John's Around the World Adventure 2005/2006

From Canberra, we traveled 15 hours south on the wonderful Greyhound bus service to Melbourne, the home of the 2006 Commonwealth Games. It certainly had been worth the long wait on the painful overnight bus journey as Melbourne was fantastic!

We made a dash straight to St Kilda, Melbourne's beach and nightlife scene on the clockwork tram system. We again chose to stay at the Base chain of backpacker hostels due to its lively atmosphere, good bar and believe it or not, goldfish swimming around under the floor! The en-suite bathroom was a bonus too! Here, we also met some nice guys from Sweden- Emil, Daniel and Jimmy, and Aimee from Wales.

By this time, Tennis fever had kicked in with the Australian Open in full flow. We had 3 day passes and were determined to make the most of them, from the moment play started, until the final ace at night. I especially loved seeing some of the top players in action Sharapova, Hingis, Henin- Hardenne, Nalbandian, Johansson, Ferrer, Ancic just to name a few. Shame 'Come on Tim' and Andy Murray both had been knocked out by the second round. Maybe next year??!!

Melbourne was also our venue for Australia Day, capped off with a fine firework show at the city's showpiece Federation Square. Melbourne too was excellent for nightlife and was a shame not to take advantage of the odd bar crawl! Away from Tooheys, XXXX, Victoria Bitter and partying, Melbourne still had so much more to offer. The Victoria Night Market had the most wonderful selection of food- Sol tells me the Kangaroo steak was delicious! Whilst stationed in Melbourne, we also visited the Old Gaol, the home of Outlaw Ned Kelly's Hanging. We also fitted in a 'Neighbours Tour', taking the necessary snaps of Ramsay Street and Erinsbrough High School and almost made it to Dr Karl's 'the right prescription' band night!

Melbourne is also home to the mighty MCG, the undisputed home of Cricket and Aussie rules. As the stadium was being refurbished at the time for the Commonwealth Games, the Cricket Match we attended (Australia v South Africa) was at the impressive Telstra Stadium, with a retractable roof. A good day out and the Aussies won the Cricket comfortably as usual!

During Our Time in Melbourne we also celebrated the Chinese New Year Festival. There were hundreds of fire crackers exploding and dragons parading through the streets. Impressive!