The Cold State

I spent my weekend in Melbourne with my mate from Canberra. It was cold, but it did not rain in the end so I wasn't justified in carrying around my brolly all day after all. Eventually I did leave it on a tram which was pretty much inevitable I guess. We stayed out very late on Friday night after arriving at our accommodation at around 11pm. Had a few cocktails, a couple of shots and chatted up a storm. On the way to the backpackers we were hassled relentlessly by drunk people who found my suitcase a beacon of irresistable proportions. One guy even lifted it up and started carrying it along with this look of wonder on his face, anyone would have thought he'd found the elixar of life! Eventually we made it though and settled into our dimly lit and over-heated room in the Greenhouse Backpackers on Little Flinders Lane. It's cute how all the main roads in Melbourne have a Little version running parallel.

Needless to say, we did not get up in time to take advantage of the free breakfast so headed out to see what we could find. There were some great little cafes right nearby so we had breaky there before jumping on a tram to check out St Kilda and find a certain anarchist restaurant. We sure did a lot of walking, but made up for it by eating too much... Had some Churros with chocolate dip at this crazy chocolate shop. We need some of those in Adelaide I reckon. Melbourne's shops and cafes are just way more adventurous with respect to design and decoration. The best places we found were tiny little holes with the "kitchen" (generally just a bench packed with ingredients and a microwave) right next to the tables, all operated by one person. Everything just feels more homey and welcoming than here where mostly you feel like you are eating in a fish bowl with glass all around and people looking in at you constantly. I guess Melbourne jsut feels more personal in general because it has a lot more street art hanging around. Everywhere you look you can find evidence of someone having tried to perk something up by painting it, or leaving their message. And I am not talking about graffiti.

Saturday arvo and we had hit the wall. We were well tired by the time we made it to Brunswick St and so headed for the first cosy cafe we could find and ordered a bottle of champers. Several hours and bottles of wine later and we were parked at the Vegie Cafe eating the most fabulous burritos and pizza ever. Seriously good food. Lucky for the the early start meant an early finish and we were home tucked up in bed not long after midnight. The ride home was when I lost my umbrella. All freaking day I carried it around, only to lose it at the last moment! Doh! Luckily it didn't rain on Sunday either so I didn't miss it much.

Sunday morning we had a bit of an early start and went for a walk along the river. There was some kind of charity walk/run on to raise money for breast cancer research so there were thousands of people dressed in pink everywhere. Then we remembered that it was mother's day. Spent a few minutes getting claustrophobic while trying to push through the crowds at a market. My mate found a souvenir for her housemates though; a mini cacti in a tiny pot with a magnet attached to it so you can stick it on the fridge. We had decided the day before that we would have cake for lunch, so we set off to find a place with good cake. There weren't nearly as many nice places as in St Kilda but we eventually found a piece of Toblerone cake that sufficed. Unfortunately that meant it was going home time for my friend so we walked down to the train station and parted ways. Now all I had to do was kill time which I managed quite well by seeing Forgetting Sarah Marshall and eating at a Japanese restaurant. I was pretty tuckered out and went to bed at about 9pm.

The final excitement of the trip was yet to come though; this morning I awoke at 4am got ready to leave the backpackers and be on my way to catch the 5am bus to the airport for a 6:20 flight. Early. But not early enough - I forgot that my mobile was still on Adelaide time so I ended up missing the 5am bus and had to wait 30 minutes for the next one which made me late for check-in. I raced into the Tiger departure hall just as someone was yelling at a massive long line of people "Anyone else going to Adelaide?" Yep, that's me. She gave me a huge telling off for being late (7 minutes late she said, which I thought was pretty good all things considered) and said I was "lucky to be checked in at all". I didn't bother saying anything because as far as she's concerned late is late - whether by amusing mistake or because I am tardy by nature and wanted to piss her off. Anyway, I made it on my flight after all :) And now here I am, back at work just like i never left...