Melbourne

 First Beach Stop.  Near Bells Beach.

 Split Point Lighthouse 

 Rainforest Walk

 12 Apostles 

 Arch

 London Bridge (Section connecting the two collapsed)

 Grotto

 Croft Institute

 Heart of Melbourne

 Degraves Alley.  Picture doesn't do it justice.

 Another section of Melbourne

 Yet another section

Main Portion of City

Wow.  Melbourne was possibly the coolest city I have ever been too.

Day one started out with an empty plane ride and a checkin at a hostel that turned out to be right in town.  The group of me, Keith, and Bianca walked around all day with our eyes up and our jaws dropped.  I must have ran into three people as I tried to take everything in.  We soon found this place called Degraves Street which is like the daragon alley or whatever straight out of Harry Potter.  It was filled with tons of coffee and other food shops.  As the night approached Claire, Marcus, and Elise joined us and we went out looking for some dinner.  Some Italian guy sold us on his restaurant as we were walking past.  Best choice ever.  The guys played pranks on everyone the whole time including scary clown masks to scare anyone passing by and spiders all over the place.  Free dessert helped too.  After dinner we somehow all decided we wanted to bowl and found this awesome little bowling alley with some great music and blacklights illuminating the place.  The night ended at a random bar playing pool.  It may not sound like much but that first night was awesome.

Day two Keith, Clare, Bianca, Dosey and rented a car and headed for the Great Ocean Road.  We did this right after we called the other group idiots for trying to do the trip with no directions.  What a bunch of Hypocrites.  The trip actually went quite smooth.  Its amazing how you can get anywhere with a good old fashion map.  We stopped for walks at a beach, light house, and rainforest on our way to the main features of the Great Ocean Road.  On my leg of driving I got to drive through the forest on a nice and curvy  road.  I saw elements of Mike Rice in myself as I took those corners like I was in a BMW.  Everyone in the back seat really appreciated it.  Once we got to our destination our jaws once again dropped.  The 12 Apostles, London Bridge, the Arch, and the Grotto were all breath-taking.  Sure they were packed full of tourists but man oh man.  I wish the pictures I took did them justice.

Now after a full day of driving (we left at 8 and got back at 9) you would think we would call it a day.  No sir, the night was far from over.  A stop at the bottle-o and a shower is all that was needed.  By 11 I was intoxicated and headed to the first bar.  Down a random alley full of graffiti, and around a few corners, appeared the coolest bar I have ever been to.  The Croft Institute is a chemistry/hospital style bar where drinks are served in beakers with syringes, hospital beds are in the bathroom, and the bars are dirty lab benches.  There is some random blue lighting and the rest of the light comes from candles.  My drink of choice: Absinthe.  Why not?  It was the perfect fit for the place.  Man is that a harsh shot though.  We hung around for a bit (sadly the green fairy never appeared) then headed to our next destination.  Down another alley there was a dirty building that looked like it was dead.  We got in the elevator and on the second floor we found a karaoke bar.  There was only drunk older woman singing so we didn't stay long.  We followed a random group to our final destination.  Cookie was the name.  Up six flights of stairs there was a bar modeled like a train with individual carriages that hid tables.  I was in a daze but somehow managed to find the dance floor where we all stayed until 3 am.  Toward the end I am told that I merely had my eyes closed and was swaying back and forth (Tiredness not drunkenness).  It was a long day.

Day three was again filled with good food and walking around town.  We went to a bunch of museums including one that was all about video games.  Then came one of the best meals of my life.  One of the guys (Lasker) that I was traveling with is a professional chef and booked this Lebanese restaurant for us. The five course meal consisted of amazing food including quail and lamb that literally fell right off the bone.  Holy shit was it amazing.  I only made it to my bed that night (though dinner started at 8 and didn't finish till 1130).

Day four was our last day.  We spend the morning checking out the Victorian Markets.  The place was full of vendors and hundreds of people.  The surprise came when they had all these chickens and ducks right next to the food that were for sale to lay eggs or eat.  Again my weak description doesn't do the scene justice.  Anyway again I was stuffed and ready to do nothing but sit on my ass.

The trip was awesome and Melbourne is one of the few cities I wouldn't hesitate to live in.  The city feels completely safe, there are people from all over the world, and everyone is trying to be an individual with a multitude of crazy styles.  Everyone needs to make it there one day.