So initially I aimed to create and update this blog every week since I came out here (Melbourne, Australia). And here I am, three months into my travels and only just writing my first post. But I won't go on about my procrastination any more. Oh, I should also mention that I'll be going into a lot of detail, mainly because I want to be able to read this back in the future and remember everything. Anyway...
...August 31st, 2016: I leave the UK to head out to Australia for the first time. It was odd. I'd been waiting to leave the country for so long that it was pretty surreal that the day had finally come. I felt good. Nervous, but good. Having said goodbye to all of my family and friends I was in a good state of mind. Although, at times it seemed a bit overkill; people were on the brink of tears saying bye to me (I distinctly remember Olivia holding back her tears when I said bye at Waterend). I kept thinking to myself "People are acting as if I'm dying. I'm only going away for a year".
But anyway, the day had come. Both Mum and Dad had gotten up early to take me to the airport and see me off. Unfortunately, the dogs had to stay at home. Honestly, saying goodbye to them was probably the hardest part. It sounds awful to say, doesn't it? But I mean, I can talk to Mum, Dad, Nana etc. at any point on the phone but I can't be next to my dogs whenever I want to. I still remember giving them one last Bonio before leaving the house. Cassie did her usual habit of hiding the Bonio in her bed for later and came rushing to the front door just before I left. Her face at the door was the last thing I saw before we drove off.
Now, at the airport. It was definitely difficult to actually leave Mum and Dad and head off by myself. On the one hand I was extremely nervous and frightened of what would lie ahead for me. However, on the other hand I was seriously excited. After saying goodbye to Mum and Dad I went off by myself and from that point onwards, I almost felt like a new person. I'd been waiting to leave school and do my own thing for so long and now it was as if a giant load was lifted from me.
At this point, I had said goodbye to everyone, gone through security, figured out where and when my flight was and all I had to do was wait. Wait to board my plane. And I was so damn bored. Wow, I couldn't believe how bored I was. Social media was completely dead as it was still about 5am, I had nobody to talk to and all I could do was wait. You can tell I take after my father because I hate being late to anything. The downside of that is that it means I often have to wait around a lot for people or events. Ironic because I also hate waiting...just like my father does.
Okay I'll skip ahead because honestly, even I think I'm going into too much detail. The flight: it was alright. Bit boring but alright. About as basic as any flight goes. But the second flight...that was an experience. One that I'll never forget. Mainly because it was the worst time of my life. Fourteen hours of hell. I was in the middle of a four seat row and the two people sat next to me were unbearable. The guy to my right was okay; but he slept for about ten of those fourteen hours and so conversation was minimal. The guy to my left was a German man, between around sixty and seventy, and was the grumpiest man I've ever met. Not once did he say a word to me, despite me trying to make conversation multiple times. In fact, I asked him four times if I could go to the toilet and every single time he straight up ignored me. At first I thought he just didn't hear me but by the end it was evident that he was just an arsehole. So for about nine hours I had to hold in a piss and I couldn't stretch my legs. As I said before, it was hell. That being said, the air hostesses were lovely. Qatar airlines, I tip my hat off to you.
ALRIGHT I'VE FINALLY GOTTEN TO THE PART WHERE I LAND IN AUSTRALIA.
I've landed. I'm in Australia for the first time in my life and I am so lost. I exit the airport, it's dark and wet. It's raining...in Australia. What is this? Oh right, Melbourne weather is basically the same as back home. The very first thing I remember about being in Australia is that I stepped in a puddle. Great start. My feet were soaking wet. I spent a while trying to find some kind of public transport so I could get to my hostel but I ended up just walking in cirlces. So after wondering around the outside of the airport for about twenty minutes and having no idea where to go or what to do, I decided to give up and just get a taxi. Definitely the most expensive way to get to my hostel but at this point I simply didn't care. I hop in a taxi and the driver was the spitting image of Ranjit from How I Met Your Mother. We spoke the whole time about my travel plans and stuff but the entire time all I could think about was how similar he was to Ranjit. Interesting, right? Even when writing a blog post, I just ramble on for ages.
