#when she would visit literally any and every botanical garden wherever she was traveling

[petrovna-zamo]

Katya amongst the flowers 🌹🌺🌷🌸💐🌼🌻

[seancole-bikingwithatent]

Australia 1/7

Melbourne

I don't know why I chose Melbourne, Sydney would of been a better Idea if I'm honest, most the bus passes start and end there, flights are easy to find and a lot of adventure companies are based there as well. But for some reason Melbourne came into mind when I first thought about the Australia trip. A good friend of mine has been there and he loved the place, he has always been a good judge of things so maybe that sold it to me.

What ever the reason was I'm glad of it, I started to fall in love with the city before I even checked into the Hostel. To say I was excited to be in Australia the moment I walked of the plane would of been an understatement but that feeling grew stronger in the taxi. My hostel was bang in the middle of the city, right by the Yarra river and in one of the busiest areas of Melbourne for nightlife. The closer we got the more the city seamed to come alive. The lights got brighter and the buildings more beautiful. People crowded the streets and all the tram stops we passed, all in search of a fun night out.

I clocked the bright yellow "United Backpackers" sign and the cabbie pulled up outside. I paid the chap, got out and undone the boot to get my bike box out. Before I even had time to drag the thing out a young couple had walked over and asked if the guy if he was free to give them a ride to wherever they wanted to go. The rather handsome dude was talking to the driver while the really attractive young lass looked (rather confusingly) at myself fighting the box out the boot. She asked what I had in the box. "My BMX bike" I said, to witch we spoke for a moment about my plans for the next 3 months. As she stepped into the cab she gave me a hug with an "Welcome to Australia"

I really liked that, was a nice welcome and such an amazing way to start my trip.

I had two visits to Melbourne, it was my arrival and also 8 weeks later it would be my last stop again on the east coast before flying home. My first trip was filled with getting to know my way round and exploring what Melbourne has to do, the answer to that is LOTS. Melbourne is well known for its great coffee, amazing buskers and awesome street art. I literally spent a few days doing nothing but drinking coffee (witch helped with the jet lag) listening to live music and looking at paintings.

Hosier Lane and AC/DC lane was only a 45 second stroll from the hostel and is by far the most photographed lanes in all of the city. They're always busy, full of multi national walks of life and constantly changing, you could walk down them on your way to work Monday morning and by the time it’s your lunch break on Thursday have a completely different lot of art work on the walls. I spent a handful of times down the lanes and as daft as it sounds only saw half if it on my first walk, only because I forgot to look up.

I over heard a tour guide talking about one of the paintings, I can’t remember who she said the artist was but they were from Victoria, the painting was of an aboriginal boy who was looking over towards federation square and if you look close enough you can see the refection on the buildings in the young lads eyes.

I found the same thing on Bourke street with the buskers, If the music at one end of the street isn’t your cuppa tea then walk down to the other end and listen to what’s on offer there, you may even find your groove somewhere in the middle. I brought a few CD's from a couple of the musicians dotted about and every time I listen to them I'm transported back to Bourke street and in my own little bubble. Two of my favourites Lucy Moore and Ben Whiting, Lucky was more of a 1 man band kinda guy, a guitar strumming, leather case tapping singer with a rustiness to his voice and a crooked smile. I could of listened to him for hours and think I did for at least one anyway. Ben was a guitarist and singer with a friend on a drum set, well 1 drum and a symbol anyway. I loved the lyrics in his songs, he introduced one of his song about falling in love with new places and that brought a smile to my face. The more I watched him the more he reminded me of Chong, from the 70s & 80s films Cheech and Chong witch made me chuckle to myself.

I did manage to spend a day with 2 friends from back home in England, Steph and Mick, witch was kinda crazy and (for me) proof that the world really is a small place. Steph I first met about 12 years ago if not more when my sister rented a hairdressers chair from her. We both kept in touch and ended up joining the same cycling club "Diss CC" and we both even done a stint on the clubs committee a few years before this trip even happened.

We was at a meeting about a month before the trip and discussing an event the club was putting on and trying to get some helpers, we both told the other members that we couldn't help out and have valid reasons but it wasn't till we said what those reasons are till we realised that we was both going to Australia at the same time.

Steph and Mick flew out a few weeks before I did but was starting from Cairns and heading down. Turns out that they both was flying from Brisbane to Melbourne a few days before I was heading out so we arranged to meet up for the day.

We had both planned our own trips, using our own dates in our own time and still managed to cross each others paths on the other side of the world. We literally ran into each other, I sent her a message using wifi from the hostel and walked to the botanical gardens when I heard Mick whistle, calling my name and both waving at me.

They let me tag along for the day for witch I'm extremely grateful for, we used the city's cycle hire and rode over to the shrine of remembrance to meet up with Micks daughter Meg and her Fella Andy. They gave us a guided tour round one of the museums before heading for a bite to eat and a beer at one of the restaurants on the Southbank. We also explores St Kilda and headed out to the penguins at breakwater where Meg volunteered at.

It was such a lovely day, I'm grateful to both Mick and Steph for letting me tag along and It was really great meeting Meg and Andy.

I did also meet up with another chap called Mat, or Milky as most people call him, I also met him once back home in Diss by complete randomness. I was driving through town for some reason or another and a friend of mine Dom Stuart (Who I was planning on meeting up with in Noosa) drove passed and into a car park, so I pulled a U-ey and went to say hi.

Both Dom and Milky had been working at a music festival and was with another chap who needed to buy something from a shop in Diss (hence why they was in town) Dom introduced me to Milky who lives in Melbourne and the other chap, we was talking for an hour or so before we parted ways.

Anyway, Dom told me to send Milky a message to witch I did and we met up in Fitzroy North for a beer and a slice of pizza and then back to his for a few more and a smoke. I ended up round there a few more times on my first trip with Milky and a few of his friends. Was great fun and great people. We both admitted that "Any friend of Dom's, was a friend of mine"

That's just a small amount of what I got up to on my 1st trip to Melbourne, I also checked out the NGV (National Gallery Of Victoria) the Erika Tower and the sky deck on the 88th floor. Had a few evenings at Fed Square during a Christmas night and an African event to witch again I met so many great people.

I travelled to Australia alone but within the first 10 days of my trip had met such a great amount of amazing people witch made me feel like I had been in the city for years and made it feel like home.