Melbourne. Day 3.

Ahoy to All Those, Who Don't Read This, But Whom I Still Keep Writing This For, and hey, mom.

It was the morning before Christmas and I was awoken violently at 5AM. We were supposed to have a trip to
GREAT
OCEAN
ROAD
and it was starting in an hour.

I was the designated navigator due to the possession of the valuable Google Map on my iPhone 3G (I get paid by both for mentioning that, don't worry). Rushing through the streets of Melbourne, we finally found ourselves next to Flinders Station and the Ugliest building in the world, which I don't have a picture of, but you should come to Melbourne just to feel some hatred toward the architects. It's ugly, it's called ACMI (Australian Centre For Moving Image), and it doesn't make any sense. Nevertheless, there's plenty of funny street performers there during the day time.

We met our main man, Neil, and got up in his bus with 5 more people.

Luckily, he forgot to charge his iPod and the Disk Jockey position was vacant. We listened to my favorite music and drove into the WILD. First stop was to check out a small port outside the city. We had some breakfast, involving delicious TIM TAMS and Chocolate Milk, and, overdosed on sugar and cocoa beans, we continued. But not before the gals took pictures with Lifeguards.





Next stop, the
Just RipCurl, Billabong, Quicksilver and any other well-known surf-style shop crammed into one place. No pictures, there's mostly history. It's located in a town called Torquay (pronounced tour-kee, may be incorrect spelling). That's where the two well-known companies, Billabong and Rip Curl, were once found. First pair of board shorts was sold for 20c. Now they sell them for $50 minimum. Is that GFC?

After that-a couple of walks on the beaches with huge, orange rocks and surfers in the water. Pretty cool, here's some pictures.





After that, the LIGHTHOUSE. It was accompanied by a story from Neil that once the Lighthouse worker drilled a hole in the back of the thing to be at a pub on the beach and be able to see a beam of light go out if the lamp was broken.




Next stop was koalas and parrots territory. All the koalas were sleepy and unfriendly as they usually are and parrots were eager to eat some food off our hands/heads.




After a couple of more stops to look at other rocks, we finally got to THE Rocks, called the Twelve Apostles. The name comes from...oh, right, it does not come from anywhere-it's a marketing strategy. The real name was like Mama Pig and the Piglets or something, but who would wanna go see that? Nobody. It's the Twelve Apostles now.


It goes like this: Australia is being hit with huge severe waves on its sides. Those wave make holes in the ground and wash off chunks of it. So, when the land gets all cracked and moist, it collapses-but not fully, only the part that connects it to the rest of Australia. So, that's how you get those huge immense rocks standing around the ocean like nobody's business.
Good explanation? Alright, alright I'll entertain you with something better. Here's a picture of me taking a bite out of a rock.



After THE ROCKZ we went to see London Bridge and The Grotto. Here's the latter.



Here's a couple of more funny pics. I like being an environmentally friendly coal miner.



That was it. The Great Ocean Road ended with Christmas Eve. Today's plan-Lovely Bones and more.

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Melbourne. Day 2.

Second day started with a tasty Christmas-feeling breakfast at our Ibis Hotel. Nice food and it's included in the price of stay, which makes it an ultimate place to stay for those who want to be close to downtown and pay reasonable money. Little Bourke Street was once the main location of wool factories of Victoria and most of the buildings used to be industrious. They can all be seen from the rooftop of our hotel. Next to Ibis there's a huge car park and a couple of hostels. Up the road, at the very beginning lies China Town. Lots of things to see, lots of things to do.


After breakfast it was time to set out on a trip to explore the city of Melbourne. We started with all the main downtown streets like Elizabeth, William and Queen (whose colony was Australia, mmm?). It becomes extremely busy during Christmas time-like any place with stores, right? Hooray to the seasonal consumerism!


So, instead of going shopping, we went sightseeing. Alright, I'm kidding-we went to Myer and a bunch of other shops. Pretty much the only non-retail place we visited was State Library. And guess what was the exhibition there? That's right-"Til' You Drop Shopping: Melbourne History". I quite enjoy the Christmas spirit of the decade-give as much as you can. It's just gifts instead of joy nowadays.

