Melbourne December 2007

Late last year my friends and I went on holiday to Melbourne. My friends are an assortment of school friends, church friends, childhood friends and friends of friends that I’ve become really close with. As a group we do everything together and it was our second interstate trip, our first being Sydney early this year. Just for convenience sake there names are Sophia (my best friend ever!), Elycia, Andrew, Mark, Luke and Phil.
We drove to Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road, which we did over two nights. The first day we didn’t get very far, it was more of a push start. The second day we did all our sight-seeing; the Twelve Apostles, The London Bridge, and many other beautiful sights along the beach. At one stop we dug a big hole and they buried my shoes. I was not impressed. At another we all wrote, in huge letters, ‘Hi Sophia!’ in the sand. That was the same beach where Sophia’s Dad had written ‘I Love You’ to Sophia’s Mum. Very sweet.
The third day we went shopping at all the surf stores before driving, finally, into Melbourne. We booked into our hostel, did a bit of shopping and then got ready to go out. That night we saw Spamalot, which was Monty Python’s broadway production. I was expecting it to be amazing but it just blew me away. It was SO funny! I was laughing the whole time, in stitches, and nearly crying. It was basically Monty Python’s Holy Grail with extra songs and adapted for the stage. I highly recommend it to anyone who can make it, it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
The next day we went shopping. Everywhere! Bourke St, the factory outlets, and some other places Sophia said were really good… I got so sick of shopping, and let me tell you that is STRANGE! I love shopping! Maybe I wasn’t in the mood… the Myers there is enormous! It has a huge basement that stretches forever and then there’s the upper levels. I could of gone crazy.
That night we got really spruced up for our second theatre outing – Phantom of the Opera. For those who don’t know, I LOVE Phantom of the Opera! I can play all the songs on piano, I know the music and lyrics off by heart and am a huge fan of both Andrew Lloyd Webber and Anthoy Warlow. I wore a really pretty blue dress and some silver jewellery. Us girls had great fun dressing up and the guys looked pretty nifty in their suits. They clean up well.
The actual show left me breathless and covered in goose bumps. At the very beginning, during the auction, I couldn’t believe that I was there. As soon as the chandelier went up I realised I was really there and my heart felt like it stopped beating. It was fantastic!! I couldn’t list a favourite bit. Anthony Warlow’s voice is so emotive and beautiful and when I heard it I just felt like closing my eyes and drifting away. I think the best part of the theatre was when the Phantom rose up from behind a cherub hanging mid-air and sang about how he’d been betrayed by Christine and about how he loves her. It was such a strong scene.
After the show I bought so much memorabilia… I went a little nuts… it was so good though! And now I have a phantom mask on my bookshelf :-P
The next day we did the touristy stuff. We went to the old gaol, which was pretty interesting. We went on a tour. The guides acted like guards taking prisoners through the jail. They gave us all identities and locked us up in a cell with the lights out for like five minutes. We weren’t expecting it, we just thought it was a normal tour, and when they yelled at us we got a bit offended. We laughed about it later though. It was the jail where Ned Kelly was hung.
After that we went to the museum, which is pretty cool. I love the dinosaur bones and stuffed animals. There was also lots of cool space stuff, and the usual science and history stuff. Then we went to the biggest cinema in the world, eight stories high, at imax, and saw Beowulf in 3D. It was a really bad movie, but the 3D was awesome. That night we went out to a nice place for dinner, and then went to a dance club at the casino. It was fun, but the men were a little too… confident. :-P
The next day we went shopping AGAIN! (Sigh) and then that night we went to Mt Dandenong (I think that’s what it’s called) and looked out at all the pretty city lights. It was a nice quiet day.
Our last day in Melbourne we spent the morning getting packed, buying Krispy Kreme doughnuts and had lunch with Phil’s sister (who lives in Melbourne). Then we started the long drive home. I think I ended up getting home at midnight after dropping everyone off at their prospective houses.
Anyway! It was a great trip, although that was a brief summary, and I hope I can upload some pictures soon. For some reason it isn't working at the moment... I'll work it out and put some up soon. :-)