So I'm not sure why I associate being upside down on the world with Australia and not with New Zealand, but I do, and so I'm officially upside down! G'day, mate. I'm now writing from Melbourne, Australia.
And what a city it is. I arrived here on the 4th of June, at around 7:00 pm local time. By the time I got off the express bus to the city, it was dark and I was tired, but my hostel is actually in one of the suburbs. I'm not a big fan of trying to sort out the public transit system in a foreign city at night by myself after traveling all day, but I didn't want to pay for a taxi so I wandered around for 30 minutes looking for a tram stop with number 96 on it, and when I couldn't find one I went back to the bus building and tracked down someone that could help me. Once he gave me directions to the tram stop and I was stuffed into a little seat with my big backpack, I realized that they make no effort to announce which stop is next or where you are. Luckily some nice Australian ladies agreed to tell me when we got to Fitzroy Street, where I got off and proceeded to wander around for another 10 minutes unable to locate my hostel until I almost
walked into it to ask for directions. You see, my hostel is also a pub. There was no one at reception, but there was a little sign on the door that said, "If no one is at the desk, please go round and ask at the bar." So with my big backpack on my back and my little backpack on my front I walked right into karaoke night at the pub, and no one even blinked. After checking in, taking a shower, and getting settled for bed, my roommate appeared to grab her keys, introduced herself and said I should come down and meet everybody. Honestly, I was tired. What I really wanted was a good book and ten hours of sleep, but I did want to make friends, so I went down anyway. Six hours later when I poured myself into bed after meeting everybody a couple of times over, I decided that this was going to be a lively two weeks.
The next day I got up early and went to tour Melbourne and it was surprisngly lovely. This city has the best tourist setup I can imagine. They have an huge tourist information center right in Federation Square, which tells you anything you want to know. They told me to hop on the free bus that goes around the city, telling all us foreigners about all the tourist attractions and dropping us off and picking us up at all the major points every 20 minutes. Free transportation will put any city on my good side. They also have a free tram, which only goes around the city center and does the same thing as the bus. It's great. I effortlessly got to find my way around Melbourne and put in my tourist duties for the day.
And what a city it is. I arrived here on the 4th of June, at around 7:00 pm local time. By the time I got off the express bus to the city, it was dark and I was tired, but my hostel is actually in one of the suburbs. I'm not a big fan of trying to sort out the public transit system in a foreign city at night by myself after traveling all day, but I didn't want to pay for a taxi so I wandered around for 30 minutes looking for a tram stop with number 96 on it, and when I couldn't find one I went back to the bus building and tracked down someone that could help me. Once he gave me directions to the tram stop and I was stuffed into a little seat with my big backpack, I realized that they make no effort to announce which stop is next or where you are. Luckily some nice Australian ladies agreed to tell me when we got to Fitzroy Street, where I got off and proceeded to wander around for another 10 minutes unable to locate my hostel until I almost
walked into it to ask for directions. You see, my hostel is also a pub. There was no one at reception, but there was a little sign on the door that said, "If no one is at the desk, please go round and ask at the bar." So with my big backpack on my back and my little backpack on my front I walked right into karaoke night at the pub, and no one even blinked. After checking in, taking a shower, and getting settled for bed, my roommate appeared to grab her keys, introduced herself and said I should come down and meet everybody. Honestly, I was tired. What I really wanted was a good book and ten hours of sleep, but I did want to make friends, so I went down anyway. Six hours later when I poured myself into bed after meeting everybody a couple of times over, I decided that this was going to be a lively two weeks.
The next day I got up early and went to tour Melbourne and it was surprisngly lovely. This city has the best tourist setup I can imagine. They have an huge tourist information center right in Federation Square, which tells you anything you want to know. They told me to hop on the free bus that goes around the city, telling all us foreigners about all the tourist attractions and dropping us off and picking us up at all the major points every 20 minutes. Free transportation will put any city on my good side. They also have a free tram, which only goes around the city center and does the same thing as the bus. It's great. I effortlessly got to find my way around Melbourne and put in my tourist duties for the day.
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