Albert Park
Grand Prix track and park
Beach front and pier
St Kilda Botanic Gardens
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Staying in hostels with the 18-21 vibe and surrounded by people who are either hung over or rushing to their next trip isn't much fun, so yesterday my last job was to get down to St Kilda. A friend I met in New Zealand who now lives in the city advised Habitiat HQ as the place to go. It's $5 per night more, but comes with a free breakfast and has a friendly, homely, vibe to it. When I arrived last night there was a charity event going on. A work mate did the same thing last year in NZ. It's caller "Shave for a Cure" and involves people volunteering to have their head shaved to raise money for a leukaemia charity. Tonight one of the hostel staff was doing it- a guy with a huge afro and pirate beard. Everyone was in the main room watching, many with a cheap beer from the hostel bar, as he was shaved and the collection bucket passed round. Afterward there was a FREE barbecue dinner. Love this place- no wonder there's various awards all over the reception area!
I didn't feel like doing a great deal his day though. I decided to go have a quick walk down to Albert Park- a large park surrounding a long lake. I'd planned to walk around it whilst reading. However Melbourne was about to host the Grand Prix, and the route was around the lake. The park was still open, but so was the site of the race. Time to explore.
Walk like you know where you're going, don't look threatening, and don't stop. Those guidelines have got me through and into many places without causing (too much) fuss. I don't think though that there was anything that stopped me from being here though. So I walked some of the track and wandered through what would be the VIP area. It was still mostly under construction, but the main structures were up. I was in Tasmania for the race, thankfully. Would have been nice to go, but expensive and the hostels all put their prices up to make the most of the busy period.
Having done that I (with some difficulty) found my way out of the Grand Prix enclosure and went out to the beach. St Kilda has a long, lovely beach, including the time honoured Luna Park with its many rides and the pier. I walked along the coast, and out to the pier, where many old men sat fishing. At the end is a small kiosk- much more reasonably priced, oddly, than the one at the shore end of the pier. So I had a sit down with a $2 ice cream, a wee old school glass bottle of Coke, and read about the local wildlife. If you come here at sunset the penguins swim onto the rocks at the end of the pier and the Australian water rats can occasionally be seen.
It was beginning to get late, but I had just enough day light left to make a quick trip through the St Kilda Botanic garden. This wee garden is as well kept and as nice as all of the small botanic gardens I've seen in Austalia and New Zealand. Today there was even a wedding going on, with the guests now milling around as the bridal party had photos taken in various locations.
Afterwards I was off to Aldi. Food's quite expensive in Australia. I'd expected this in New Zealand- it's a relatively small, under populated island in the middle of the Pacific so shipping anything in is going to make it expensive. Yet here, even I. The cities, the price can be similar to New Zealand. Aldi's started to move in to challenge this. The European supermarket often charges far less than the local stores and is gradually forcing prices down. Note, I don't believe it's to the detriment to farmers- they're buying from the same market and don't have any home brands- it's mostly cheaper European stuff.
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