12 | Melbourne

The only city in Australia that I was really looking forward to visiting.

The sports capital of the country hosting F1, Moto GP, the Australian Open, Cricket, Rugby, Football, AFL… well I think you get the picture. This was a serious tick list hitter.

We arrived at the start of winter so as you can imagine, it was a lot colder than Queensland. We arrived in overcast conditions in St Kilda located just outside the CBD at the other side of Albert Park. We stayed at BASE which is cheaper than Nomads in the city area near Flagstaff Park and a whole lot nicer as we would soon find out. The hostel had a party vibe to it but all we wanted to do is just start work. I had a laboring job confirmed and started two days later. Matt and myself walked around the old theme park area and went exploring around Albert Park. We managed to walk to the south bank which was a 15km round trip; little did we know that there was a tram service we could have used by purchasing MyKi cards.

The laboring job I got off Gumtree turned out to be ok despite my initial hesitant outlook. No White Card or steel capped boots were needed which was ok for the work I was doing, however it would have been nice to have some gloves and goggles. I turned up to a half refurbished office block in the city centre. I walked through the doors to see wires hanging down, roof tiles and lighting installations all over the floor. What have I got myself into I thought. A very straight to the point bloke turned up and told me what needed doing, mainly heavy lifting, clearing up and taking stuff to the trailer. Ok for $20 an hr this is not too bad and the 7:30 starts are not all that bad either. I managed to get Matt in on one of the jobs which included stripping the protective plastic off new kitchen units in a Sushi bar and building office chairs (96 in total taking 20 mins each) Despite not receiving pay for a long time, I got what was owed in the end but I don’t think I will take casual employment for laboring off a Gumtree Ad again.

Matt had family in the city who he was keen to meet and I was invited too, great! After a 45 minute train journey out to Point Cook in the suburbs and a game of spot the car with a person waving at you we got to enjoy a lovely evening of food, beer and good company. Little did we know that we would end up house sitting for 6 weeks out there which was so nice of them and a chance for us to take a break from hostel life and those cramped bunk beds. The area was pretty quiet however there was a basketball court which we hit up every day and I had a few running routes to go on to keep me occupied and the TV and ps4 was a game changer!

The city itself is pretty quiet in the winter months (on a budget) however the MCG is a good place to visit if you are into sport as it has the national sports museum there where you can check out the cricket section and the hall of fame. The café lanes are well publicized for been the best in Australia and are taken very seriously by the locals who can be quite snobby about it. I personally can’t taste the difference however the atmosphere around the lanes is great.

We decided to go and watch AFL at the MCG where Collingwood v Port Adelaide played. It wasn’t a typical top of the table clash and to be honest it wasn’t the greatest of games but at least we saw it. Matt found out we could get free wifi in the stadium so he didn’t even watch the final quarter.

After our glorious 6 weeks in the suburbs we moved back into the city and stayed in the south bank at Urban Central. Free continental breakfast and free tea & coffee all day, result! The hostel itself has 4 dorm beds for every room apart from private so it is a lot less crowded than the throw the cattle in approach which Nomads used putting 10 beds in a small room, ridiculous!

On one of the final nights out in the city we went to the Crown Casino. I don’t gamble often but the place was impressive so we all decided to dress up as smart as a backpacker can given the size of our bags and head over to the roulette tables. I set aside $50 that I was prepared to lose. The Asian guy next to me was throwing his chips around like confetti. He must have put $300 down on each hand. Every so often he would win big on a number but his facial expression never changed. I finished up with $97 so a nice tidy profit that I could put towards a few drinks.

#Sport #Accommodation #Nightlife #City