melbourne

it is currently 5:00 in the morning, and i am sitting in the melbourne airport waiting to fly up the east coast! i am extremely excited for our adventures ahead, but a little disappointed to be leaving melbourne so soon. note to self: you cannot see australia in two weeks!! we are planning visits to four main cities and there is still so much we are missing.

we stayed at a hostel called nomads melbourne. we made good friends here, friends we knew for more than 6 hours which was a welcome change. having to say goodbye so quickly and so often has been even harder with our new friends than it is with all our new favorite cities.

on saturday night we were invited to a friend of our roommate's housewarming party. we got a bit of a taste of life here for twenty somethings in the city, away from the land of other backpackers, and it turns out the ability to appreciate cheap wine is a skill necessary all over the globe!

we went to see an AFL (austalian football league) game, the west coast eagles against our very own north melbourne kangaroos. kate and i bought scarves and got our face painted and cheered with gusto for a game we didn't really understand. it was sort of a cross between rugby and american football. there was 36 players on the pitch at a time, wearing practically no protective gear. it was pretty intense. come on roo boys release your inner beast!!

there is an international comedy festival happening in melbourne right now, continuing i believe for another few weeks, and kate and i were lucky enough to see a few acts around town. while visiting federation square we saw two gentlemen from quebec who could lift and fling each other about with absurd ease, very slapstick style comedy, and just last night we saw several stand up comedians in the lobby of our new hostel, habitat hq in st. kilda.

the art and music scene here in melbourne is delightful, and i am seriously considering getting a work visa and coming to live out here. there are some cities where you feel like you're vacationing, and others where you feel at home. melbourne was welcoming and exciting, filled with people who take a lot of pride in where they live. i hope to see myself back here some day. lovefromkt