We found the apartment at the North of the CDB (Central Business District). Got the keys from the concierge and got in the elevator to take us up, god knows how many floors, to get to their apartment. The building on La Trobe Street had a modern decor inside and the apartment was the same. This apartment overlooked a huge amount of Melbourne City, facing sunset, it was as modern as though newly refurbished. Nia and I looked at each other both thinking the same thing; that we had won the jackpot. Ellie (Nia’s friend who was renting the apartment) was so kind to let us crash here for such a long time.
It was definitely gone midnight when we had walked in the doors, so it was currently now the twenty-sixth of December, Boxing Day. It was time for a well-deserved rest after our long day of travelling. We’ll sort all of our stuff out the next day, such as laundry. Yes, we actually got excited about doing laundry.
As you can imagine, having been in Asia for two months we were having our laundry done by someone else: an Asian laundrette, now don’t get me wrong the clothing came back clean but there were a few issues which came with this. First was having to find a launderette close by to the hostel we were staying at. Or planning outfits to make sure we had enough clothes to make it to the next place (by clothes I mean underwear, I remember there was a few hostel shower washes at the time). Second was checking on the time to make sure that we were picking the laundry up on the right day/time (usually having to be dragged away from cold beers to do it). And number three was the fact that we had lost a few items of clothing along the way. Who has the time to count each item of clothing when it went into the Asian laundrettes? I want to see the country not care about this. So loosing a few items was one of those things you just had to brush off in the end. Even if you had something branded, usually the first to go, you could probably find the same lookalike for a fraction of the original selling price. Anyway going back to the Melbourne apartment can you see why we were getting excited? We were in control of our own laundry. We had a washing machine and a clotheshorse, it was wonderful.
There were a few things we knew we wanted to do in Melbourne and a few things we knew we had to do as well, but first it was time to celebrate Christmas. When we woke up we headed to the local supermarket, ‘Coles’. Bought a roast chicken, stuffing, vegetables and gravy, to be able to make ourselves our own roast feast to celebrate the day before. After this it was time for washing. We spent most of this day relaxing on the balcony and just enjoying each others company, whilst embracing this beautiful apartment, away from all travel noise. While we were in Melbourne we had a purpose though, we knew that we needed to get a car to be able to head up the East Coast. But which was going to be more expensive; renting a car or just buying a car? We need to do our research.
Between the twenty-seventh of December and the twelfth of January we split up our time in Melbourne. Either being the most basic tourists on the planet, taking boxes of goon down to the beach or researching cars. By the end of our research and planning for the vehicle, we knew the inside of the Victoria State Library pretty well. We were too and throwing from the library, having our slots an hour at a time as to not miss majority of the day. People would have mistaken us for locals or students. In six days we had found a car, gone to view it, bought it and taken it to get all the insurances and taxes we needed to take it up the coast. Sorted.
We needed to head to ALDI as well as Aussie Disposals to make sure that we had a tent ready and all the equipment that we be needing for camping. Yes, camping was what we chose in the end. This was the other thing that we took into consideration. Would we want to rent a vehicle and stay in hostels? Would we want to rent a camper? Or would we want to get a car and camp? We felt adventurous and the most cost effective way was a car and camping. Very happy with this as the weather in Australia is usually very warm, or so we thought. I know there are people reading this who probably think that we were mad, but it was an adventure, definitely an adventure. We made sure that we bought a tent which would fit us properly, we got sleeping bags, camping equipment including a hob, a pot, some plates (plastic containers). We made a plan of what food we should bring, also bought any extra clothing such as shorts and shoes. We did all this over a few days, it wasn’t just one whole day, we wanted to make sure everything was in order and we looked like we had our s*** together for when Ellie and Jon returned to the apartment.
In between all this very organised planning we did actually have some fun as well. So what did we end up actually doing in Melbourne? I’ve written a separate blog on this which has everything that you need to know. It features information regarding getting around, favourite spots for drinks and food, as well as what we saw as tourists.
Now you’ll find on that blog there isn’t a huge amount of bars and restaurants that we went to. Since we had the luxury of the apartment and we’d eaten out the whole couple of months prior to that, we thought it would be nice to do a bit of our own home cooking. Have a bit more of our favourite foods, whilst also trying some Australian cuisine as well, for example: kangaroo. You may screw your face up at it but it’s actually very delicious, particularly on a BBQ.
For the days out we first of all made sure we understood how the tram system worked, then we went to the Botanical Gardens, the Remembrance Shrine, the Governors House, the Art Museum Gallery, an exhibition at the Federation Square, St Pauls Cathedral, Graffiti Street and the Treasury Gardens. We actually did so much, anything which was free, you can guarantee we had done it. The sun was out every day, it was so beautiful and we wanted to make sure that we weren’t missing out. We headed down to Saint Kilda beach quite a few of the days, taking the tram the whole way down there, making sure goon was in one hand and sun cream was in the other! Goon you ask, I did add this to the bottom of the Melbourne blog, but I’ll add it here as well for you. It’s just wine in a bag, in a box. Simple. Why do travellers like it so much? A you get a lot for B a cheap price. Simple again.
Ellie (and partner) were whose apartment it was that we were staying at. They returned back on the sixth of January, so we had six nice long days with them. They took us out for different walks and to different parts of the city we hadn’t seen before. They had just bought a camper in Sydney so drove it down to Melbourne, but they were needing items for this to continue their travels to. So we pottered around with them finding bits and pieces. After a couple of nights together we all decided to do part of the East Coast together and set off at the same time. On the twelfth it was time for Nia and I to take our car for it’s first big spin.
LEAH HANCOX 