Adventures in Melbourne

What I have observed everyday since I moved here...

[adventuresinmelbourne]

More Flowers

Thursday 12th January

I saw the boy with the flowers again while walking to the library. It looked like one of the regular homeless people near Flinders St Station had been given one of the flowers. On the way back from the library there were two homeless people with flowers. You gotta notice the little things and appreciate them

Also on the way home I witnessed an almost car crash near the NGV. I wonder if anyone else notices these things or if it’s just me...

There were 16 cyclists at one set of lights. I wish everywhere was like that

I went to my friends place to help him with work and we eventually gave up and decided to surrender to sleep at 1:30am

[adventuresinmelbourne]

Life According to Girls

Wednesday 11th January

I went to a Meetup with my friend - ‘Life According to Girls’ - a spoken word and open mic night. The breadth of quality was quite something 

There was an older Kiwi woman who was more traditional - reading poems, not performing spoken word

There was a depressing, pale, anorexic girl dressed in black who performed a poem about domestic abuse with tears rolling down her face

There was a great spoken word piece by a 20 something year old hipster that had something to do with a poppy...

And there was a 20 - 30 something year old immature woman there with her Mum who performed a poem entitled ‘10 reasons pink is my favourite colour’

[adventuresinmelbourne]

Random Observations

Tuesday 10th January

I went for a walk into the city. I saw a woman with a little boy giving a flower to an old man. She explained to the man that the boy wanted him to have a happy day. There is good everywhere. You just have to look

Later on I went for a bike ride round Botanic Gardens. I found an entrance to the park but there was a no cycling sign. I continued round the edge of the park and eventually found another entrance that didn’t have any signs. I biked round for awhile and noticed people staring at me. I found an entrance/exit to escape the park and realised it was the one with the no cycling sign...

As I was walking to a pub quiz Meetup in South Melbourne I overheard two women talking on the street, “we moved to this three storey house and then he left two months later.” Like something out of a TV program

At the pub quiz Meetup there was a Steve Buscemi lookalike

I chatted with a guy on Tinder about people’s prejudices - people are particularly racist in Australia - and after making it clear I’m not that kind of person he asked me out on a date

[adventuresinmelbourne]

Groceries

Monday 9th January

I did my first lot of groceries as I’d moved to an apartment in Southbank from my friends place. I went to Woolworths because it was the closest, cheapest supermarket. I was surprised by the prices of some things. Both good and bad

Good - I got a reduced-to-clear caramel mud cake for $2.90? I can’t quite remember the price but it was very cheap

Bad - they charge $1.50 for multigrain bread but only 89c for white. It’s like they’re trying to punish you for trying to be healthy. In New Zealand it’s the same price for white, multigrain or wholemeal - $1

[adventuresinmelbourne]

Meditation Meetup

Sunday 8th January

I went to a meditation Meetup with a friend and we spent 45 minutes listening to a guided meditation the group organiser had found on YouTube. I enjoyed what felt like was the first half hour (but was probably only 10 minutes) but then felt quite restless and was trying to concentrate too much on what the woman was saying. Also the sound quality was crap and there was a lot going on with her voice, the chanting and the ocean sounds. After feeling restless for quite awhile I crossed my legs which I felt was something I probably shouldn't do but could not stand sitting in the same position for any longer. Will be interesting to see what happens with a different type of mediation or just a better quality tape...

[adventuresinmelbourne]

Swimming till Midnight

Saturday 7th January

Another day at Brighton Beach and the weather was so good we were there till midnight!

[adventuresinmelbourne]

Bike Time

Friday 6th January

You can’t live in Melbourne and not have a bike. I was lucky enough to have a generous friend who had a spare bike and we spent the evening fixing it up, polishing it and testing it out

[adventuresinmelbourne]

Swimming #2

Thursday 5th January

Exactly the same as the day before. Cause why not

[adventuresinmelbourne]

Swimming

Wednesday 4th January

Exactly a week after I arrived I finally got to make the most of Melbourne’s hot weather by going for a swim at Brighton Beach

[adventuresinmelbourne]

Brunswick St

Tuesday 3rd January

My friend and I went into the city to meet up with another friend for a drink. Walked along Gertrude St, waited for him at the park, wandered toward the city and along Brunswick St where my friend pointed out various cool places and we ended up at a pub where we discussed the ridiculousness of 500 Tinder matches, eavesdropped on a conversation about straight girls being hit on by lesbians, admired a pretty tomboyish girl and then wandered back to the car while discussing tattoo ideas and made to measure jeans...

Good times

[adventuresinmelbourne]

Different Perspectives

Monday 2nd January

My friend’s friend visited. I hadn’t met her before and as she was talking all I could think was ‘yes,’ ‘so true’ and ‘she’s amazing.’ She read my mind, saw right through me and generally spoke in a refreshing way that most people do not.

She gave me a Tarot reading before she left. I’m not sure I believe these things but it sounded kinda like me. Something about new beginnings...

[adventuresinmelbourne]

New Years Day

Sunday 1st January

I can’t remember New Years Day. Not because I was hungover. Because I didn’t do anything that I recall. It was a lazy Sunday

[adventuresinmelbourne]

New Years Eve

Saturday 31st December

I was luckily enough to get invited to something for New Years Eve - a BBQ on a rooftop with a great view of the fireworks. Again, more Kiwis than Aussies...

[adventuresinmelbourne]

The City

Friday 30th December

I went into town to have drinks with some people I’d met in Rye. Funnily enough they were all Kiwis. i’d met more Kiwis than Aussies so far.

I biked into the city with Google directing me but my phone died. Luckily I managed to find a map on the side of the road and figured out I just needed to go a bit further down the road and around the corner. But I couldn't contact my friend to figure out where he was so I had to buy a charger (I had a power bank with me but had forgotten the charger). The second one I’d bought in the past month. 

[adventuresinmelbourne]

Rye

Thursday 29th December

My friend said we were going to visit his brother in Rye which I assumed was a suburb of Melbourne but soon discovered was 2 hours drive away...

[adventuresinmelbourne]

Snippets from a trip to Melbourne

Wednesday 28th December 2016

Got to the airport more than 3 hours before departure

Took less tha 5 minutes to get through security

They called my name. Argh! I must admit I went bright red (including the tips of my ears which means I was really self-conscious)

But it was just a seat change. Phew

When we were taking off they said it was 36 degrees in Melbourne! I’m not gonna survive there

The pilot started talking about their partnership with World Vision but a woman screamed and jumped up on her seat but it was just a spider?

As we were arriving the pilot just said it’s 30 degrees in Melbourne! I’m definitely gonna melt. It’s nearly 11pm…

I see the city lights out the window at 12:27 (actually 10:27). It looks beautiful. And massive