I have been in Melbourne for two and a half weeks and have sat around the hostel for way too many days.¬† The grand prix is here March 13-16.¬† I think I will take off to Tasmania for a week to go hiking and then come back to enjoy the madness here for a week.¬† I don’t really know what to do while I am there.¬† There is a week long trek I would like to do but I don’t think I am in good enough shape right now.¬† Of course, that has never stopped me from doing something before.¬† I am trying to figure out which walk and how long I really want to be in the bush.¬† I would like a three to four day walk hopefully with huts to stay in so I don’t need to worry about packing a tent.

I love this new hostel I am staying in and have kept extending my time here.  Now I am booked in for another week after which I will probably book in for longer.  The free wifi helps to pass the time.  The adventures have lessened but I have met some great people. I am amazed by how many Americans I am meeting over here.  Everyone says I am only one of a few they have met but I have met over fifty.  It might just be because I talk to random people all the time wherever I am.
Thursday was lady’s night at a local bar so a couple of male friends of mine got all dolled up in miniskirts and makeup and went for the free drinks.¬†¬† Besides getting molested all night long they had a great time and didn’t pay for any drinks.¬† I want to post all the pictures of that night but the camera had a non-standard usb port so I couldn’t copy them when I wanted to.¬† Sadly they looked much better than the ones across the road.¬† I believe there are pictures of that as well.¬† It was a great story and I will try to post it in full here with pictures when I can.

The days around here have been hot.¬† In the mornings I have been working on my laptop for a few hours then going to the beach.¬† Yesterday I went and played rugby in the ocean with some friends from the hostel.¬† Right as I got in I kicked a jellyfish. It didn’t sting me, as well as the hundreds of other people around, so I figured they were safe.¬† Maybe this was the one type of jellyfish that didn’t sting.

We were out there throwing the ball around for a couple hours, just about ready to get out when I felt tingling on my knee.¬† Hmm, so they do sting.¬† It wasn’t very bad.¬† Just a bad sunburn that goes away after 30 minutes.¬† After laying out for a bit we went back in to let the jelly know they couldn’t win.

The last couple nights we have gotten a group of us and had awesome barbecues.¬† There were tons of steak, sausages, salad and vegies.¬† I think tonight is supposed to be a stir-fry night.¬† One of these times I am going to have to cook for everyone.¬† Until then I can let them all think I don’t know how.

I moved to a suburb of Melbourne for a change of scenery.¬† I had some friends that were moving to a hostel here so I thought that I would join them and hang out for a bit.¬† The hostel here is nice and the beach is a five minute walk.¬† The only problem, if I can even call it a problem, is the number of working girls on the streets on my way home late at night.¬† I couldn’t stop laughing for the three blocks I walked home.¬† The funniest thing was that the best made up one I am fairly certain was a transvestite.¬† My powers of observation were not at their peak and I wasn’t stopping for a chat so I never did verify.

I will probably take off from here before the weekend although there are going to be some good festivals in town.¬† I love the fact that this hostel has free wireless internet and that saves me lots of money.¬† The people here are nice had a BBQ with a bunch of people last night.¬† Didn’t even cook half of the food we bought.¬† I hope someone remembered to put it into the fridge.

I met up with some friends I met in the Blue Mountains and have been having a fun couple days.¬† Doing a little bit of work in the morning, then walking around town with them.¬† Yesterday I saw a spray paint artist.¬† I don’t think I had ever seen it in person.¬† It is rather cool how many different things he could do and how quickly.¬† If I had a place I probably would have bought one of his creations. Here is a video of someone doing it.

The weather is gorgeous down here, not a cloud in the sky.  I am going to be moving out of the city a little bit to see a different side.  The other hostel has free WiFi too.  Some friends are going there today and will let me know how it is to see if I really want to go.

Well, I am having a blast.  Hope everyone out there is doing well too.

I finally got my 841 number to connect up to my cell phone in Australia.  If you want to call me you can dial my US number and get me over here.  Yeah!

I just uploaded all my pictures of the Blue Mountains. Take a look and let me know what you think. I loved the waterfall with a swimming hole so refreshing.

I spent most of Saturday trying to convince myself of how I would get to Melbourne.  My two options I would give myself were either to fly or to take the train.  The train cost $90 and took twelve hours.  I would have to get up at 6am in order to catch it and would be captive and be sitting most of the day.  The plane cost $80, took two hours, but had additional expenses getting too and from the airport.  My backpack is 20 kilograms so it would be overweight for a domestic flight costing a bit more.

