne...
DDR isn't popular as much as it is here in Sydney. The Asians are not obsessed with it as much and like I said, I was able to have it without someone putting a dollar next to be indicating they wanted a turn next.
Our public toilets are much cleaner than Melbourne. Their ones just stink
Taxis are yellow in Melbourne. They are also popular in the suburbs, unlike here where we need to call for taxis
Trams are the way to go around in Melbourne. These things pretty much take you anywhere. In Sydney, you worry about cars running you over. In Melbourne, it's the trams. I mean, peds have to give way to trams! Can't run into the middle of the road and wait. Got to be cautious!
Another thing on public transport I noticed is that if you're elderly, and there is a person who is sitting on the trams with bags on the other seat, they won't move them for the person to sit. They don't give a shit!
Ticketing system for public transport is good. Should be like that here
Everyone is laid back there. Everyone goes to stuff last minute and the dashes we do here doesn't work as well there. No one there will run to the middle of the road when the road is clear. Yes, even with some places with no trams, this still happened.
They are big on health foods which is a good thing. Most places will state if they can do gluten free foods for you.
Fruit and veggies are really expensive there
As is water. First and last time I pay $5 for Pump!