Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to Henry... #loner5ever
Just kidding... I actually made a friend right before my birthday! His name was Roland from Singapore! He's mega smart -- a doctor in training. We were roommates for like 2 days before he actually introduced himself to me. Nothing really went past that. But I saw him eating dinner once and I decided to see if he wanted to go to the Melbourne Eureka Skywalk thingie with me where we go to the 88th floor of the tallest building in Melbourne and look over the skyline of Melbourne. He accepted my invitation and so we started being friends! The next day, we decided to go check out the Victoria Market and got some groceries for dinner. It was actually the day of my birthday, but I didn't want to make it a big deal. We decided to have an early dinner and go to St. Kilda Beach by sunset to see the penguins return to their nest for the night. On our way back, I suggested grabbing a drink; because it was my last night at Melbourne before I head off to Tasmania and kind of to secretly celebrate my birthday. We ended up going to Coles to try to get some drinks, but the one we went to didn't sell alcohol, so we ended up getting Ginger Beer... In Aussie, they call ginger ale -> ginger beer and they call beer -> ale; weird. He knew Bundaberg was a really good brand because he used to drink it in Singapore and they sell it for mad expensive compare to buying it in Aussie since it was brewed by Aussie. Low and behold, it taste so good compare to our crappy Canada Dry. We decided to drink that instead of alcohol. On our way back from Coles, he mentioned that he hasn't tried Mcdonald's in Australia yet. It was almost 11 PM and we decided to get McDonald's too (I finally saw a McDonald's with a sign called Macca's, Lilly!)! Too bad they messed up my sammich, but it was a great way to end my birthday regardless!
That concludes my first experience in Melbourne. Overall experience? I didn't like Melbourne Central YHA. The lounge is weirdly positioned making it hard to make friends because there's a bunch of single tables and people would never try to sit with you. Melbourne... I didn't know any of the hidden gems until my last day there when a staff at the hostel convinced me to join her short guided tour around Melbourne. That was when she showed us some of the hidden gems around Melbourne where tourist usually do not know about; like the best street for coffee and where to see really old building with little shops in them. Roland is super into sweets and he showed me some of the best chocolate stores (Chocolait and Cocoblack). He splurged on snacks to bring home because he wanted to spend all his AUD lol... Watching him go crazy over chocolate is funny. Melbourne is a nice place, but I don't know if it's somewhere I want to stay at.
I ended up applying to three jobs over the course of the week.... They all happen to be in New South Wales, but I didn't get any response. QQ; I gotta try harder once I get back from Tasmana.
7:30 PM, I took the ferry from Port Melbourne to Devonport, Tasmania with the two Chinese teachers. We reached there in the morning at 6:30 AM and picked up the SUV that we hired. It turned out to be a Ranault Koleos. I hate driving big cars, but I had to because we have 4 people and it'd be uncomfortable if we had to all squeeze in a small car. I ended up not getting a manual car either. But luckily, we got there early and picked up the car early. I was having a little bit of a hard time trying to keep in mind that I have to drive on the left side. When I turn left, I stay on the left. When I turn right, I have to hop over to the outer lane to stay on the left. Due to being there early, I got to drive without any car on the street. It doesn't really matter though because there's barely any people on Tasmania lol... I got used to driving on the other side pretty quick and it just feels natural to do so now after 3 days of driving. I have one work for Tasmania; Beautiful. Farm lands, mountains, ranges, natural beauty. Everywhere I drive, it's like being in a beautiful painting. It's just super scenic everywhere and completely different from being in all of Australia's big cities. One thing I don't like is how I need to drive like 300+ km in any direction to actually find civilization. There's also two more things that bothered me. People here follows the speed limit... Like legit, there's a sign that says reduce speed from 100 to 70 km due to construction on the highway. There's no visible construction but people still slow down. Rarely do people go over the speed limit, like, ALMOST NEVER RARELY. It makes me feel like a jerk speeding every where because I drive around 120 km LMAO... I'm such a horrible person, but 100 just feels too slow. Also, we're driving up and down the mountains. I was already doing 80 km around 98 degree hairpins one right after another and consecutively to a point where my wheels skid (kinda like Initial D!) on the turns, but the guy was still tailgating me and waving out his window telling me to get to the side so he can pass. Hwot? Of course, the stubborn me did not move to the side to let them pass. I just contested them, but I feel back for the two old ladies sitting in the back scared shitless because I was making 80/90 km turns lol... Fun times. I swear Initial D and all those Need for Speed racing games are all modeled after Tasmania. There's so many mountains and so many hairpins. This is like driving in heaven! Only bad thing is having to drive 3 to 5 hours just to get to places.
Seriously though, these two teachers nag more than my mom. I'm starting to get annoyed by them, but what can I do? I don't want to be mean. They genuine loves me, so I should genuinely love them back. After all, we're good friends lol... All old people are naggers, so it's okay in the end. They're good people and I like their company. Cradle Mountain was something. It's not as good as Huangshan in China, but it's beautiful regardless. I had a good time hiking in my Converse haha... Never wear Converse to hiking on rocky roads. My feet hurt so much from rocks poking onto my feet. Our first night was spent in Strahan, Tasmania. This town has a population of 500 people and everything closes at 6pm... We managed to find a restaurant that opens until 8:30 and the food was wicked expensive. The hostel we stayed at had separate building for shower. o_o Damn was it freezing cold to have to walk to and from the shower... It was nice though because the place was not polluted by city light, so I got to see stars in the sky at pitch dark night.
Today, we woke up at 5:30 PM and managed to leave the hostel by 6:30 to pick up my other friend from Hobart Airport by noon time. The drive was freakin 5 hours. =_= I was exhausted af when I picked him up. I was planning on going to Port Arthur right after I pick him up, but I seriously needed a break. We headed back to the hostel and settled down. The two teachers really wanted to buy honey because they heard there's a farmer's market, but it closes at 1 PM. They rushed out at 12:47 PM and I ended up waiting for them to come back... They didn't pick up their phone so I waited until 2 PM until they come back. I was frustrated because I didn't know how to get in contact with them. I was ready to drive off with my HK friend because I don't want to have to wait for people and ruin my trip. I'm glad that they came back by 2. I held off the Port Arthur trip because it was Sunday and I was worrying that things might close early so we ended up going to Mt. Wellington instead which turned out to be a pretty good plan as it was a nice day to be up there. Tomorrow, we will be heading to Port Arthur; which I heard is a great site to visit. Hopefully, this trip is going to be a blast before I head back to mainland and start looking for jobs! Because you know, job sucks, but I need money QQ;;
Time to get some rest and wake up tomorrow morning to move the car by 8:30 AM to avoid having to pay for street parking! Until next time, good night!
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