Right, out of the taxi. Cost me $70. Bloody outrage. No wonder Uber are driving traditional cabs out of the market. And I had finally made it to my hostel on Carlisle Street: Base Backpackers in St Kilda, Melbourne. Having no idea what to expect from a hostel, I was pleasantly surprised. It was perfect for backpackers. Loads of young people and it was obvious everyone here was just here to booze about for a bit. I head up to my room on the third floor and I am knackered. The first thing I'm greeted to is two guys in the room (it was a ten bed, shared room). One Irish bloke called Aodhan (pronounced Aiden) and a British guy called Rhys. Awesome guys. I speak to them for a bit, get set up in my bed and then set out to meet Jake (who has already been in Melbourne for a day, in a different hostel).
First things first: put some money on my Myki card (the card needed to use public transport in Melbourne) at 7-Eleven. And now to go to the tram stop and catch the tram into the CBD (Central Business District / city centre). I had no idea where I was or where the hell I was going. But I catch the 96 tram after being told by two gents at the tram stop which tram to get. As I'm heading into the CBD I pass a tram stop called Batman Park. This memory sticks with me because, well...you know...Batman. What an awesome name for a park.
Now, off the tram. Where the hell do I go? I was using my phone to load Google Maps but because I was roaming data with the UK SIM, it was not loading very fast at all and I could barely navigate. It took me about half an hour to navigate my way through the CBD and meet Jake in Chinatown. To this day, the CBD still confuses me and I'm convinced that every road looks identical. Unusual for me seeing as I can normally find my way around most places I go.
So long story short, I meet Jake and we eat Chinese food. He agrees to move into my hostel the next day.
The first few days in Melbourne were interesting. At first I thought I got lucky and had somehow avoided the jetlag. And then two nights in, I'm waking up at 3am and falling asleep again at 7am. But yeah, the first few days were tough. It had really kicked in that I had actually just left everything I had at home for a whole year. All of my family and friends, my belongings, my job etc. were all at home...thousands of miles away from me. And boy was I already homesick. The days were awesome because I was exploring the city and had a lot of things to do. But the nights were long and difficult. It felt as if I had just made the biggest mistake of my life. But I continued to tell myself to get past that stage. And I did. I slowly began to get used to living in a new place.
That leads me into probably the biggest thing I've learnt since being out here. I cannot stress this enough but: treasure what you have. I have become so unbelievably grateful for everything I have now. I miss my family to death. I really, really, really appreciate everything they've done for me. Before coming out here, I always understood not to take family for granted but I never really gave it too much thought. But now that I'm on the other side of the globe to them, they mean more to me than ever before. This, combined with it being a year since my grandfather passing, has made me a lot more conscious about the importance of my loved ones. No matter what, cherish your family. Regardless of whatever experiences I have out here: that life lesson makes this whole trip worth it.
But anyway, I'm not a life coach so enough of my lessons. I've rambled on long enough about random stuff so from this point forward I'm only going to write out the memorable moments that I feel are worth writing about. So:
St Kilda Beach
Ah St Kilda Beach. Absoloutely stunning scenery. Watching the sunset in the horizon was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I must have taken about twenty photos of just the sun setting. And while the photos may make it look warm, it was damn cold. Melbourne in September time is basically English weather. You can be looking around at the beaches, the palm trees, the public parks, you name it; but it still feels like you're in England. Good ol' cold, wet and cloudy England.
Crazy people
Now, as lovely as St Kilda is, it is filled with crazy people. Oh my days, I have never seen so many crazy people. There's a few distinct memories of the locals that stick in my mind: the old man on the wall and the ice heads in Westpac. I'll start with the old man on the wall.
So on Barkley street there's this retirement home. Nothing out of the ordinary, there's retirement homes all over the place. This place however...this place had the crazy guy. Every single day, this man would sit on the same spot on the same wall outside the retirement home for hours. All he would do all day, every day was talk to the passers by. Doesn't seem too strange right now, does it? What this man would do however, is just say whatever load of utter crap that would just come into his head. I would say about twenty five perceent of the time, the sentences he said would actually make sense or actually mean something. My favourite quotes from this man are:
- "Hello beautiful boys!", he said to me and Jake as we were walking past. There was no follow up to that, just the creepy compliment.
- "I've been to the top, you know!", he said to me. I mean, awesome mate; I'm happy for you. But what the hell does that even mean and what relevance does it have to anything what-so-ever? I'll never know.
