I haven't forgotten about my blog! I overheard somebody saying that while you're out travelling, everybody at home expects you to be out on adventures every day. And this is not the case!
On Tuesday, I got down to some business. And this started with me tackling the washing machine! My clothes are all beginning to build up a wonderful musty smell, even the ones that are still wrapped up nice and fresh from when I washed them back home in England, so I dumped every last one of them in the washing machine. At the very least, I was going to get my three dollars worth. My next problem was the immense amount of sand that had gotten into my walking trainers from where the sea had unexpectedly rushed my feet on the trip down the GOR. Sand everywhere and white salt stains and as much as I washed them and bashed them around in the sink, they just seemed to be getting saturated through with all of the gritty sand still safely nestled inside ready to rub against my feet.
The rest of the day was spent in bed watching things on my netbook and sheltering from the spontaneous Melbourne heat outside.
I had to visit the city in order to pick up my debit card from Westpac. I wondered about whether or not I could get away with not paying the tram fare, especially as every time I spend my hard earned seven dollars to ride the tram, there's not once been an inspector to check that I had a ticket. Knowing my luck though, the one time I didn't pay, would be the time I'd get issued with the $200 fine, so I figured I better not chance it.
Of course, there was no one to check my ticket on any of the trams I rode.
After I'd picked up my shiny new debit card and had a head filled with useless Australian bank jargon that I didn't understand and would do nothing other than confuse me (something about my debit card also being able to be used as a credit card that was linked to the account), I decided it was time to visit my old McDonalds Bourke Street. The one that had the birds flapping around inside. It was nice to see that those critters were still having the time of their lives. I had a soda and then went to the Priceline store, which is basically a Superdrug or a Walgreens depending which country you are in. On my way, ha, my left ankle completely gave way as it does from time to time, and the whole of my weight on the right hand side forced my ankle down and my foot at a sort of right angle configuration and my God, it was disgusting. And boy did it hurt! Luckily though, it was a busy street and so there were lots of people to stare and walk by as I winced in pain. People in Melbourne are so rude. I know that you'll say it's a city thing, but I thought that over here with their carefree and jolly nature that they'd be different. One thing I notice is that nobody will ever be the first to move, for instance if two people in opposite directions are walking directly at one another, the other party will almost always stay on course and wait for you to move. And they're not bothered about belongings on their backs or in their hands bashing into you.
Oh and on the trams, they swing from the hand rails like monkeys banging into everyone and and have no spacial awareness for those around them. It's frustrating.
After my little incident, I limped to Priceline with the intent of buying myself some hair dye to make myself feel better, but I couldn't find the type that I was looking for and after a few minutes wandering around inside, was obviously branded a potential thief and I got 'tailed'. So I left, intrigued by a shop I'd seen earlier called, 'The Reject Shop'. My kinda place! It was sort of like a Home Bargains with rubbish sweets and tack that you don't really need but might feel inclined to buy just because it's cheap and you're there and it's like a mis-matched fate. I bought some body spray and some bobby pins and thought about getting socks and sweets and tags for my suitcase and deodorant and a cowboy hat... From here I went to the Woolworths that I'd found a few days before to see if I could find anything reasonable for my tea. That and after seeing the advert on the television fifty time and being the impressionable young traveller that I am, I really REALLY want some Babybell. Of course, like everything, the Babybell were out of my price rang and with regards to my dinner that night, I came out with a discount small quiche lorraine and a strawberry yoghurt. The unpredictable Melbourne weather was on form, so once it started raining, I gave up and went back to the hotel.
Virtually as soon as I'd gotten in, Lydia sent me a text to say she'd finished work. I sort of wanted to watch Peep Show though, so I said I'd go over to her hostel in a couple hours and I sat and ate my greasy, somehow a little frozen, 90% pastry content quiche. By the time I was ready to leave, the heaven's had opened outside, but that was okay because I'd had a couple of glasses of wine from a tumbler with my dinner and I was feeling a little invincible. I caught the right tram and ended up opposite the hostel. I was intrigued to go and check it out seeing as this would also be my hostel come Friday.
And within minutes, somebody suggested a drinking game, the ultimate bonding exercise out here. So we began playing a game called Ring Of Fire, which I'd only played once but already despised just because it's a generic first time drinking game. It was good fun though, even though I blagged the whole thing and had no idea in hell what I was actually doing. I realised that I'd gotten quite drunk, quite soon, so made a conscious effort to slow down, just because unlike these guys, I had to get a tram back to my hotel! Lydia had been given a certificate for a $50 bar tab at a bar down the road, so we started to head down, before I realised that it was approaching 12 and I had no idea when the last tram home was. I reluctantly said my goodbyes before hopping the tram (after being approached twice by weirdos asking if I needed a lift. Yeah, I did need a life, but not from you...). I figured a Subway couldn't hurt to help soak up the alcohol before bed, so I went next door and got chatting to the girl who was working the late shift before dragging my bum up all those stairs and curling up in bed for the night.
Thursday was my last day in the hotel and so I figured I'd just stay in all day. I've set myself a little project of making a music video of sorts whilst I'm out here, so I spent a lot of the day researching ideas and software. A lot of stress incurred when I had to repack my suitcase. I don't understand how I managed to get everything here so neatly, but it sure hasn't got back in the case the same way! I'm looking forward to my five weeks living in the same place in Sydney just because there wont be any more packing or living out of a case. I took an early night just knowing that I had to be up and moving a lot of weight the next morning and I had an excellent dream about a zombie apocalypse where pretty much everyone I know made some sort of cameo appearance at one point or another.
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