Melbourne...Again

Being back in Melbourne and checking into Urban Central again was almost like being back home. I knew that for the next few months I'd be somewhere I know and love. After going into the recruitment agency to confirm my work details for the following Monday, I was back to my usual routine of happy hour drinks at the hostel bar. Quite a few people I'd met here previously were longtermers, living and working in Melbourne, so luckily I knew plenty of people.

My first day back at work was a breeze. I really thought that I'd have forgotten everything, but after a few hours back at my old desk it all came back to me. It was like I'd never left Melbourne, with my days of packing oranges in Renmark a distant memory!

That evening, with Sarah, who I'd met on my Grampians/ Great Ocean Road trip, I went to the 'Neighbours Night', something I'd never gotten around to doing the lsat time I was here. Neighbours is filmed in the suburbs of Melbourne, and every Monday night a few of the cast put on an evening at the Elephant & Wheelbarrow pub in St. Kilda. The pub fills up with backpackers for a quiz night and cheap drinks, then out comes the Neighbours cast, with the star of the night always Dr Karl Kennedy. I haven't watched Neighbours for about 12 years, so the only preson I recognised was Karl. And I told the rest of them this when they came round for photos at the end of the night! Despite not knowing who anyone was, I got plenty of photos which
I've put on Facebook, in the hope that someone I know watches the show and therefore knows who i'm posing in photos with!

So working life continued as normal, 9 - 5 everyday, and being considerably responsible in the evenings for a backpacker, always in bed relatively early, and no hangovers at work! However, this time round I saw Melbourne as a new and completely different city. Despite working here for 3 months before, I lived so far away that I was straight on the train the moment I finished work. I loved being in Frankston, but this time was as it should be.... I was meeting other backpackers, having fun all the time, whether that meant just chilling out in the hostel with everyone, having drinks after work in a bar overlooking the Yarra river, or cheap dinners out at the restaurants we'd find with good food at budget prices. Sometime I'd just put on my ipod and walk around, listening to my music and watching the everyone carrying on with their daily routines. This time I was really experiencing what the city has to offer, and not worrying about the 2 hour commute home.

I might have mentioned before that Melbourne's hidden gems are tucked down laneways and alleys. The best bars, clubs and restaurants you often come across by accident when you're looking for somewhere else! Melbourne is considered an arty 'alternative' city, and what I like is that a lot of the bars aren't always convential. One of them, the Croft Institute, is down a load of graffiti covered back alleys. When you get there, the ground floor bar is decked out like science lab, test tubes and all. The second floor has the toilets are lke an old hospital, inclusive of a hospital bed in the ladies toilets! And the top floor is an old school gym, with grass and monkey bars and everything! My particular favourite is Section 8, right in the middle of Chinatown. By day you wouldn't look twice at it. Behind a barbed wire gate, all you see are 2 big shipping containers. One opens up as a bar, and the other is the toilets. All you sit on are piles of wooden pallets. There are lanterns dangling from the walls and graffiti everywhere, as there is down most of Melbourne's laneways. But at night the place comes alive, attracting people from your funky alternative types to your yuppy 'suits', and then your average backpacker like me. It sounds so simple to put together, but I can assure you the guy who opened this place is not only a genius, but probably rolling in it. It's always busy, the music's good and the cocktails are delicious.

On the weekends there would always be something going on; I always had places to go and people to see. I had friends dotted all over from when I was living and working in Portugal, so we'd get together every now and then, for dinner during the week in the city or drinks on a sunny Sunday afternoon in St. Kilda. Then there was the Frankston lot.... so attached to where they live it was impossible to drag them away, but I'd happily go down there occassionally for a good old drinking session with the boys like I used to.

By the end of October we were all getting ready for a big weekend. First, was Hallowe'en. Some of the girls I knew had moved out of the hostel into their own apartment, so for their housewarming they had a fancy dress Hallowe'en party. It was great fun, we had everything from Dorothy out of the Wizard of Oz, to Pirates, to Batwoman, and then the usual witches/ vampires etc. We all got together for drinks at the hostel first, so by the time we left, this giant group of 30 or so people would have looked a sight, walking through the city in our costumes. After the houseparty, we all went to a bar, where we didn't look out of place amongst everyone else all dressed up. But when I left to walk back to the hostel, I cut through the Crown Casino, as I always did, but had totally forgotten I was dressed as a cowgirl. It took me a while understand why these tiny little old Asian women who played the slot machines round the clock were pointing, staring and laughing at me!

