The long weekend.

Friday
I woke up really early on Friday morning in order to have a good shower and doublt check and triple check that I hadn't left anything laying under the bed or behind the drawers or inside the lamp shade. I'd hoped to bump into somebody to help me with my suitcase but I didn't. The maids just watched as my wrists twisted and my feet tripped up, but I dragged it albeit slowly, all the way to the bottom. I checked out and headed to the tram stop, although I was a little sad about leaving, seeing as this had been my home for the past few days. Getting the case up the tram steps was more humorous than getting it down the three flights of stairs. Because of the incline of the steps, and because of the way that the steps were segregated down the middle with a handle, and the fact that it was all on the clock before the tram driver decided he'd had enough and was ready to drive on. I threw the case up the first step but then had to run around the railing to the top to heave the case up by it's handle. Of course, many people watched intently yet nobody even gestured to offer me a hand. Because of this, I decided not to pay for my tram ticket... A three dollar saving!

I got a little nervous whilst approaching the hostel. There were lots of people laughing and shouting outside and it was quite a contrast from the quiet hotel with nobody inside. Nevertheless, I went inside to pay my money for my room, but was informed that I couldn't check in for another three and a half hours. This upset me greatly, because although I could store my suitcase, I wasn't prepared to let my rucksack containing money, documents, portable electronics and basically all of my 'life' that I'd managed to bring out to Australia with me. As I left the hostel in search of some food and possibly some free wifi (McDonalds), the sun decided to rear it's large, hot head, which under normal circumstance would have been devine, but carrying the weight I had on my back around the streets toasting in the sun was just making me very hot and very sweaty.

I managed to find a McDonalds and ordered my food but I couldn't get my netbook to connect to the internet which was frustrating. There was little I could do to keep myself busy and the lunch time rush were giving me noticeable stares because I was taking up a whole table to myself with just a Coke to drink. I left and headed back to the hostel hoping that seeing how an hour had passed, they might be able to bend the rules and let me get into my room. As I entered the hostel reception, I heard them tell some other couple the exact same thing that they would tell me if I were to ask. "Not before two o clock! No exceptions!", so I went into the sheltered courtyard area and began reading a book on my kindle.

Come two o clock, the guy at reception looked at me like I'd insulted him when I asked if it was okay to go to my room now. He gave me my key and told me that it was on the first floor and left me to my own devices. Very luckily, there was a lift so I didn't have to make the arduous trek back up another staircase. The rooms on my floor are all in their own contained area that you needed your key to get into. Inside, there was a big square corridor layout, with rooms all round the outside and the separate boys and girls bathrooms in the middle. Everything seemed very clean and well lit. Room 205 is in one of the four corners of the floor. I slid my key into the door quite nervously in anticipation of the room itself and who might be inside waiting. There was a girl inside poking around in her belongings, so I said hello to her. She looked up and she was a very friendly bright and immediately told me her name was Claire and explained all about herself and how she was travelling alone and made me promise her that we'd have some drinks that night. I gladly agreed to having some instant company in the evening and she left to go and go clothes shopping.

Room 205 is rectangular and quite small, with enough room for two bunk beds on one side of the room and you put your belongings along the opposite wall with room to walk down the middle. It was lovely that the AC was gushing ice cold air into the room. My bed had already been made up and it was the bottom bunk, which I was happy about until I tried to sit upright on the bed and banged my head. But that beats climbing up and down a ladder (especially after a little something to drink). The bathrooms are almost opposite the room and they are all open with a set of sinks with mirrors on one wall, with a row of toilet cubicles on one length of the wall and a row of shower cubicles running on the opposite wall. But they were all very clean and I believe that they get cleaned three times a day which is good news.



After I'd finished eating, Claire arrived on cue with alcohol and we began chatting and drinking. She introduced me to a couple of guys she'd met called Chris and Sven and we headed out into the courtyard and spent the evening drinking and laughing and sharing stories. It was really nice to fit in straight away and feel like part of a group after so long. Our group ended up amalgamating with one of the other groups who were also out drinking (it seems to be very much a common theme in the hostel. The universal language) and we headed out to a club together, managing to get separated and me ending up with a whole new group of people. But I quickly made friends with a girl called Sarah in stuck by her so that I wouldn't get drunkenly lost trying to find my way back to the hostel. We ended up leaving the club at four and managing to get back to the hostel okay. I'm not sure my room mates enjoyed my drunken fumbling with a torch trying to get ready for bed though!!

Saturday was spent very much feeling the after effects of the night before. I had a shower and went to the McDonalds I'd found the day before because I was in desperate need of something greasy and a huge drink. After that little adventure, I went back to the room and found nobody inside and saw this as a perfect opportunity to sleep. And sleep I did. The whole afternoon practically. Sabina came back at some point and asked if I wanted to go and get some food and a glass of wine so that we did. We also had a wonderful plan of going to the beach to watch the sunset and see the penguins that come onto the beach at dusk, but by the time we'd finished talking we realised we'd missed it. We had a glass of wine each in the communal area but when Sabina said she was going to bed before her early trip the next day, I realised how good an idea it was and went to bed too.

Sunday, I woke up nice and refreshed which stood out amongst all the Saturday night hangovers that were wandering around the hostel. I thought it would be an opportune time to try and catch up on my blog writing but as soon I started Lydia surfaced with a beastly hangover, followed by Chris and Claire and we decided that an afternoon pint in the sunshine was in order. We went to a bar called the Local where they only served local ales beers and ciders and they had a really gorgeous secluded rooftop garden which was a lovely spot to while away the afternoon with an ice cold pint of cider. From there, we went to meet some of Claire's friends who were drinking in a bar on Fitzroy Street (bearing in mind, at this point, it was only 3:30pm). We took the long walk to the bar and met them but I felt very uncomfortable. The new group were horrifically drunk and jeering at passers by. One of the girls was swearing at strangers like she had tourettes (she didn't... she was just THAT horrible), and so after a glass of wine, I made my apologises and headed back to the hostel.

I made an effort to cook myself some pasta in the kitchen, although I had to use a huge frying pan to boil the pasta because I didn't want to wait for a saucepan to become available. Some people in the kitchen really go to town with their cooking, stir frys and baked salmon and roast chicken. It's a shame that I am just by myself because it obviously makes spending all that money on real ingredients and having so many left overs to throw away not viable. I made pasta and melted cheese and cooked mushrooms and mixed it all up. I managed to steal some pepper whilst nobody was looking and this made all the difference. From here, I grabbed my wine and sat in the court yard for a good two hours sipping it and reading a book. I realised that I didn't know any one out there that night due to the high turn over of people coming and leaving every single day. You don't really get to make too many long term friends. Chris spotted me at one point and introduced me to another group of people and we sat talking. Unfortunately, even in my jeans hoodie and scarf, the weather had taken such a nasty turn that I couldn't bare the cold outside, and all of the spaces to hang out inside were all pretty much occupied, so I retired to my bed.
Points of Interest;

A "milk bar" is like a newsagents.
The smallest coin denomination over here is 5 cents, so even if your good cost 56 or 58 cents, they just round it down or up respectively. I can't work out if this is a good idea or not...