"I help people, they help me out and I help those other people", he said to me and Jake another time. Again, good for you mate. But it literally doesn't mean anything. Why are you telling random pedestrians these things with zero context?
Now, the ice heads in Westpac.
Nothing unusual to start with. Just me doing adult things like going to the bank (because I'm an adult now, and I like to remind myself of that. I promise I'm mature and capable of living on my own). So I'm at the bank, talking to the woman behind the glass about my account. Jake is sat in the waiting room chairs waiting for me to finish. Now, bring in the ice heads. Until this point, I had no idea ice (crystal meth) was such a big problem in Melbourne. But after you see one or two, you see them everywhere. But that's beside the point. Basically, Jake had to sit through a torturous fifteen minutes of chat with two meth heads while waiting for me to finish whatever I was doing. They weren't harmful, quite the opposite actually. But they would speak the most random and pointless crap you've ever heard. Constant stories about how they do whatever they want in life and don't listen to anyone else, especially not the police. Cool stories, guys. In reflection, this story doesn't sound nearly as funny when I explain it. I suppose you just kinda had to be there.
Job hunting
Put simply, the first few weeks of job hunting was a nightmare. There are so many backpackers in Melbourne looking for the same jobs and businesses get bombarded with resumes and job applications. So needless to say, finding work was pretty difficult. Admitidly, I wasn't trying particuarly hard to find work because I was very much enjoying being unemployed and having literally zero responsibilities in life other than simply keeping myself alive. But still, finding jobs was not easy. Eventually I managed to get a trial shift in a coffee shop, which I blew (I'll explain later) and after that I decided that I didn't much care for a job at all for a while. But if you're ever in St Kilda looking for work: good luck! There's about a thousand other people also applying for the same positions.
Barkley Backpackers
After about five days Jake and I moved out of Base and into Barkley Backpackers (another hostel, which was slightly cheaper and was only on the next road over). Now let me tell you, Barkley Backpackers was a...unique experience. Probably about half the size of Base and everyone knew everyone. The actual hostel itself wasn't terrible (not great, but not terrible), but the people that were staying there...oh boy!
So, let me see if I can remember the main 'characters' that we lived with. The one that stands out the most is definitely Steph.
I can comfortably say that Steph is the oddest person I have ever met (yes, even more so than the old guy on the wall). I don't know how to describe that woman in any other way than just batshit crazy. The first day at Barkley Backpackers I'm sat in my bed and Steph is in hers with her earphones in. Eventually she takes them out and starts talking to me. I think the first thing she started talking to me about was how modern music sucks and nobody makes real music for the love anymore. To an extent I agree with her but she started taking it to a whole new level and said how Kings of Leon are the only band out there that are actaully any good at all. She just really, really hated all kinds of music. She's one of those people that loves music so much that she hates on all kinds of music apart from one genre, and that genre literally only being whatever Kings of Leon releases. Anyway, the topic of music moves on and we start talking about Melbourne. She explains to me how much she loves this city and how it means everything to her. So okay, so far she doesn't sound crazy. A bit odd but by no means crazy. But this is just the start (that's right, I'm gonna ramble on again for ages).
Now, Steph loves Melbourne so much that, she is literally offended by the arcitecture of the modern buildings. Her words were something along the lines of "Buildings are just supposed to house us. Why have they made them look so blocky and weird?". She started rambling on about her hate for progressive architecture. I just had to sit there awkwardly agreeing with her (I mean, I was sharing a room with her, I didn't want to get into an argument).
It was also at this stage that I learnt that Steph used to be homeless. She also used to be in a bad relationship. I don't want to say too much about her personal life but the one thing that sticks in my memory was when she said: "I just had to get out of there. Who know, if I had a knife I would've just STAB, STAB, STABBED (making stabbing gestures) him". Obviously this just sounds as if she was in a bad relationship and it had a bad toll on her. Fair enough. Bit violent, but fair enough. Needless to say, I felt uncomfortable around her. Although, when she invited me out to drinks later that evening, of course I said yes and told Jake to come along too. I was too intrigued by her odd personality that I just had to let Jake meet her as well.
