Day 22 – AUSTRALIA DAY!

There was quite a bit happening today in Melbourne and I wanted to see as much of it as I could. I made sure I was up and at the town hall for 10.30, which is when the ceremony began and on the strike of 11 the flags were raised and Australia day had officially started! 

The whole speech before was fairly boring but then the national anthem was sung, flags were raised and that kicked off the start of the parade. The main thing I found odd about all of this were the lack of Australians in the parade… it all seemed to be societies from other countries. My favourite was from Denmark and you can see from the picture why!

I popped back to the hostel to feed myself before heading off down to the docklands, which is where the remainder of the day was spent. Once again mine and Shruthi’s plans overlapped and she had arrived before me (mostly because I got distracted by my book but she forgave me.) The Docklands is where the main event was being held, Nova radio were there playing music and giving away prizes all day and counting down to the fireworks that were happening at 9.30pm. We looked around some shops in the harbour outlet centre but mostly just chilled out in the sun and enjoyed the atmosphere.

 The fireworks were amazing, I don’t know what it is but I just love a good firework display! Sadly it was time to say goodbye to Shruthi as she gets on a plane to Perth tomorrow, it has been a fun week and I’m very glad that Hannah introduced us.

Day 20 – St Kilda and Pimms.

Shruthi and I had arranged to go to St Kilda today as she had majority of the day off. The last time I went there (3 Years ago) was after the neighbours tour and it was raining... Obviously that meant when I woke up this morning it was too! 

I caught the free tram round to Spring street where we caught the 96 straight there. On arrival the rain had mostly stopped and we found somewhere to grab a bite to eat. By this point it was about midday so we stopped in a place called 'Leo's'.

After lunch we walked down to Luna Park fun fair, this has just gone past it's 100th birthday. This fun fair was clever in design as the rollercoaster goes around the outside creating the wall to the park. We walked to the seafront and walked along a harbour bridge

Fitzroy and Acland are the two main streets in St Kilda. I was very good and didn't spend any more money on clothes and things. We jumped back on the tram to Federation Square and went to a bar that overlooked the Yarra River. Surprisingly they have named this place ‘Riverland Bar’. We bought some dinner and a jug of Pimms, I have now had the perfect tennis experience.

Day 19 – Breakfast, Royal Botanic Gardens & Yoga.

Shruthi had the morning off so we went for brunch along Lygon street which is just up from where my hostel is. We ate in a place called Stuzzichino and ohhh my it was amazing! I went for one of the specials, this consisted of grilled ciabatta with avocado and feta mash topped with 2 poached eggs, delicious and very filling.

From here we walked down to Federation Square and caught the free Australian open tram to the tennis where our plan was to walk to the Royal Botanic Gardens. We didn’t make it as far as there before we decided just to pass out on the floor. It was hotter and less windy today compared to the rest of my time so far in Melbourne. We walked across the Yarra river and saw quite a few rowers training on the water.

When Shruthi had to go back to work I decided to walk back into the central area, on walking Heather was in contact and she was nearby with a friend so I met up with them. We walked around a couple of shops but slowly made our way up Swanston Street back to the hostel. 

I noticed a poster when I arrived about a free yoga class that is taken on the roof of the hostel every Thursday evening, so we decided to check it out! My yoga skills are no where near as good as they used to be but it was a fun way to spend some time doing some much needed stretching after sitting in arena chairs for 2 days straight at the tennis!

I said my final farewell to Heather as she is off to Sydney tomorrow but who knows what the future holds and whether we will meet again!