Tuesday 27 November 2007

Melban

I like it here, but not enough.

It's a very nice city and I'm sure it's a great place to live, but I don't find it offers enough touristic entertainment of the sort I seek. Besides, it's not too backpacker-friendly (compared to Sydney), lacking in facilities and services.

Anyway, most things I would really want to do are not in the city proper, but somewhere else in Victoria. They all require ridiculously long hours on a bus and cost too many hundreds of dollars to allow me the indulgence.

But all of this doesn't mean I don't like Mel. It's a great place, full of huge beautiful parks, full of life and entertainment (and trams! I love trams!)

Of the few things I've seen, the Victoria Market is a great place where to get cheap food, and where to spend some very fun hours ambling among stalls, through the shouts of merchants announcing their wares. The parks are lovely and huge, especially the Botanic Garden. The tourist tram is cool and free. There's nice architecture and a great atmosphere. And I'm told you can't beat the restaurants, but I'm not one to waste money on food.

Actually, I wanted to stay here a couple days more. The problem is, I kinda screwed up my schedule.

Consequences of not planning more thoroughly and of taking important decisions on-the-spot, heavy-lided and pressed by the passing of time.

Actually, not all of it is my fault. It helps that the Aussie train services are run in a thirldworldishly chaotic fashion, and that public transport over any significant number of km is much overpriced, more so in the case of flights.

But yes, I screwed up. So goodbye Melbourne, it didn't last long.

Tomorrow, I'm hopping to... Tasmania!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Eeeeey Dear:
I'm short of time (only short of that, though) so just one tip from my ex-melbourne-inhabitant and adorable current and everlasting girlfriend: not to miss the GREAT OCEAN ROAD (5-6 hours away from melby). Take care mate. We want you back in one piece.
Javi Lareu

MakurA said...

No Devil´s jokes =P

Pero de dibalos nade dijo nada xDDD

Anda, pos ten cuidado y protege los genitales, que me han dicho que son peligrosos. Yo conocí una vez a un tipo de Tasmania y lo primero que me dijo fue "Sí de andel diablo..." (pero en inglés). Estaba un poco loco pero era way. Y comía niños.

Hasta tus próximos post encadenados!

PS. Estas letras no las fallo. Son 5 y muy gordas xDDD

Anonymous said...

What with TOURIST attractions and things you cannot INDULGE in... Take care, lest you become a Tasmaniac!

hoelk said...

hey! this is stefan.. we met at the king street backpackers.. im hopping to tasmania next week, via boat though :)

i'll be wwoofing in st marry's for a while, if you happen to be close to there by the end of next week, gimme a call (0434265871)

regards, stefan

Scholarly said...

Hey Stefan!

Wwoofing, eh? Great 4 u! Sorry mate, I'm afraid I can't go back to St Marys, I'm already heading west, then I have a plane to catch to Adelaide.

So happy Wwoofing, and thanx for stopping by! Cheers! ;)