Australia : Melbourne & Wagga Wagga

Melbourne (23rd – 29th Jan)

After a less than enjoyable 4 hour flight from Perth to Melbourne we finally arrived into the city we were probably the most excited about seeing. I say less than enjoyable flight for two main reasons :

1. Even though it was a 4 hour flight no food, entertainment or niceties were provided which made the flight a thirsty and long one !
2. Due to the ridiculous size of Australia we crossed 3 time zones during our flight so even though we left Perth at 9pm we didn’t arrive into Melbourne until 5am the next morning.

Nevertheless we finally made it but most of our first day was spent getting over a sort of mini jet lag due to the time difference. Once we were “back in the game” we headed into the city but unfortunately, as with most of the last month’s travelling, the weather was damp to say the least. So much so we were unable to enjoy most of the outdoor sites that Melbourne has to offer until the last day of our visit.

Never mind though, we still had a cracking time in the city and going up the Eureka Tower (the world’s highest residential building) to view the city from 300m up was a highlight. On our way there we were lucky to pass some dude rollerblading but using 3 mongrel dogs as a kind of makeshift husky sled team. He was bombing along the high street at about 40kms per hour screaming as he went. Certainly caught everyone’s attention and brought a wee smile to our faces. Those crazy Aussies!

Anyway – other than a drunken night involving cheap beer, a jukebox filled with 90s Manchester music and some ridiculous “baggy” dancing courtesy of two drunken Scottish visitors currently residing in New Zealand there’s not much more to say about Melbourne other than nice city and I’d quite happily move there. Oh, and St Kilda is a particularly nice seaside suburb although passing the Australian national footy manager (Pim Verbeek) wandering along the promenade with his top off is unfortunately the memory I’ll retain from that particular day trip. Nasty…..

Wagga Wagga (29th – 31st Jan)

After our brief visit to the State of Victoria it was back on the train and North into Inland New South Wales. After a brief overnighter in a wee town called Albury we finally arrived in Wagga Wagga (pronounced Wogga Wogga). The Inland New South Wales is filled with wee towns like this that are a bit of a left over from the Gold Rush. Not much really happens but I kind of like these smaller towns as you feel you are really experiencing Australia. Albeit our first experience of small town Australia courtesy of Wagga Wagga was to pass the local school still smouldering after being burnt to the ground by a pupil. As our taxi driver put it…..”he got himself into a wee bit of bother over that”. Oooh – the wee scamp.

We had pre-booked a couple of nights in a campsite called Wagga Beach site. What made us curious was that the fact that inland Wagga Wagga’s closest beach was 5 hours drive East so the use of the “Beach” in the campsites name was an interesting one. Anyway – all was revealed when we turned up to find that the campsite was in fact situated next to the river that had the largest sand bank beach in New South Wales. It was a cracking wee campsite with amazing views over the river. Without a doubt the highlight of the visit were the local possums. Every night from 7pm onwards you could step outside and hand-feed possums quite happily (see photo attached). We went through about 4 loaves of bread in the few days we were there. Happy days, although I will throw in a note of caution. With so many curious possums it’s easy to stand beneath a tree looking up watching the emerging possums make their way down for a feed. Now as any creature of this Earth tends to do the first task upon waking is to relieve the bladder……yup…….Stu beneath a tree…..looking up…..mouth open with awe at the overall experience…..eeek. I am glad to say however that I was alert enough to jump to the side just in time to avoid a possum golden shower ! Phew.