Melbourne

Devin and I began out Easter Holidays on the train from Newcastle to Sydney. It was a gorgeous day and we were excited to be off for a few adventures of our own. In hindsight, the train ride was only the beginning of many encounters with some very 'special' and 'unique' people. The two guys sitting next to us were dressed up for the rodeo with cowboy hats, leather boots and some big shiny belts. They had an obvious interest in country music; their favorite song was "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy". We discerned this fact after about half an hour into the 2 1/2 hour trip, at which point we had heard this song over 5 times. Not only were they obnoxiously drinking amongst themselves, but also one of these delightful boys felt the need to show us a picture (which he pulled out of his wallet) of his truck after he crashed it. He was wondering if we could tell if it was a two door or four door cab. He seemed quite delighted by the fact that his truck was so smashed up from his reckless driving that we were unable to tell.

After departing the train, we hopped on a plane to Melbourne. On arrival, Devin's bag promptly arrived on the carousal, however my backpack did not have so much luck. So backpackless I headed into Melbourne and we got a tram to St Kilda. Conveniently, I did not right down the address of our hostel, so after some aimless walking, I remembered that I had the number of the Hostel in my phone, and were henceforth given directions.

St. Kilda is a suburb that is right on the beach with tons of cute shops and bars. Unfortunately, Melbourne is not a good city to spend time in if you have an uncontrollable shopping habit. We spent a lot of time wandering around the city (in and out of many shops), spent an afternoon in the botanical gardens picnicking and reading, and meandered through an amusement park. We even saw a cute little penguin out on the pier!

We also checked out the Crown Casino, apparently the biggest in the world. I had never been in a casino before, so it was all quite exciting. There was a massive amount of slot machines; it would be hard to imagine everyone being in use at once. Not only was it a huge casino, but it also had restaurants, shops, bars, clubs and a movie theatre. After we checked everything out we made our way into the "Las Vegas" room where I decided I needed to play some texas hold'em. Apparently my time playing poker in Helmcken in first year was well spent, because I made myself $50 (which covered one of three dresses I purchased that day).

I found a lot of similarities between Melbourne and Vancouver, so it goes without saying that I loved it. Although there weren’t tons of sites to see, I feel like it would be a very livable city, however it could do with a few more beaches! Oh yes, and my backpack eventually made its way back to me, which I very much appreciated!