Now at the bar with Steph and Jake, I haven't told Jake anything about her. I wanted him to witness her himself and make his own judgement. And so, Jake tried to get to know her. And every time he asked her a question about herself, she would get offended and refuse to answer. She claimed that she didn't want to say too much about herself to anyone. Again, fair enough. However, every single time we would talk about anything at all, she would always redirect the conversation to herself and her past. Every single time. No matter if it had absoloutely nothing to do with her. And then when Jake would expand further on the conversation, she'd get offended again and refuse to say anything. It was quite funny and quite depressing how we couldn't go a minute and a half without her relating something back to her messed up past. Regardless, it was a rather entertaining night.
The last memory I have of Steph is actually a story told to me by Jake. So Steph had her old clothes up on coat hangers in the room. Jake saw these and didn't realise they were Steph's and so took one for himself to hang his clothes on. When Steph came back, she saw a coat hanger was missing but luckily didn't see it was on Jake's bed. Shen then went on a massive tantrum about how people are always stealing her stuff and how she's had enough of everything. Again, relating something back to her past. At this point, Jake was sat in his bed, terrified that she might see her coat hangers. He was wide awake that night. Later on, Steph started talking in her sleep and said someting along the lines of "Do I have a gun? I don't know! BANG! BANG!". So Jake became even more terrified of the crazy girl living with us in our room. He didn't sleep at all that night.
Now, I've gone on enough about Steph. Who else stayed at that hostel? Okay, so there was this random guy in our room who would never leave his bed. He had a bed sheet covering the side of his bed so nobody could see him and he would be in bed for hours at a time. He wouldn't talk to anyone or do anything. He just sat in bed. That is it. Every now and then he'd go out for a cigarette or smoke a joint. But that is it. I wouldn't be surprised if he's still there. I never learnt his name.
There was also this middle-aged man living at Barkley. He would spend all day every day cooking something random that at the end would look mediocre at best. He would have his giant headphones on all day and the only time he's speak was to chat up any of the woman staying in the hostel. Again, I never learnt this guy's name.
The last real character I can remember was the man that would not stop starring at me. One time Jake and I were looking up jobs online on the laptop and for literally five minutes straight this man would not stop starring at me. Even when I took my eyes off the laptop to look back at him, he would not lose eye contact. He was a strange man...
So yeah, Barkley Backpackers was a weird place. So many weird people that we lived with. So we moved to a hostel called Drop Bear Inn in South Melbourne. But I'll talk about that more later. Because that hostel has been amazing.
Drinking
Goon. Goon is the only affordable drink there is in Melbourne. What it is, is cheap wine in a box. The wine is in a bag, which is in a box. Classy! So for a pint of beer, you'd be looking at between $9-15 (not in happy hour) at a bar. If you want a bottle of vodka at the store, you're looking at at least $30 (and that's for a cheap, knockoff brank bottle). A 4L box of goon will cost you $12. So yeah, goon is the go-to drink for all backpackers. One night at Base, there was a Bingo night. Doesn't sound like a fun way for backpackers to spend an evening, but it really is. So at Bingo, if a certain number comes up, people will shout out, do a challenge, stand on the table or whatever and can win free drinks. So it ends up being a great night. Anyway, at bingo Jake and I drank goon for the first time. We must've had at least a litre each and still had two litres left in the box. Ever since then, goon is the go-to drink.
Another memorable night was when Jake and I went to Fitzroy to meet Ben for a few drinks. I hadn't seen Ben in probably four or five years so when I found out he lived in Melbourne, we obviously had to arrange to meet up at some point. Turned out that Jake's brother was best mates with Ben so we all had a lot to talk about. I still remember Ben ordering three pints and it costing more than $30. I was in shock. But, that's Melbourne for you. Funnily enough, as I write this, Jess had landed in Melbourne and is here for a week. So I'm going to see on this Sunday which should be cool. Quite weird to think that I've moved to the other side of the world and still see my childhood neighbours.
Okay, so I've been typing this blog post out for a long time now. I'm starting to lose focus and you can probably tell that the quality of writing has gotten progressively worse (although it wasn't exactly great to begin with).
So that's my first week or so in Melbourne in a nutshell. The real stories and memorable moment happened while living in South Melbourne at Drop Bear Inn. But I'll save that for another day and another blog post.