At about midnight I decided to take the train, booked a ticket for six hours later and set my alarm. Getting up wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought since I had packed the night before.¬† I arrived 30 minutes prior to departure to check my backpack (a perfect 20) and began sitting.¬† I would get really good at it today.

After getting on the train I realized that there were only eight people in my entire car.¬† I could stretch out if I wanted and slept for the first three hours.¬† I then realized just how boring the train would be.¬† After the first four hours it turned into just sheep and cattle farms.¬† There were a couple fields of dead something or other but it was the same scenery for the next seven hours.¬† The train did make good time and showed up half an hour early but sitting down for so long tired me out and made me want to… sit.¬† Odd I know.

I finally got to my hostel, checked in, complained about not having a bed (I didn’t get my sheets until 10:30pm) and read for a while.¬†¬† Who knows what Melbourne has for me, I should have read up before I got here.¬†¬† I never have a problem finding something to do though.

So, I have been thoroughly enjoying myself in the Blue Mountains.¬† Amazing bush walks with very few people.¬† I met a group at the hostel here and have gone on a couple walks with them.¬† None of those easy little “scenic” walks.¬† These were 3-5 hour treks through forests and ending with one thousand stairs.

On the first hike with them I guess I had a leech that I didn’t know about.¬† After getting back to the hostel I took a shower (the leech was no longer there) and put on dry clothes I went downstairs to a wonderful Barbecue.¬† Yes, it deserves to be capitalized.¬† Maybe it was just that much better because I didn’t have to cook it and I was exhausted from the hike.¬† As we started eating it started pouring rain and flooded the balcony we were eating on.¬† We went inside to finish eating and playing cards.¬† It wasn’t until I went to bed that I noticed a huge scab all down my leg from where the blood had dripped and dried.¬† It wasn’t until the next day I realized it was from a leech.¬† I found it dead below my pants that I had hung up to dry.¬† Serves it right sucking my blood.

The next day we went for another hike,¬† Wentworth Falls.¬† This one came recommended by someone at the hostel.¬† As we got off the train it started pouring rain.¬† We took our time getting into our rain gear and started off once it got down to a drizzle.¬† It was¬† a beautiful hike along the canyon top then down to the top of a huge waterfall.¬† It was all the bigger because of the huge amount of rain that had just come through.¬† We hiked down the cliffs to about halfway and crossed the waterfall.¬† We then decided to go all the way to the bottom instead of just hiking along a trail halfway down the cliff.¬† It was worth it.¬† At the bottom of the falls was a perfect place to go swimming.¬† Three of us jumped in under the falls.¬† Wow, I didn’t think it could be that refreshing.¬† We got out a couple times then kept going back in.

Twenty minutes later we preparing for leeches and continued on.¬† We had been warned that there we lots of leeches in the next section so we all tucked in our pants into our socks and made sure no skin was visible below the waste.¬† About 45 minutes later we stopped for 15 seconds and were swarmed by them.¬† We spent a minute trying to get them off our shoes then just started walking with a couple of them still on.¬† We couldn’t see any after ten more minutes so either they fell off or moved somewhere else.

We got to the bottom of the valley of water and I wish I had more energy at this point because this would have been awesome.¬† An hour hike up to the top of the canyon all along many waterfalls.¬† It was an amazing climb up to the top and the views once we got there were incredible.¬† The pictures will be posted soon.¬† I don’t get any signal up in my room or I would post them now.¬† Then we walked the kilometer back to the train station and headed back home.¬† It was timed perfectly.¬† The train only comes once an hour and as we walked down the stairs to the platform it pulled up.¬† Dinner was made by Lisa and was a wonderful stir-fry.¬† Much better than I could have made.

If anyone else is coming to Australia the Blue Mountains are a must.¬† You have to stay a couple nights.¬† A day tour just won’t cut it.¬† There are so many bush walks you have to ask about at any information center.

I got up this morning late packed all my stuff and headed for the trains.¬† Because of poor planning I had to wait an hour for the train to depart.¬† The train ride was beautiful and scenic.¬† I didn’t know when my stop was going to come so I couldn’t relax quite as much as I wanted.
I arrived at the Blue Mountains there was a slight drizzle but I decided to go for a walk anyway.  I started off by putting my poncho on and taking off for a cliff walk.  After about 30 minutes it started to clear up.  Still being me and skeptical I kept my poncho on.  The views were beautiful forested mountains (I have pictures to upload) and cascading waterfalls.  I got quite a few pictures of fog as I was waiting for it to clear too.  So after my nice three hour hike I realized that it never rained and I was wearing my poncho the whole time.  I was soaked just from sweat.  Next time I think I will go without it unless it is windy.