Four days in Melbourne

by laur3xplores

Originally we were set to fly out on a Wednesday night, and arrived an hour prior to departure. The flight was then delayed so that we would be waiting for three hours, and within minutes, the flight was canceled. There were thunderstorms in Melbourne, so there were plenty of flights that got canceled there as well, which meant that the plane in Melbourne could not return to Brisbane to take us there that night.

That was my first time experiencing a flight cancellation. I had not bought travel insurance, but luckily I was able to get refunded. The only downside to that is I had to buy new flights that were twice as expensive. We could have rescheduled for another weekend, only I had already purchased tickets to see Gotye at the Forum this particular weekend.

We arrived Thursday morning, and rented a car from Europcar. We made our way out of the city towards Port Campbell. It was pouring along our journey, with breaks in between. We checked into Port Campbell Hostel where a lovely senior couple greeted us and gave us the information about the place (rules and protocol). We had dinner nearby at a local pub, Cray Pot Bistro…where Ryan ordered the most delicious steak ever.

We got really lucky the next day with the weather. The skies were actually blue with cotton candy like clouds. Perfect day to see the 12 Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge. Ideally we would have liked to walk around a little longer around the area, however, we knew the sunshine would not last. We decided to make the drive to Phillip Island and catch the evening parade of the penguins.

It was so cold waiting for the penguins to arrive to shore as we sat along the bleachers getting wet from the rain. They were so cute! It’s mating season, so you’d see them do their mating rituals along the walkways. Their coat is a shade of dark blue, and they are the smallest species of penguins. Each morning the penguins leave to go fishing, right before sunrise, and return each night right after sunset. They get really nervous leaving the water to walk onto the sand, it takes them awhile to build up the courage to march across it to return to their boroughs.

I wish we had more time to spend in Phillip Island, but we had to make our way to the city the next day (concert day). We woke up at 5 am the next morning so we can make a stop to Peninsula Hot Springs where they have pools of natural geothermal water pumped from the ground. It was AMAZING!

There were several hot and super hot pools, and cold pools, along with saunas and hammams. We loved it. It was only $20 dollars a person, and you get ten dollars back if you go between 7:30-10am. Great deal. We had breakfast there then made our way back to the city.

We checked into a really run down hostel (terrible) called Elephant Backpackers. It was really cheap, and really close to everything –however, we were also really close to people around us where we slept as well…with incomplete walls….no sound proof…where I can hear other people that kept me up or woke me up, very unpleasant.

We walked around the city for hours. There were lots to see, plenty of hidden streets covered in street art. We stopped at Brunetti’s for a quick treat along with delicious coffee. We passed by several parks and churches, as we strolled around to kill the time.

We lined up for Gotye a bit early, where I managed to stand in the front when the show started.

A band called Husky opened up for Gotye, and they were really good live! Same with Gotye! I loved his energy, and he sang so well! Ryan and I happened to be standing near his friends who gave us the low down on what Wally was like.

That was cool, the guy Simon was quite entertaining. We saw so many girls flirting with him, just so they can stand where he stood. It was hands down the best show I’ve been to. I loved every minute.

The next day was a sunny nice day for a change, and I had plans to go eat really good food in the Brunswick area.

And take lots of pictures finally with our DSLR. It’s been raining the whole time since and so I have been taking pictures with my point and shoot. We got on the tram, and Ryan got excited or nervous or whatever and got off on the wrong stop. The DSLR was left behind. I was infuriated. It was a buzz kill for our trip, and I was so upset with him. WE spent the next couple of hours hoping on the returning tram hoping it would show up. It never did, and we reported it to the tram services. And moved on with the day.

We took another tram to look around St Kilda. It was busy yet, the businesses there seemed to be in bad shape. However, there were cool markets along the way and heaps of crowded bakeries! We passed Luna Park, and it seemed dodgy…a bit worn down.