As usual this post includes advertising because of naming brands.
So after I brought Ronald back to his home, I had to get into the cityâs centre. This time I did choose the closest bus station and then got into a pretty empty bus. A few stations later I had to get off and get on the tram. I waited in front of a primary school and school had just ended. So a lot of the kids went pas. Some of them were just as tall as my hips, meaning they were just slightly taller than the backpack I had on my back. Their faces were hilarious. Some of them walked past, staring at the backpack with their mouths and eyes wide open. Luckily in the tram there were again not that many people, sitting was just nice, with this huge thing on my shoulders and the little, but pretty heavy one in front of me. But the closer we got to the city centre, the more people entered the tram. So in the end I slightly freaked out because I sat in a corner, so that I wouldnât be in anybodyâs way but also there was no space where I could possibly get out! So I prepared myself for whatever may come. My stop was next and I tried to get up to at least stand. Well done! The tram stopped, I took a deep breath, the doors opened and surprisingly many people left the tram with me. So it wasnât really a problem to get out. Just had to say âSorry!â and âExcuse me!â a couple of times and then I stood on a street in Melbourneâs CBD. I had a booking at the Europa Melbourne. I really like this hostel, itâs clean, everyoneâs really nice and friendly, you get breakfast every morning (just the basics, but itâs something) and the beds are pretty good and comfortable too, and because I wasnât there at peak season I only paid AU$ 22 per night for a 10-bed mixed dorm. Totally fine I think. I put all my stuff into my room, had a really weird French guy in there with me, an then just laid down on the bed and relaxed. But shortly after I took some stuff and sat down in the hostelâs entrance area. And guess who I met there again: Vincent. He had followed my recommendation and also checked in into Europa Melbourne.
The next day was just really relaxed. I slept in, enjoyed the comfort of the beds and turned around a few times before I actually got out of bed. Then I walked around Melbourne a bit and sat down in a nice little park. But soon it started raining so I went back to the hostel. There I did some writing for my blog but more importantly I did some comparing of tattoo studios. And as I found a good one I made an appointment for the next day. So crazy! In the evening I left the room again, to go to the Night Market. I donât know how often they do this but for a couple of weeks they do these night markets twice a week and I was lucky enough to get there the last time they had one. Itâs at Queen Victoria Market and they have a couple of stands with different goods, a lot of great food and also a stage with live music.
So my next day started and I was so nervous! I tried to distract myself on the train by writing my blog post about Isle of Wight Farm, but it didnât turn out really well. I got off the tram and had to walk back a bit to the studio, accompanied by great autumn weather, cold, windy and rainy. I arrived at RockâNâInk and got a formula to fill in my personal details and than my tattoo artist Ha came and we talked about what I wanted. I originally wanted five dots symbolising the five stars of the starsign âSouthern Crossâ. I had seen other tattoos like this where the stars were connected by small dotted lines but I didnât want to have an actual cross in my neck. And I wanted it to be very small that you donât see it on first sight. What I have now is a bit different, which I like way more! I have the five stars like the ones on the Australian flag. Also the spacing is exact. So the question I got the most was did it hurt? Or how much did it hurt? Truth be told, it didnât really hurt. I would rate it 2/10, itâs just really unpleasant. I thought it would feel like actually being stung with a needle but itâs more like a scratch. So it wasnât painful just not nice, but it also got worse. So the first star I didnât even feel and in the end it started to hurt a little. So I guess it just gets worse by time. And of course it depends on where you get the tattoo. I wanted to have the constellation because it always guided me. Every evening while I was working on the farm I saw it right above the roof of my little cottage. And now on the other farm as well. It shows me the way home. Every time I look at it I have to smile, so I knew I wanted to have that with me. I said that I wanted just the few dots, because I didnât want to people to see it right away, but honestly, why not? Iâm really happy that I have the stars exactly like on the flag, because this is Australia for me. When I see it, Iâm thinking about all the great adventures I had here, about all these lovely people I met, all the things I learned, all the experiences I made, all the things that changed and so much more. And I also want people to see it.
In the evening I had dinner and then went out again to go to the movies and watch âMarvel Avengers: Endgameâ and I’m not going to say anything, but I love this movie! I cried, I laughed, I was shocked and on my way back to the hostel I talked to a friend who had already seen it, because I simply needed to process what I just watched. I was so excited, that I couldn’t really fall asleep for quite a bit and that was my problem the next morning because I really struggled to get out of bed. As I finally got out, I had a shower and than went for breakfast. This took much longer than I expected and I finally got to the checkout at 7am, when I actually had planned to be at the station to catch my train to Adelaide at 7:20am… We can still recover when I said, what fun it is to walk around with around 30 kilogram additional weight? This time I did not only have to walk, but run. At least most of the time I was walking downhill. Still, I had to cross streets and walked over a few red lights. But I got there, found my platform, ran along and jumped (I mean, I literally did jump!) into the train. Sat down in the closest row and took a really deep breath. And then I took off my two jackets, which I usually would’ve done on the way, but there was obviously no time. Soon enough the train started and off I went to Bendigo. It was only a very short journey of about one and a half hours. In Bendigo I was waiting for the bus to go further and while waiting a really nice elderly man stood next to me and we had a really nice conversation with me. People are really interested in what you do while you’re here in Australia and a lot want to know how you like it and what you’ve seen yet. So I talked a bit with him about my stay and he told me a few things I didn’t know up to this point, e.g. that Melbourne and Adelaide pretty much have the same climate and temperatures, but Adelaide is not as wet and not so heavily influenced by the ocean as Melbourne is. Soon after we got on the bus and started a ten and a half hour bus ride. Which actually was pretty nice. I wanted to do couple of things, which I ended up completely not doing. Instead I found the playlist on my computer I made for my 18 birthday. About halfway through the ride we crossed the border to South Australia and what I didn’t know is that you’re not allowed to bring any fresh food into South Australia. There are some rubbish bins where you are supposed to throw your food in and if you’re stopped by the police, having fresh fruit and vegetables with you, you can be charged a fee of up to AU$ 400. So don’t risk it.
