Melbourne Shenanigans

We landed in Melbourne on Sunday and the moment we stepped of the plane we could tell that the place had a different vibe than Sydney. Our home for the week was the Habitat HQ in St.Kilda, a short tram ride out of the city center and a welcome break from the big city hustle and bustle.

We met up with David, another friend from NZ, and he brought us to the Abbotsford Convent. The old convent has been transformed into a bunch of small art galleries and workshops and houses a vegitarian restraunt and cafe as well. There was a music festival going on when we arrived so we sat down for a listen before wandering around and grabbing some bevvies. We stumbled upon a walkway that took us over the Yarra river into a park and then onto another rather trecherous hike along the opposite bank of the river. We passed by a community garden and farm complete with horses, cows, goats, and sheep, all in the midst of the city. It was rather unexpected. After the trek we headed back to 'Lentils as Anything' for a Sri Lankan buffet. The food was amazing and the restraunt is really unique in that it opperated on donations but otherwise the meals are free.

On Tuesday we headed in to the city to check out arts center, aplty named because of all of the galleries in the area. Unfortunately the National Gallery of Victoria was closed that day so we headed over to the Australian Centre of the Moving Image. The building is dedicated to everything about film, animation, video games and beyond it was a lot of fun. We sat around playing Sonic the hedgehog for a good hour. From there we wandered around Swanston St., which is the main road that the central city branches off from.

We hung out in St.Kilda on Wednesday and headed down to the beach for a lazy relaxing day. We were wandering around looking at some shops (window shopping of course) and stumbled upon a funky restraunt called Abbey Road and noticed that they had kangaroo on their menu. We sat down and both ordered up some Roo souvlakis. The taste is a lot like deer meat and was really tender. It's definitely something I would order again if it was in my budget!

We met up with David again later that week and he brought us into the city for a tour of the Graffiti art that is around every unassuming corner. The city sanctions off alleyways for artists to decorate as they like. The work is amazing and constantly changing as new artist come in and make their mark on a daily basis. He also took us to a little chip stand outside of Flinders St. Station called Lord of the Fries. I tried my first box of vegitarian chicked nuggets, they tastes suspiciously meat like.

My Australian birthday! We went out for a delicious brunch of banana pancakes and my mochas (my new addiction) and then window shopped some more. In the evening Sabrina and I went into the city on a quest for sushi, which was amazing once we finally found it! Then we checked out some funky local clubs and danced the night away as usual. The next day Melbourne experienced a torrential downpour for about 20 minutes which caused the city to shut down completely. We were on our way to the airport and our shuttle was constantly re-routed due to flooded streets and general mayhem. The whole ordeal ended with us missing flight and finally getting to Sydney around 10pm but also causing us to miss our 11pm bus. We stayed in the airport yet again and caught a bus the next day that was headed to Newcastle. On a whim, and out of patience, we decided to stop in and find a hostel for a couple of nights. It's a funky little surf town and so far I'm enjoying the vibe, we may stay longer than we thought!

Overall it was an eventful weekend making my 20th birthday very unforgettable!