From Hostels to 5 star Hotels

After one of Niamh nights shift, the brave girl, was up for a day of sight seeing, so after a quick break, we trotted on our way towards the tram and got it to the stop near the Shrine of Remembrance. Where we realised, that after our visit the last day, the shrine was closed, this time, we were able to go inside, and observe a months remembrance service and the passing of the light at 11 am. After further exploring the shrine including the views from the balcony, we trekked from here towards the Eureka Tower. We used a flyer to get 20% of the admisson price, the 360 degree views of the city and the surrounding suburbs were quite breaktaking and because the weather was clear and favourable, we were actually able to see the Island of Tasmania in the distance. We spent a small bit of time here and took in the views.

  
               
        
We hopped on the City Circle Tram and Visited the State Library and its Dome exhibition which has various artifacts of Melbourne and Victorian History including articles about Ned Kelly, and information about the foundation of the city. We then walked the shortish distance to the Old Gaol where we used our iVenture Card to gain entry, firstly, we entered the City Watch part, which involved a 30 min interactive tour, which was both scary yet fun. The City Watch only closed in 1994, the exit brought us into the courtyard of the prison. We entered through the shop into the prison and saw the inner works of the cells and the prison history. The highlight of the prison itself, was seeing where Ned Kelly spent his final days. and getting to try on a replica of his famous armour.

                         

                           

We decided after the Gaol, that we would spend some time exploring the CBD, and managed to stroll upon a formula 1 racing car. From here went ended up having an early bird dinner at Pancake Parlour before making the journey home. Must say it was a long but quite enjoyable day, no idea how Niamh managed to stay awake.

Since I gone back working in hospitality, I've definitely gotta seen how the other half live. Which is quite removed from our travels and our stays in sometimes quite basic accommodation. From my first shift at a quite posh and upscale Italian eatery along southbank, to my next at a 5 Star Hotel which involved a VIP Gala dinner with some guests been Spanish and Australian Political Ministers, naval officers and ambassador. One of the most unusual, was doing a cocktail/buffet function, in a quite nice hotel, for a travel agency Christmas party and observing the effort some of the city branches went into their costumes and party entertainment, was a hilarious yet rowdy shift. After all these Hotels and Convention Centres shifts, was quite different to be working in a boardroom for law firm.
However one of my highlight to date, was whilst working for a restaurant in the famous Crown Casino. Who was I serving drinks to, but none other than Draco Malfoy i.e. Tom Felton, his girlfriend, and family, must say, he was very nice and a pure gent. Working in a casino must say been quite an experience, the behind the scenes is like a maze, so ease to get lost back there.

After my 10 hour shift, at the casino (Saturday 23rd), I made the 20 min walk into Flinders street to see what White Night was like before catching the tram home. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it despite the tiredness kicking in. It was beautiful to see light designs been projected on to various famous Melbourne buildings, street performers, light installations, water/light feature and a personal crowd favourite hearing Cat Empire perform from the steps of Flinders train station. Even at the time I made it into the CBD, there was tens of thousands of people everywhere - 2/3 am Sunday morning (3/4 pm Saturday afternoon Irish time). The city had laid on free tram transport throughout the duration of the White Night event.

Melbourne Part Deux

For my birthday, Niamh surprised me by bringing me out for lunch at my favourite veg chippy, Lord of the Fries which was delicious. As we all in the house we having few drinks, the girls got me by surprise with a homemade chocolate birthday cake with special candles and all, was quite sweet of them and it was delicious. Also was given passion pop, sparkling wine. We had an interesting night.

The next morning, Niamh and myself got ready to head to St Kilda festival along the beach front, was quite busy but it had a good family atmosphere and was good laugh. There was bands playing everywhere, free stuff been given away, amongst other activities.

