Rest of Melbourne

Good morning Melbourne! Well rested and filled with dat free muesli deliciousness, I was off to the library to enjoy the free internetz. Thought it was closed on my arrival (bit premature ae) masses swarmed in at the 10 am opening (just after I avoided a bird pooping by 6 inches). Though free, every 18 minutes the computer would restart, and if somebody was waiting you'd get kicked off. For 6 rounds of this I stayed, chatting, trying to figure out plans for my next adventures, and emailing. My next move for the day was put on hold by my immense desire for skyping, so I was back to the hostel. Finall I was on the move, making my way down-town, when I was put on to another hour hiatus, receiving a phone call from my mom and catching up.

Eventually I made it where I was going-- the ACMI in federation square. ACMI legitimately stands for Australian Center for the Moving Imiage, and illegitimately stands for Awesome, Cool, Museum I [went to]. Honestly, coolest place I've been to in ages. It took you through the beginning of broadcasting and television, into bits on the internet, video games,, CGI, all forms of animation, and 3D futuristic technologies.. Everything was completely hands on, so you could just walk around touching things and playing. Exactly what I needed. There was a weird room you could go in, press a button, jump in some karate like way, and then with the 36 cameras surrounding you, have a short matrix-like surround video taken. Obviously, I did it, and though I'm not going to post it here, feel free to ask to see this embarrassment. The other free exhibit in the museum was the work of some dude [i need took up his name] who constructed ridiculous contraptions to show images. the room was filled with weird magnifying glasses, lights, lawnchairs, tredmills, and textured metal bowls, all reflecting light and images in a bizarre way onto the wall. Though pictures weren't allowed, I swear it was sweet.

After this bit, and getting caught up in the free concert going on right outside, I went to the national gallery of victoria[which, as per my last post, I thought I had already been to.] Formally, melbourne, I aplogise profusely for the rash judgement I made about your art scene. I was mistaken. This place was awesome, filled with crazy ecclectic and beautiful art, and containing a first floor security guard who insisted on explaining ot me the theme of all the works in one section, as well as updating me on australia's art collecting state. I wasn't there long enough, but it was great.

Afterwards I went to grab sushi for dinner (best sushi I've had in too long.. It actually looks normal here) and went home briefly before going out again. I had a slew of night time activities planned, all which were quite different than intended.

First stop was some sort of photography art opening, 365 days of melbourne photos. I had trouble finding the alleyway and location at 630 pm, and then stumbled into some bar/cafe that had to be it... Old people filled the seats, and there were some prints on the wall. Not a gallery opening. I chatted with the owner, who was the photographer for a wee while, in which he wondered how I heard of this, and then decided it wasn't my scene and was off.

My next stop was a bar I had been hearing about, the croft institute. Off a weird random alleyway in chinatown one must wander quite a bit. Graffiti covered walls twist and turn with no civilisation until you find the door. The first floor is a chem lab type set up, with weird test tubes and other equipment, and large tables with 3 sides of cousion to sit on. It wasn't crowded (early) and mostly filled with an older crowd, but I went in to wander. The second floor is the 'dept of hygiene' and had a hospital waiting room before pointing to the creepy rooms that served as toilets. Though the third floor was closed at this early hour, apparently it was a gymnasium that acted as the club.

I felt it necessary to order a drink and stay a while since I still had some time to kill before going to a jazz show. After seeing the crazy stocked bar I decided to go against my beer-ly instincts and ask for a cocktail. The super nice asian bartender asked me a ton of questions about flavours and then started mixing in the most precise way, measuring out quantities of freshly squeezed fruits, combining various liquors, and rubbing mint leaves before presenting something amazing, albeit slightly expensive. It was a wee bit strong, but great. I found a corner table to sit at alone, but was soon joined by another girl who was also there on her own. We chatted for ages about travelling and life, and she gave me suggestions about other quirky bars in melbourne. Whilst sitting, that bartender ended up bringing me a free shot of something that seemed also expertly crafted. Too bad you can't tip in this country!

At 8pm, getting tipsy I want to find where this jazz event was to be. I saw a description online. For a quartet, but that was all I knew. When I found the venue I was surprised and wary of the chinese writing and combination spa, but decided to carry on anyhow. The beautiful lounge room was basically empty, with only 2 older couples there when I arrived, and the music was just starting. The place ended up filling up a wee bit more and The music was great. I had some beer and after spending ages chatting with the singer (50 or so lady) from the quartet during their intermission, I was also offered some wine via the band. I stayed for 2 hours and ended up loving it, though mostly due to the chats I had with her, about how she got into this job and whatnot, as an LA born want to be actress who sang pop music.

When my jazz night was done I was off to one of the bars I was told about, the carlton. Filled with taxidermy animals (like giraffes and ostriches) all donning pearl necklaces, the interior was crazy interesting. And I spent my night chatting with a few people from ireland and australia in the outside patio before heading to bed.

Saturday morning I woke up and stuffed free breakfast in my face to prepare for the tour I randomly signed up for. Through the hostel there was a free trip to 2 beaches and a market for the day which I decided to do. As we filled into the little bus, the driver warned us that if we don't want to be outside in the 34 degree weather for like 3 hours with no shade then we shouldn't come.. A couple of people left the bus, but I, armed with sun screen, stayed on. The first stop was pranham market, which was amazing. Crazy types of food and fresh everything lined this massive indoor market, and I ate massive amounts of free samples from all the stalls. After that we were off to black rock beach where we'd get dropped off for 2 hours to do whatever. I was chatting with a girl on the bus who was also traveling alone, and also named jenny, and we decided to borrow the drivers 2 sets of snorkels and try to go snorkeling, an activity neither of us had ever tried before. The sand was grainy and sharp, the sun was barely out, the water was freezing, and we were both unsure of what we were doing, but it was so fun (after getting over the initial hurdle of realising you can breathe underwater and finding yourself panting incessently). We only did it for a wee bit, and barely went anywhere, but it was a good first time, and led to a great period of laying out, drying off, eating lunch, and chatting.

The next stop was brighton beach where we were told to walk down the beach, take pictures of the skypine and crazy painted cabanas, and meet back at the bus. Swarms of weird bugs eliminated the pleasure and serenity of this walk, as everyone was uncomfortably pelted from every which way by the weird beetle like things, so it was a race to the bus, where the rest of the ride was markdd by picking them out of your hair. A good shower on arriving back fixed my excessive itchiness from feeling the bugs, and then I chatted on the phone with my mom for some time again.

Next stop was st kilda where I trammed for the evening. I wandered the quaint town and had dinner and ice cream (ferrero rocher flavored and kinder surprise flavored) before heading to the pier where I was told I could see penguins. On my way I met a german girl and swedish girl, both who we're opairs in oz and traveling around a bit. We waited a bit at the spot where heaps of people were and eventually penguins were swimming right up to the land and waddling into the rocks as people gawked and took photos. They were tiny and adorable, and though I couldn't get quite good pictures without flash on, the rain hampered out stay and we went out for drinks. The three of us joined forces with two other girls (one from france and one scotland) and went to some posh beatchside bar. They ended up being hilariously good company, especially the german girl in her hilarious thriftiness and open nature. I had to run back to town early to try to buy a netbook, so my st kilda night ended there.

I ended up buying this second hand netbook, but it's absolute shit, doesn't work if the charger's plugged in, and really glitchy... Hopefully it'll do the job for the trip though :/.

By morning I was up and moving, hanging out and planning before heading to the airport.

My flight to bali was in the afternoon!