I arrived in Adelaide pretty late, but luckily my hostel wasn’t far away, so I just walked down the street and entered the Tequila Sunrise Hostel. Right ahead from the door there was the common room and a sign pointed this direction for the reception. So I walked in there and was a bit confused, because next to the kitchen there was a bar set up but next to the beer taps there were to computers and after I asked I was assured, that this was the reception as well. I checked in and also had no problem extending my stay for two more nights. I was in a 10 bed mixed dorm room again and paid even less than in Melbourne. In the hostel they offer dinner four times a week and breakfast with nice pancakes every morning. Which is really amazing, don’t you think?
The next day I went out and wanted to explore a bit of Adelaide, but what I didn’t think about was that it was Sunday. So a few things I wanted to look at, were closed. So I sat down in Victoria Square and tried to plan out a few things I wanted to see in Adelaide and what I would have to do before we start our big road trip. But I went back to the hostel pretty soon after.
On Monday I stayed inside the hostel the whole day and finally managed it to finish and upload my blog post about my first time on the Great Ocean Road (click here). It simply took for ever because I had to finish the English text, than translate it to German, select all the pictures and upload them in my Dropbox to then download them again and finally upload it on the website to put everything together.
Tuesday, 14 may was pretty busy. I first went to see Tandanya, which is an Aboriginal Art Centre. At this time they had three exhibitions called âAcknowledgement of Aboriginal Trackers and Police Aidesâ (honouring Aboriginal Trackers helping Southern Australian Police to track down criminals), âBarka, the forgotten Riverâ (telling the story about the near-disappearance of the river and the consequences for everyone) and âVietnam, one in, all inâ (about Aboriginal Soldiers in the Second World War). After that I walked through the Botanical Gardens of Adelaide and sat down in a little cafĂ© to have lunch and to write a few postcards home and than to finish off my day I went into Adelaide Zoo. And honestly that was the best thing I have done in Adelaide! It is not a huge zoo but it is so well set up and amazing to see and spend some time there. I also had a great goosebumps-eye-to-eye-moment with a beautiful tiger. The entry fee of about AU$40 is not that much and definitely worth it.
My last day in Adelaide was super busy! I walked along Northern Terrace and saw so many important buildings. Started with walking past Old Parliament House and really impressive Parliament House. Across the first street there was, fairly hidden, Government House. Next was National War Memorial. It is absolutely impressive. This huge arch has rooms inside where the names of fallen soldiers are written down. Next I went into State Library where I had a look at the exhibitions and I got a few ideas for some books to read. Afterwards I passed Migration Museum and went into South Australian Museum. I just did a quick walk through and walked into the Art Gallery of South Australia. There I had a guided tour through the gallery which was absolutely amazing and so interesting. I think the gallery is totally something you should pay a visit. Last but not least I went to Central Market. This is such a cute little market place and another spot you definitely should see. You can get plenty different things there, from vegetables, to high quality coffee, books and sweets. Right next to Central Market is one of the entrances to China Town. I had planned to go through there, but then decided otherwise and went to the train station, to take the train out to Glenelg. Finally a beach again. I sat down there, watched people walk by and waves crush on the sand. And I also wrote in my journal, for the very first time what I want to do, when I get back home to Germany. After about an hour I jumped back on the train and went back to the city centre. My original plan was to then take another train, to Port Adelaide, but I decided, that I had done and seen enough for the day and so I just went back to the hostel.
The day I left Adelaide was not really exciting. I got up, packed up all my stuff and checked out. I had to walk through Adelaide and get to the Main Train Station, because yet Iâm mentally not at a point where I worry less so my life gets less exhausting. I had my huge backpack on my shoulders which has a port red/pinkish colour. And I happened to walk over the street and right into a school class that was walking along the pavement. Funnily, their school uniforms had pretty much exactly the same port red colour as my backpack and the same grey as my jumper. So I just perfectly fit into this group of students, colour-wise. I arrived in the station and walked to the platform to catch my train to Elisabeth to meet up with Philine. I had quite some time sitting in the train before it departured, because I was a little early, to make sure I would be in time to be able to find everything in time and actually catch the train. When I arrived in the station I called Philine to ask here where exactly she was. We saw each other right after that and while I was walking towards her I had an elderly man walking next to me, asking about my backpack. We had a short conversation and he told me that he really admires young people that explore the world and just do their own thing. When people tell me something like this it just really pushes me forward and keeps me going. So I want to be that person for you, if you need to hear this right now: Girl or Boy, you rock!
And that should be it for this post. Thank you so much for reading and patiently waiting for a next post after I didn’t upload anything for more such a long time.
Sending lots of love
xoxo Amelie