I was right in thinking I wouldn’t get much sleep on the bus to Melbourne…I think I maybe got an hour total, very frustrating. When I got to Melbourne, I took the tram out to St. Kilda. The man who sat beside me told me this was where a lot of backpackers stayed, and it’s right on the beach. I got to a hostel at about 9am, only to find out I couldn’t check in until 1pm. At this point all I wanted to do was sleep. But instead I left my luggage at reception and went into the common room where I read all morning pretty much. Once I was able to get my luggage in I got cleaned up and wandered around St. Kilda, and got familiar with the surroundings. After an early dinner I walked down to the beach and watched the sun set over the ocean, it was just beautiful.
On Wednesday, I went into town to go to the Melbourne Museum. It was actually really cool. It wasn’t like the other museums I’ve gone to that just have paintings and stuff; this was kind of like the Science Centre in Toronto, where there was so much information on so many different things. Naturally I spent about 5 hours walking around, and since I didn’t get out of there until 5pm, any other plans I had were kind of shot. I went to Federation Square afterwards, where there are usually loads of displays and exhibitions set up, but I got there late, and everyone had gone home already. I ended up staying there and watching a bit of this street actor’s performance, which wasn’t very funny so I left. When I got back to the hostel I ended up met so many people and we all went out later that evening. It was a pretty good night, apart from me leaving my ID back at the hostel, and this one place that I had a free drink voucher for wouldn’t let me in.
Today, Thursday, I went back into town with a group I met last night and we all went to the Queen Victoria Market, which is the largest open air market in the southern hemisphere. We spent a couple hours just wandering around, buying some fruits and vegetables, and looking at all the clothes. We came back to the hostel because we were all pretty tired after our big night out, and made some food. I made some chicken cesear salad, and cooked the rest of the chicken breast so I can heat it up at dinner. However, I pretty much butchered it. Traveling and having to cook for myself has been a real eye opening experience, and I appreciate it so much more that I never have to cook at home. Cooking a chicken breast has got to be a pretty straightforward thing to do, and I still managed to screw it up. Oh well, my cooking skills are pretty much rock-bottom, so they can only go up from here!