Melbourne Toast.

A word of advice, don’t fly Tiger Airways to Melbourne: From Avalon it takes a year to get to the city and the flights are at stupid o’clock. I arrived in my hostel in Melbourne, Collingwood Backpackers, at about 5am and, as was previously arranged, I spent my first night on the couch. This was to set the tone for my stay in Melbourne, which was nothing like any of my other experiences of the other places I’ve visited and this is mainly due to the Houseshare  hostel I stayed in. 

Collingwood Backpackers is not your average or normal hostel. There is no way you can compare it to a YHA or a standard hostel that has rules, because there really weren’t that many. In fact, right now the only rule I remember is that people didn’t smoke in the kitchen. And this may not have even been a rule but something people did out of courtesy. It’s a small hostel, with a kitchen that’s open 24hrs a day, extremely cheap wifi, and had the feel of a big house full of friends rather than a hostel.

I left Melbourne thinking I was going to go live in an Ashram and be a real-life hippy because of a great American girl, Arielle, who I met in my room on my first day. She brought me to the Hare Krishna kitchen that day and I ate the best curry I’d ever had (until my last day in Melbourne when I went back!) and a few days later, she brought me to Lentil as Anything, a pay what you think the meal is worth restaurant that was also veggie and gorgeous!

As well as finding my inner hippy, I found a little bit of home away from home by meeting Aoife and Paula from Athlone for a lovely day on a Roof in Melbourne; a day that continued for myself and Paula, and our new friend Leslie, from, as far as I can remember, Alabama, to a Burlesque club, Red Benny’s.

As well as dirty dancing and hippy living, I spent a day out in ST. Kilda, the backpacker hub of Melbourne. It was, as it promised, beautiful and eclectic and I really enjoyed it. St. Kilda wouldn’t be somewhere I myself would like to live, but I can see why so many people are drawn to it. 

My day in St. Kilda

I can’t really explain why I liked Melbourne so much, it wasn’t necessarily how it looked, it was more how it felt. As Paula said to me that day in Roof, the city has a heartbeat, and you can feel it.There's a really subltly nice atmosphere around the city that didn't feel too businessy or too hippy, just right for me.

I have to say, that Melbourne has been my favourite city so far in Australia and that I cannot wait to go back there…so much so I fly there on January fifth 2012!