Arriving in Australia

From Oamaru I took an Intercity bus over to Christchurch, from where my flight departed for Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It's really hard for me to write me about Melbourne because in the five nights I spent over there I barely scratched the surface of the metropolis. I stayed at Home Backpackers in a fashionable South-Melburnian suburb of St. Kilda. The hostel itself was affordable (I won't say no to dorm beds at $19 a night!) but a bit scruffy so I wouldn't really recommend it if you can afford better.

Melbourne is said to be the cultural capital of Australia and as such it has enough museums, theatres, sport stadiums, parks, cafés, bars and night clubs to surely keep you entertained through your stay. National Gallery of Victoria and Melbourne Museum are just some of the various free attractions around the city (the latter only free to students). Other cool places to check out are the beach in St. Kilda and the Galleon Café on St. Kilda boulevard. Many bars have live music on every night. There's also a cool little rooftop cider bar in the city centre across from Flinders Street station but you'll need some luck to find it.

As a country Australia is currently a lot more expensive than New Zealand (Australian dollar is around 0,80€ while the kiwi dollar rate is somewhere around 0,60€). A dorm bed from a hostel for the same price I paid in New Zealand (12-18€ a night) seems to be really hard to find. On top of this the very cheapest hostels in Australia can be very scruffy so in order to find as high a standard as in New Zealand you will have to pay more. To compensate for the high prices, local wages are a lot higher than in New Zealand but for your average backpacker that is not a big comfort. The good wages are the main reason why Australia is a more popular working holiday destination than New Zealand.

Picnic lunching at one of Melbourne's parks.

Melbourne CBD's skyline. 

Cheeky Rascal Raspberry, a very decent cider!

The Modern Age at one of the local bars.

Sunset at St. Kilda Beach.

Night at St. Kilda.