As
many times as I’ve done it here, it’s still fun to get on and off planes from
the outside! We all sat separately on the plane and I chatted with the Aussie
lady sitting next to me. She just loved that we were so young and capable,
traveling all over Australia and making our adventures happen. We arrived three
hours later in Melbourne with the pilot sarcastically mentioning the perfect
weather. However, we stepped off the plane to the drizzly, cloudy, 9
degree (48 F), windy Melbourne
afternoon. It was the first time in Australia that I’ve felt like I was home.
It truly felt like I had stepped off the plane at MSP to a chilly autumn day in
Minnesota. We found the Skybus that the hostel recommended to take, bought our
return (round trip) tickets and hopped on. It was a forty-minute drive to
Southern Cross Station where we took a smaller shuttle to our hostel. The bus
drivers here are always friendly and joke around with us as well. We asked if
they knew where to find the shuttle and they said “Well I hope so! It is my job after all.” I like how they don’t seem in a
rush, but they don’t linger around. It’s a happy medium between New York City
and Fiji.
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| Our hostel! |
Driving around the city looked like Sydney, but the
buildings had more architectural interest. Some were old, enchanting and
haunting. Others were contemporary, edgy and chic. Our hostel, Greenhouse
Backpackers, was right in the middle of the CBD which was an amazing location.
It was completely opposite of the hostel in Cairns, and had seven floors. We
went up to reception, which was on the sixth floor, and got checked into our
five bedroom room. Our roomie for the weekend was a Korean girl who was really
nice and shy, but a great room mate. She was there for a few weeks and met up
with friends a lot, so we didn’t see a lot of her expect for when we got back
to the hostel late at night.
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| Our brightly-colored room |
I loved the hostel-it was fun, friendly, buzzing,
and laid-back. There were so many people there our age from all over the world.
Going around the main common room, we heard French, German, Aussie, American
and Chinese accents. Everyone we talked to seemed like they were from a
different country and all here for different reasons. After dropping off our
things, we headed out into the rainy afternoon with no plans for the evening.
 |
| Visitor Centre |
We went to the Visitor Information Center where we talked to one of the
assistants there for a while. He had come from Germany 30 years ago and couldn’t
imagine living anywhere else in the world besides Melboure. I don’t blame him!
He told us how he has many friends in New York, LA and Minnesota. It seems like
everyone we talked to in Melbourne by the end of the trip knew someone from the
States. He gave us lots of advice and helped us figure out the bus routes,
which we ended up only using once. The rest of the weekend was spent walking,
walking and walking. With some more walking. :) We took the long way
to get to Cook’s Cottage which was on the outskirts of town.
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| Gorgeous trees in the park |
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| Captain Cook's Cottage |
We had our ISIC
(international student concession) cards so it was only two dollars to visit
the cottage. A man dressed in costume from the 1700s greeted us and gave us a
little tour of the place with some amazing stories about Captain Cook himself.
Cook founded Australia in the 1700s and was a famous world sailer, who spent 8
years of his life on voyages around the world. He visited every continent and
was offered $10,000 to find a Northwestern passage through North America for
easier trade from England. There was/is no such passage, but he searched for
years. He made it as far as the Arctic Circle but had to be turned around from
ice and storms. Eventually, Cook was killed in Hawaii, (before it was a part of
America.) The cottage itself was built in England, but the man who built it
sold it to a wealthy English man for 800 pounds under one condition. It had to
be transported to Melbourne, because he felt that was were it belonged. Brick
by brick it was put back together exactly how it was built, and the original
furtniture still remains inside. It is truly amazing how little people need to
survive. A bed was the size of a person, a table was made for a few plates and
the candle. A bedroom fit a bed and space for one person to walk beside the
bed.
Cook himself never lived in the cottage, but he visited the family who
lived there so much that it became known as Captain Cook’s Cottage. It reminded
me of the Laura Ingalls Wilder house in Wisconsin, with its quaint size and
minimalist inside. We learned how Cook’s wife had six children and they all
died before their mother. Apparently, it was quite normal to have your children
die before the age of six due to starvation. Can you imagine that?! It is
unreal to me. After a couple hours touring and listening, we left the cottage
with history engraved in our minds.  |
| St. Pauls Cathedral |
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| Adorable apartments |
As we headed back into downtown, we walked past a massive
Cathedral on the corner close to our hostel. It was the St. Pauls Cathedral and
they had a choir service happening at 5:30. We sat down at a pew and waited for
the choir, which consisted of all men. It was a beautiful way to spend a few
minutes, just enjoying the sound of prayer being sung, shutting out the hussle
and bussle of the city. There weren’t too many people there, but I was surprised
that most of the people were younger around our age.
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| Horse and Buggies were all over the city! |
After the peaceful half hour there, we decided to get some
hot chocolate for the chilly walk around town. It turned out to be one of the best nights, strolling around
until it got dark out. Melbourne is one of those places that is interesting and
upbeat by day, and magical and romantic at night. It was the most romantic city
I’ve ever been to when the sun went down. It seems like everyone there was an
adorable couple, sipping on cappuccinos, sitting at a café on the sidewalk and
enjoying the night life together. Or holding hands as they walked along the
Yarra River with music filling the air and lights on the fall-colored trees.
After many pictures and gazing at the sights, we decided to start walking back
towards our hostel before it got too late. Many, many blocks later, we were
back to our hostel before midnight and headed to bed for our early day ahead.
It was a spectacular introduction to the stunning city of
Melbourne. Next up, Great Ocean Road!!!
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