During the week, we decided to see some more of the sights, beginning with a guided tour of the parliament of Victoria which included the library, the vestibule, Queen's hall, legislative assembly chamber which had 3 massive Waterford crystal chandeliers and council chamber. The Parliament House took 74 years to babe constructed, starting in 1856 and been completed in 1939. After this tour, we strolled down the street to the old treasury building and got to see a glimpse of melbourne and Victorian transport and political history and see some of the vaults used during the gold rush in the 19th century. Once we finished here, we hopped on to the tram to the Melbourne aquarium. Our entry into this aquarium was covered by our iventure card. Some of the highlights in the aquarium were the penguins, variety of sea horses, sharks, starfish, swordfish, stingray, turtles amongst other exotic fish and jellyfish.
After our journey through this aquatic environment, we hopped on the city tram and transferred then to a different tram and jumped off at domain interchange. Once here, we walked along the park observing the various monuments along the way, including a police memorial, order of Malta, a variety of world war memorials until we arrived to the shrine of remembrance. We strolled around shrines gardens and ever lighting flame.

With both of us working, we try enjoy our days off lol.

Melbourne

Monday 21st, Niamh, myself and the girls in the house, all decided to head to the Australian open for the day. It was a nice hot fun day and one of the highlights had to be seeing Martina Higgins, Martina Navratilova and Lindsay Davenport playing in  a women doubles exhibition match.

Later that evening, we finally got to settle into the house, the craziness that is house 49. It's always nice not to be living out of a suitcase. At least we are settled for the time been. Some of the highlights have been the visit to the Immigration Museum on Flinders st, which has a special exhibit called Leaving Dublin, documenting stories of people leaving Ireland for Australia. Other interesting aspects of the museum were documenting and highlighting, the high and low of immigration, in particular immigrating into Melbourne over the years. The museum was definitely an interesting way to spend an afternoon. Niamh and me decided to purchase the summer offer on the 3 museums within Melbourne for 20 dollars.

After the immigration museum, we walked back towards Flinders station, and across to Federation Square, and Niamh, Helena and myself, decided to explore the square before heading down to the Yarra river to relax for a while. So as we had the voucher, we decided to the Melbourne museum the next day. I meet Niamh at parliament station after her agency meeting. We strolled to the museum and used the voucher to gain entry. The museum had quite interesting displays on dinosaurs, fossils, various plants, animals and insects  and about the history of planet earth and meteorites. However some of the highlights were the exhibits on Victorian history, be it social, industrial or technological. We both agreed that the museum was a pleasant and fun experience and well worth the time and effort. On route back into CBD, we didn't to go to the state library and do some genealogical research which proved positive and helped to answer some questions but possessed others, typical, always the way.
Saturday was Australia day ere, the 26th, which ended up been quite a random day and night involving falling upon a handy vegetarian chain called Lord of the Fries, which was yummy, and later that night, we all crazy fun in the house.

After the bank holiday weekend, and some mixed weather, on Tuesday, we decided to go to the 3rd and final museum on the summer museum voucher, Scienceworks. This museum however was a tad outside of the city, and it accessible by bus or train, i'd recommend train, then a ten minute walk. The museum was like a lot of the other museums around  Australia and are quite interactive. Out at the back of the science museum, was the old pumping station for Melbourne.
Doing another RSA course, was like been back in school with the questions and role playing and exams. At least that over for now, hoorah for that. It was quite fun and an experience trying to run in the rain towards the tram on that thursday evening, it was really pouring down.
Besides the usual daily routines  stuff you gotta do, Friday night definitely wasn't routine, as I helped Niamh minus a slight mishap with directions, to get to her nursing agency night out. I was allowed to stay, and some how I managed to get some free drinks and food. Both Niamh and I agreed the food that was on offer, was superb. It was a fun night and on the plus side, Niamh managed to get talking to other nurses here and other people which is always good.

Sunday February 3rd, here in Melbourne was gay march/pride, there was some cool and fun entertainment in the Catani Gardens near Fitzroy including drag shows, singers, dj and dance acts. We decided to for dinner along St Kilda beach, which was tasty.
Monday morning after both, Niamh and me, had our individual meetings completed, we meet each other at Federation Square and hopped on the city circle tram. This tram is a free hop on hop off tram service which brings you around the city. Something Niamh came across on Thursday evening waiting for me. Once we got to see some of the local city sights, we got off at the Flinders Street tram stop and as we had some free time we went to the ACMI - Australian Center for the Moving Image. This center has the history of moving image, such as TV, movies, and game consoles, was surreal yet interactive and fun. Typically as we were having fun but luckily, Niamh got a call from agency for immediate shift.