Almost Perfect Weekend in Melbourne

        This past weekend I decided to travel to Melbourne with a friend. Katie is a fellow Hoosier who is doing the same Cultural Immersions Program that I am doing. She is living about an hour and a half the opposite direction of me from Melbourne with her host family. Although we didn't know each other very well we decided to meet up in Melbourne to travel around. It was kind of a "You're going to Australia? I'm going to Australia! Let's meet up and wander around together" type of thing. There is a train station about a ten minute walk away from my host family so I walked there Saturday morning and boarded the train to the city. The train ride was an hour and a half and I finished up The Game of Thrones on the way in.  

One of the sharks at Sea Life

Sea Life, the Melbourne Aquarium

        Katie and I met up easily at the train station and started to wander around and get to know each other better. We first went to the Melbourne Aquarium, which was awesome! We got behind the scene passes and were able to feed the huge sting rays. They were about 9 feet in diameter and would jump partially out of the water for their food. It was truly amazing to watch. They were crowded around the top ledge of the tank and tried to "jump" over each other to get to their food. It reminded me of dogs, which was really strange. The aquarium also had a crocodile and a bunch of sharks in their Aquarium (separate cages of course). I confirmed my already realized fear of crocodiles. I am wary of stepping in a deep puddle over here, despite everyone's insistence that they only live in the northern part of Aussie.
       

View of Melbourne from the Sky Deck 

      After the Aquarium, Katie and I went to the SkyDeck, which is basically just a really tall building. We bought tickets to go to the top (the 89th floor) and saw an awesome view of the entire city. There is a nice river that runs through the southern part of the city. After the SkyDeck we wandered aimlessly around the city. We also checked out their casino, which is the largest one in Australia. There were restaurants and shops inside the casino. I kept thinking of how much fun my Aunt Michelle or Treys grandpa, Jake, would have had in that place! We walked around for an hour in the building and didn't even see half of it.
     We found our hostel, which was interesting to say the least. For those who don't know, hostels are extremely cheap places to stay instead of hotels. They are mainly for people who are backpacking or traveling around a new place and have little money. It was a big dorm with rooms packed full of bunk beds. There were private rooms, but those cost more so, of course, I opted for the ten person (female) room full. I arrived at the hostel around 8pm, extremely tired after my long adventurous day and ready to sleep. They offered wifi for $4 but you could only get it in the common kitchen area. So Katie and I squeezed into the packed kitchen and found ourselves completely out of place.

My lovely hostel (no one is in the room with us,
possibly because it is 9pm and our bedtime) 

        Now let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with the people staying in hostels, I was there, wasn't I? And 18 year old me would have had a blast there, talking with strangers and hearing everyones exciting traveling stories and backgrounds. But cranky and tired 22 year old me just looked at the room of people and thought What a bunch of (smelly) hippies! How in the world can they afford to live like this? Which was judgmental I suppose, but only about 10% of the people in the kitchen were completely sober. After struggling to get the wifi to work, eventually giving up and kissing the $4 goodbye, we went to our room to wind down. Clearly, we were the lame old folks. The rest of the guests ended up partying until the wee hours of the morning. Needless to say, the hostel was a unique experience that I am glad I had, but not the optimal accommodation- just the one my wallet could afford.
         

Our ride to Williamstown

        After being woken up twice in the middle of the night (okay, maybe it was 10:30 . . .) Katie and I got up in the morning, and didn't drag our feet checking out of that place. We ended up taking a ferry through the city down the river to a small town, Williamstown. There was a festival and lots of little shops and restaurants. We ate lunch and took the ferry back up to Melbourne. After making travel arrangements for next weekend, we said goodbye and parted ways at the train station.

Katie and I on the ferry

          On the way home, I had a lovely time reading from my new Kindle (thank you again, Donnie and Renee!) and enjoyed the lovely countryside. I was busy congratulating myself on being so city savvy and navigating independently through Melbourne. Then, I packed my things in my bag and prepared to get off at Yarragon, my stop. I hit the correct button to open the door once the train stopped but it would not go. Of course, my first assumption was that I was doing something wrong. I tried and tried again. Three people behind me tried to get it open but it wouldn't budge. Then, I tried to frantically make my way to a different door (which was working just fine, might I add) when the train slowly started to move forward. I was bewildered at what had just happened and helplessly watched as Yarragon got smaller and smaller out the window before, eventually, disappearing.
       After I successfully got off the train (via a different door) at the next stop and discovering that the next train back to my town was in three hours, I started to get a little upset. After all, I was such a smart and great traveler, right? I was rethinking my previous self-congratulations around the time that I realized I didn't have a cell phone and didn't have anyone's number in the area except for my host family (who was out of town at a friends house), and didn't have a number for a taxi. I could have called my host mom but I was determined to figure this out by myself. I went to the local pub, thinking they would most likely know the number of the local taxi. They tried to call a taxi who didn't answer. They told me they would try back in ten minutes or so. I turned lemons into lemonade and just ordered a drink while I waited and chatted with the locals. I ended up getting a hold of the taxi company and ordered a ride. I got home eventually, despite someone stealing my first taxi (even though I clearly explained it was mine) so the wonderful bartender ordered me a second. Needless to say I am rethinking the whole no-phone-in-a-foreign-country-thing. I will be looking for a cheap prepay phone next weekend. Overall, a great weekend in Melbourne. I have learned being flexible and resourceful is an important part of traveling. So is relying on the kindness of strangers.