Melbourne – Our Journey

The drive from Charlotte Pass to Melbourne

The first thing we did once we had left Charlotte Pass was to drive to Canberra, the nearest city. We stocked back up on toiletries and Olly finally got his haircut. Three months without a haircut really took its toll on poor Olly. We explored Canberra, visiting the Floraide festival and met some crazy Australians in our hostel. We planned our route back to Melbourne as we were in no rush. We stopped off in lovely little towns like Eden and the Lakes entrance, always camping out in our car. Olly and I had been saving money but we weren’t about to throw it away again on expensive accommodation. When we were in the Lakes entrance we saw Dolphins only meters off shore, it was amazing! I was excited to get back to Melbourne to see some of our friends, so on we drove!

Reuniting 

Once upon a time when we lived in Cairns, we met a guy called Matt. We took Matt to the farm with us and spent most of our first year with him. It had been over a year since we last saw him in Ireland but it was time for a big catch up! Seeing your friends you meet travelling is always fun, It was like no time had passed at all. I spent the evening taking the piss out of him, and of course Olly and Matt drank too much which resulted in us at a casino. Only good things come from day drinking!

New faces

Ever since I have met Olly, he has told me so much about his friend Bill. When we were in Australia last time, he went to visit Bill in NZ and had the best time. This time round, Bill and his fiancé had moved to Melbourne which meant I could finally meet them! They have only ever been people I heard stories about and Olly is not the best at story telling haha! I was so nervous to meet Olly’s bestie, I’m not sure why. Maybe because they were actually adults and me and Olly aren’t there yet 😉

Bill and Libby opened their home to us an were so welcoming. It was the first time I had used a decent hairdryer in months and it felt so dam good. Olly and I also sounded so amazed every time we watched TV all together as me and Olly have only watched things on  my iPad which isn’t too big. To watch things in HD was like watching them for the first time all over again! Bill and Lib introduced us to their friends, took us to cool restaurants, showed us how to win drinking games and fed us amazing ice cream. We had such a good time hanging out and staying with them.

If you’re reading this guys THANKS SO MUCH FOR HAVING US!

Exploring Melbourne

In our first year in Australia we spent a lot of time in Melbourne. It still remains one of our favourite cities down under but this time round we tried to do new things. We had never been to the night markets which we had only seen on social media. We headed into the city and spent a good few hours exploring the street art, walking around and ending up at the night markets. It was an evening filled with new places and new foods. We ate too much and retreated to the train home in a full food coma!

In the spirit of new things, one day when we were staying at an Air B+B, we cycled down to Brighton Beach to check out the world-famous Beach Boxes. They were pretty cool to see but we had found out they cost around $350,000 to own!!

Crazy stuff but the area was one of the nicest areas in Melbourne we have seen. One day we also went to check out St Kilda and Port Melbourne, purely because we had never been there together before. Fortunately we always had good weather which made it the perfect time to be in Melbourne!

We are Family!

I had discovered the crazy side to my family does in fact exist, but they live in Australia! It wouldn’t be right if we didn’t stop in at my Auntie Dot and Uncle Simon house in Melbourne for a good catch up. By catch up I mean a heavy drinking session which results in shot skis and some karaoke at 1am. We have worked out a few times how distantly we are related to each other but it is always followed by so many drinks we can never remember. It is always great to see this side of my family and they are always so lovely, welcoming and so supportive of our travels/photography. It really makes us feel good knowing we have caring, hilarious family this side of the world! They are always a good time and know how to party. The hangover the next day left me and Olly on the sofa the whole day.

Mornington 

Olly’s dad has friends, Greg and Rachel, who moved over to Melbourne a few years ago and currently lives in Mornington. We have stayed at their house previously and went back again to catch up and crash on their sofa. Once again they showed us the best hospitality and let us stay for how ever long we needed. At this point of our travels we were struggling to find a van to buy to drive over to Perth. Staying with them really helped us as we could jump on a train and be in the city to view different vans every day. Not only did they offer us great food and company but they also took us to a lovely street market in their local town.

Hanging out with all the family was really great and made Olly miss all of his siblings! Their son Henry even took Olly out to try to show him how to surf. Watching Olly surf was the funniest and most painful thing to watch so I can imagine what it was like for Henry HAHA!

The whole family is so nice and it was super fun to hang out here all week, plus Mornington is Beautiful town to be in! We eventually bought a van and started to fix the interior up which again, we wouldn’t have been able to do without Greg and Rachel’s help and warehouse! We love staying here and they have said we can come back when ever we want, which they might regret saying 🙂

Why were we in Melbourne so long?

Initially me and Olly wanted to buy a van and head off to the West Coast as soon as possible. Unfortunately every van we have seen has either been rubbish or broken. The problem with buying a van in Melbourne Is this is the city were most backpackers start their East Coast. This means the need for camper vans is much greater therefore people sell them for way above their worth. Not to mention every camper van is owned by a backpacker so they do not have any paper work for it. Olly is a bit of a petrol head (thanks to Steve) and he knows what he is talking about when it comes to buying a car. This scares backpackers as Olly can see through their bullshit. Which makes it harder to find a good van. After seeing 10 different camper vans we finally found one that seems perfect! Stay tuned for our Van Diaries of how we did her up 🙂

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