Melbs part 1 in Adventures in paradise

I feel like I’ve been in Melbourne for a week already, but it’s only been three days. It’s because of the really long days, I believe. Or at least it feels that way to me. There is about an hour more sunlight per day here than back home, plus I gained an extra hour with daylight savings on Sunday. Either way, I’ve needed to come back to the hotel and have a mini-nap every day so far haha. I am getting so old :P

Anyway, this is my first Melbourne trip where the weather has been nice to me. In fact, it’s been perfect and it’s really thrown me, as that has NOT been my experience in the past coming here. So that has been really nice. It’s even been as warm as it is back home. Today was a rare cooler day, but even that was a max of 24. The weatherwoman said that people should go to the beach tomorrow if they are still on holidays, as it will be hot again tomorrow, so I am considering her advice.

I’ve done a lot of walking, as I do. Getting used to the area my hotel is in and the streets. I haven’t gotten lost, but I have gotten confused. That’s what happens when it’s been years between visits. I forget how everything connects and what’s next to what. I’ve even had to mentally tell myself that if I am on the same side of the river as the aquarium is, that I am not on the right side of the city to find my hotel haha. It works for me :P

This city is a lot bigger than my little city, that’s for sure. I’ve seen some essentric characters, including three black guys swearing at each other and calling each other the ‘N’ word right outside my hotel as I arrived. I managed to get by them but was wary of people already. Like why did they have to do it right there? Anyway, I dropped my bags off and went for my first walk, and the hotel rang me when the room was ready, which was around about 1.5hrs after I arrived.

The hotel is what I expected. Not perfect, but pros and cons. Pro’s being the view is nice, the shower is huge, the bed is extremely comfortable. The cons being the tiny balcony that I can’t even move the table out onto (one of my favourite things to do on vacation) but I am thankful there is one anyway, one of the cupboards is broken, there’s only one wine glass and I can’t close the bedroom door because the bed is in the way lol. The laundry door also scrapes against the roof when I open it lol. But it has a kitchen and laundry so I can cook and clean if I want to. I’d say the pros outweigh the cons, and it’s all I need. The pool is nice, the gym is basic, and there’s a cinema room which is interesting. Not sure how that works.

Apparently there’s a bunch of famous tennis players here already, but I’m too early for the Australian Open and will be gone before it starts. Would be cool to see some tennis players though.

I’ve been having fun with the sunnies, taking lots of piccies. I’ll share a couple because may as well.

My hotel is straight ahead, the one on the left.

Just like all the artworks around this city. And check out that weather!

Botanical gardens, where a bastard bird swooped me lol

Not wanting to get out of the comfy bed

And I caught up with my friend Jazz today, whom I haven’t seen in almost a decade. They used to live on the Gold Coast. They took me to a yummy place called Rice Scissors Paper where we had a really cute waiter :)

Jazz kindly showed me where to get the tram from to find my closest gym, which was in Richmond. It was pretty decent with only 5 others there, but it’s way better than the gym in my hotel. It was nice to see another suburb too, and I’m amazed by how populated they are compared to back home. I think home is just a lot more spaced out compared to here. There were two ambulances parked along Church Street and I saw someone being resusitated on the footpath. It all happens in the big cities.

Catching up with Kylie and her hubby tomorrow night, so looking forward to that :)

Last updated January 10, 2023