So that was the Satuday night. On the Tuesday was Melbourne Cup day, which is the horse racing. The end of October and beginning of November Melbourne goes crazy about the horse racing, with Melbourne Cup the biggest day, and also a public holiday. So all us girls went out and bought our dresses, shoes, matching bags and hats, and got together for a (10 dollar) champagne breakfast before heading down to the Flemington racecourse to watch the races, not that I actually saw a horse the whole time I was there (a bit like not watching a game of tennis when I went to the Australian Open in January)! The whole city is bustling with people dressed in their finest. The train stations are jam packed, and the racecourse itself is just a mass of thousands of people drinking champagne and gambling their money away. Being completely hopeless, I didn't put a single bet on either. I did however, drink enough champagne to say that I would be perfectly happy if I never drank it again! What a mistake considering the next day, a Wednesday, was just a normal day at the office. Doing inductions for 30 new employees at 10 in the morning with a stinking hangover is no fun at all. But the day at the races was great fun. Next time though, I'd like to have a little flutter, or at least see a horse!

The next few weeks were just working hard, and playing harder at the weekends. The social life of a backpacker is brilliant. By this stage there was such a big group of us at the hostel that choices of where to go out and who to go with were endless. There was always someone going here or there. Or sometimes, we'd have just as much fun having a few drinks at the hostel and not even going anywhere.

Before I knew it, the christmas lights started appearing around the city, and I'd hear the odd carol playing on the radio as I walked past a bustling cafe on my way to work in the morning. And then, in David Jones, the store where I worked, they were putting up the christmas trees. But, walking through the city hearing Mariah Carey's 'All I want for Christmas' playing in every shop still doesn't get you feeling festive when it's 30+ degrees outside.

Towards the end of November we had a heat wave which lasted about 3 weeks. It's still only early Spring in Melbourne at that time of year, but the temperature hit 37 degrees, and it was humid and muggy, which is horrible to walk to work in. Especially as I had to wear black for work everyday. But it meant that weekends at the beach were in order. And on weeknights, we'd sit outside on the hostel's deck, or go down to the pier at Port Melbourne beach and have a few quiet drinks whilst making the most of the warm evenings.

By the end of November, the crew that we'd built up at Urban began to get smaller. Some people were flying home, either for Christmas, or because their visas were up, or some people were moving on to be somewhere else for Christmas. This meant that we had plenty of nights out at the weekends for people's leaving dos. Although we had a great time in that sense, it was also really sad, as always, to say goodbye to people that you get so close to over time.

By now, as I was thinking about Christmas, I realised that I'd been in Australia nearly a year, and there was still so much I had to see before my visa expired in January. I loved Melbourne, but by now I'd been here nearly 7 months on and off. And so I spoke to my manager at David Jones and confirmed my leaving date as Friday 4th December. This meant I had a few weeks between then and Christmas to see as much of the east coast as I had time for, before heading to Sydney to spend Christmas and New Years with friends I knew from home.

This time when I left David Jones I knew it was for good. In my last week we did a Secret Santa, had dinner and drinks after work and squeezed in a few lunches. It was a good send off and they spoilt me, which was lovely as I'd really enjoyed my time working there. But as always with travelling, there becomes a time when you need to move on...

I had one last crazy weekend with my mates at the hostel. I even persuaded the guys from Frankston to come into the city. We went to the Belgium Beer Gardens for Sunday sessions, which was brilliant, I'm annoyed I hadn't been sooner. The place is just rows and rows of tables in a huge beer garden, selling European beers on tap, and with Jazz bands playing in the background. We were lucky that the weather was still great. And I was even luckier that I didn't have to get up for work in the morning!

After saying my final goodbyes, hopefully just for now, it was time to go somewhere new.