Mellow Melbourne – St. Kilda

After the exhausting roadtrip we arrived in Melbourne.  Everyone checked into Urban Central guesthouse except Will, Carolyn, Toby and I who were to slum it in The Van and The Interceptor!

Luke, Katya, Lisa and I went to do some sightseeing.  The Eureka Tower, the tallest building in Melbourne and the tallest residential building in the world.  Skydeck 88 features ‘The Edge’ – a glass cube which projects 3m out from the building with visitors inside, suspended almost 300m above the ground. When you enter, the glass is opaque as the cube moves out over the edge of the building. Once fully extended over the edge, the glass becomes clear.. of course it had to be done!  Very cool views of the city and the edge was the best part by far!

After getting back I was greeted with a great story from Will.  Toby was concerned about the health of The Interceptor so went in search of a garage.  Whilst looking and whilst bang in the middle of Downtown Melbourne, The Interceptor died.  It broke down in one of the busiest streets in the city, right outside the melbourne aquarium.  He was alone so had to get some onlookers to help push it onto the sidewalk, god knows what these people were thinking.  Hilarious!  It was Melbourne’s hottest new tourist attraction.  Toby sat reading on the bonnet of the broken Interceptor for over an hour whilst waiting for Will to find him a battery so he could start it.

It was time to go on the hunt for a good sleeping spot.  We ended up parking in, Addison Street, St. Kilda.  It was a perfect quiet shaded wide street.  Vano’s check it out; here

Addison Street, St. Kilda; Note how happy Will is to be a van bum and how distraught Carolyn (pretty blonde Canadian) is!

When in the city and when we need to get about, The Van isn’t ideal, and sometimes nor is my skateboard.  There is a good transport network in Melbourne with trams running frequently.  They have an honesty system where you pay at a computer on the tram.  Carolyn didn’t know anything about this and after having used the trams for a good fews days announces to everyone in the que for the tram how brilliant it was that they were free – which made my day!

Some people may of heard of Bells Beach from the amazing movie, Point Break.  Luke, Will and I decided we had to see where Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze ripped it up!  A 1hr30 drive south of Melbourne we made a quick visit to the famous Bells beach.  A quick visit, some snaps, but no surf – flat day.  On the way home we spotted some Kangaroos so wont off road and into a farmers field to get some wildlife shots.

I’m lucky enough to be able to fund my travel habit by working on the internet whilst on the move.  This means I spend a lot of time in internet cafes and restaurants.  If I find a place enjoyable to work in I’ll extend my stay in place to catch up.  I’ve found Australia’s internet to be amongst the worst of any country I’ve been to, it was easier to get online in Laos!  I found an awesome workplace in St. Kilda, Melbourne.  A contemporary cafe/restaurant called;  Phamish.  The food was good, the prices reasonable, staff friendly and internet reasonably fast.  Made a nice change from working in one of Australia’s many many Macdonalds.

Whilst working in Melbourne I heard the terrible news of the Haiti earthquake – it struck a nerve after being involved in volunteering at the last big quake in Indo.  I heard news HODR.org were sending out a team there, and I was very tempted to head there and join them.  Thoughts to everyone affected.

Melbourne is a really cool city.  Very boho and upbeat, the beaches nice despite there being no surf.  Plenty of independent shops and hip cafes, bars and restaurants.  Lots of great attractions, the Eureka tower, the laneways.  Melbourne is known as Australia’s cultural capital – if in ever in Australia it is a must to visit!

Tagged as: eureka, phamish, st. kilda