finally a post again, from melbourne

past week's been hectic, tough life when you're travelling eh? in the hostel i'm staying at now you get half an hour free internet a day, but as i had to arrange a lot of things this week AND the computers there are not the fastest ones i never got to update my blog...but now i'm in an internet café and this comp is FAST!

since my last post i've left sydney, that was wednesday last week, said goodbye to kate...only to see her again in a couple of weeks, ha!
i then spent 3 lovely days in wollongong with emma & co :D had a great time visiting the buddhist nan tien temple (largest buddhist temple in southern hemisphere), the wollongong art gallery and other than that just hanging out with emma, brett & the kids, thanks again em (& co)!

late afternoon on friday, the 4th of may that was, i had to take the train back to sydney to take the nightbus to melbourne from there, a bit annoying but hey...i'm on a holiday so what does it really matter?! the bus left sydney central at 20:00 and arrived in melbourne 8:00 the next morning, had slept for like 3/4 hours or something...
saturday was quite a rainy day here unfortunately, after i had checked in in the hostel (greenhouse backpackers, very central just around the corner of flinder street station) i walked around a bit and then decided to take the free circle tram that goes around in the city centre, on which i almost fell asleep haha!

sunday was a more productive day, i organised the rest of the week and did a really great city walk as described in the lonely planet. took lots of photos and just had a nice relaxed touristy day.
monday it was time for my first tour, to philip island about 90 min south of sydney. philip island is best known for the penguin parade at night, the tour was the whole day though, we also went to a sanctuary where they take care of orphan walibi's, kangaroo's, koala's and other australian wildlife which is found wounded or whatever in the area. on philip island we also did a nice beachwalk and went to the nobbies, a fantastic viewpoint where you can see seals sometimes (not today of course :P).

yesterday, tuesday, i went to the queen victoria market (lots of crap souvenirs, cheap clothes and fresh food), then to the rialto tower observation deck from where you have a fantastic view over the city. after that i spent most of the afternoon in the immigration museum (free entrance, long live my international student card!) where you could read, see & hear all about immigration in OZ from the 18th century up until now, it was really good! after that i went back to the observation deck, this time to see melbourne after sunset...beautiful!
last night i then met up with amelia, who was in stockholm the same time as me and lived in the same corridor as marèse...funny enough a friend of kate also knows her really well and she gave me her phone number! we had dinner at a nice little japanese restaurant and after that went home to her place for some tea, had a lovely night!

today i of course had to do ALL i didn't do yet, well that wasn't really possible but i managed to do a lot; first i took the tram to st. kilda this morning, a suburb at the beach. took a walk on the pier there and had cake at one of the cute places in the shopping street, just as amelia told me to do haha! then i went back to the city, by tram again, all the way up to brunswick street, another tip from amelia, with loads of 2nd hand stores. didn't buy anything, but it was for sure worth going there! after that i took the tram again, this time to the national gallery of victoria. saw lots of paintings (they even had some rembrandts there!) and...sneakers! yes, they seriously had an exhibition about sneakers as well, interesting.

tonight i'm planning to go for a drink in one of melbourne's hidden bars (i have the addresses don't worry), but not for too long because i'm trying to get an early night sleep...tomorrow i have to be ready to be picked up at 6:15 am!
picked up for my next tour that is, am going on a 3 day tour to adelaide! first it's the great ocean road and after that we'll also be going to national park the grampians, supposed to be beautiful!

arriving in adelaide on saturday, my next blog will probably be from there, let me leave you with 'some' photos now:

1 & 2: the buddhist nan tien temple @ wollongong
3 & 4: @ the gedge's, with emma's kids & with emma (note the very similar glasses)
5 & 6: flinders st. station & federation square in melbourne
7: a wombat @ maru sanctuary
8: me feeding a walibi @ maru sanctuary
9: a very lazy koala @ maru sanctuary (yes he's sleeping hanging forward!)
10: feeding kangaroo's @ maru sanctuary, the one on the left was actually so eager to get the food that he'd just scratched my arm!
11: another kangaroo enjoying the food someone just gave him @ maru sanctuary
12: beach on philip island
13: me @ the nobbies
14: no this isn't mine! you weren't allowed to take pictures @ the penguin parade (the flash scares the little penguins), so this is one i found somewhere...just to give you and idea!
15 & 16: melbourne from rialto tower observation deck, by day & night
17: amelia & boyfriend frederik (tack för kvällen!)
18: melbourne from st. kilda pier
19: st. kilda pier
20: acland street/st. kilda