Aaaanyways....after that we met up with some friends and went to Nandos to enjoy some Halal chicken and fries (don't worry, both been killed in the most humane and merciful way). Then we headed for Alexandra Gardens, located over the bridge of Flinders Station. Good place, very green. It was terribly hot though, for a man wearing jeans, jacket, t-shirt, shoes, socks and underpants. Overall, a very nice walkabout. Thanks, Ellena!



Related Fun Fact #1: Nando's is kosher and halal
Unrelated Fun Fact #1: Giraffe's meat and milk is kosher
Unrelated Fun Fact #2: The Russian version of Sherlock Holmes is better than the 2009 movie.




I couldn't resist getting a lil' bit of rest, while Meg, Malar and Pavithra went to Sizuki Markets. Apparently it was nice, but if you need details or pictures, get them from the above mentioned ladies. I was chilling and watching Sherlock Holmes. When I finally decided to come out, it was 10PM and we set out to go to Brunswick Street to visit simply the GREATEST PLACE OF ALL TIMES, OF ALL TIMES!! BIMBO'S BAR. A place where I have celebrated my 18th birthday, a place with good music and two floors, a place with hidden doors and rooms. Just awesome, strongly recommended to everybody. Had a beer and went back. That is all for today, in 3-4 hours we're going to the infamous Great Ocean Road. More pictures from today will be up, while you are enjoying this picture of a real Melbourneeze boy looking at my favorite statue.

Yo-yo

Melbourne. Day 1.

Getting up for the flight is a pain in the ass. Especially, if you didn't go to sleep at all. Fun times with people on the Gold Coast can lead to unbearable tiredness and headache. But double breakfast fixes it all up-one at home, one in the Coolangata Airport. Strongly recommend Eggs Benedict or Spanish Omelet. Pure Deliciousness.



2 Hour flight to Melbourne, Victoria on an old Jetstar plane that shook us up pretty hard before landing. I slept the whole time due to extreme boredom and being terrified to socialize with a man, sitting next to me. He's been burping throughout the two hours so loud and nasty that I could hear it in my sleep. Also there was a squad of little children crying and many other things that I'd rather not witness. Another funny thing is that as soon as the plane landed, everybody tried to get up and take their luggage out of the overhead compartments, although FASTEN SEATBELTS light was still on. It's like those people really expect the staff to say "Go ahead, Sir! The plane's still moving and the doors are closed, but you go for it! We know you're in a rush!". Ree-dee-cue-los

Arrived at about 10 AM. 20 minute cab to Lil' Bourke Street and we're there. This city has got a pretty good infrastructure and there is no point of taking a cab if you know what part of the city your destination is. I knew that our hotel is going to be in downtown but I had no idea it would be right next to the Central Station. A simple 20 minute bus ride would be much cheaper and as convenient and efficient as a cab.

Talking about cabs, Melbourne, Gold Coast and life... Melbourne taxis are YELLOW. Yeah, I know it's hard to believe but they do really exist in Australia. I swear to God-they ARE YELLOW. And me and my fellow co-citizens of the city of Gold Coast thought that the only way a cab could look like is a British Police car with a cop who's wearing shorts and doesn't know his way around a tiny city! How foolish of us! No, there are actually cabs painted with other colors than white.

We stayed at Ibis Hotel on Lil' Bourke Street. Pretty good place, I'll talk about it more in the next logs. So far we went to Langey and had some pizza with anchovies and pasta with chicken. Rode couple of trams, looked around the downtown and crashed before the day ended. Now we're recharging our batteries and gonna try again soon. "Come here, boy, I ma show you the nightlife of the big city..."

It's not my first time (that's what she said...) in Melbourne. I celebrated my 18th birthday here a year ago-it was fabulicous. Now I'm back and ready to hit all the spots that impressed me the first time. Bimbos, Little Creatures, Smith/Brunswick Street's bookshops, etc. You'll find out more in the next six days.

Peace-Yo