After roughing it on the road trip it was time for the group to enjoy a little city living. Half of the group checked into a pretty nice hostel, Urban Central. The rest of us bums sponged off them. It was easy enough to get to the showers without a key, and the kitchen was even easier to access for outsiders. This was a particularly sweet deal as they offered free breakfast and then pasta, rice, tea and coffee all day long. Needless to say we parked up in their cap park and took full advantage. We were scoring free breakfasts and hot showers long after the others had checked out, and I imagine Toby is eating some free muesli or toast as I write, 3 weeks after checkout.

It was a shame that that another hostel had been booked for the rest of the planned Melbourne stay, but the beach in St Kilda was all too tempting. Luckily Carolyn had a friend in St Kilda that we had also met randomly last year while tubing, so the vano’s had an apartment to crash in! Not wanting to outstay our welcome, after a few nights we were back sleeping in the van on a side street. Thankfully St Kilda had a few well shaded, quiet, and spacious streets where no one bothered us. I know it doesn’t sound appealing, but we slept well, were right next to St Klida Botanical Gardens, and were within strolling distance of the fun fair, metro and beach. The street was even big wide enough for us to play some frisbee.

Sleeping arrangements aside, the most memorable moment in Melbourne was probably Toby’s breakdown. It was impressive and a massive relief when the interceptor got everyone safely to Melbourne, but when we tried to leave the Urban Central car park there wasn’t any life in the old Camry. We called road side assistance, the Aussie equivalent of the AA, and were told the alternator had come lose so the battery would not charge. The mechanic reluctantly charged the battery and told Toby to go to the nearest garage. Everyone else had gone sightseeing, while Carolyn and I headed for an Internet cafe. Half way there Carolyn got a call from Tobster saying he had broken down and needed some help.

We trudged around a couple of garages to no avail, when finally one guy was kind enough to lend us a massive car battery and a set up jump leads. Carolyn carried the oily jump leads while I lugged the massive battery right through the up-market riverside area of Melbourne. I felt and looked like a right tool, but any sympathy should be reserved for Toby, who had broken down right in front of the traffic lights outside of the Melbourne Aquarium. One of the busiest parts of town. Apparently he had rounded up some passers by and pushed it on to the pavement. Any annoyance we had about carrying the gear through town was immediately lifted when we saw Toby sat on his bonnet reading a book, being stared at by all the passing tourists.

When we asked Toby why he was in the middle of town, so far away from the nearest garage, he said the garage looked a bit pricey so he was driving around to find a cheaper one. Typical. Later, the mechanic said a bolt had sheared off, and we convinced him to do a ‘temporary’ fix and tighten the remaining blot. As far as I am aware the interceptor is still going strong, but Toby has plans to make the twelve hour drive to Sydney. We have our fingers crossed!

There was quite a lot to see and do in Melbourne, but I rather typically gave most of the sights a miss. Some I am glad about, such as the Neighbors Tour which was apparently a waste of fifty bucks, and the fun fair which looked a little rough around the edges. Others I wish I had made the effort to see, such as the Laneways and the Edge. I did however get to experience the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for a 20/20 match. It was an brilliant sunny day and the beer was lovely and cold! Zead, Luke and I went to the match, where I think Victoria beat Tasmania. The cricket became irrelevant when we moved to the Bogen part of the stadium. Instead of watching sixes getting smashed out of the ground, we were watching the locals get thrown out one by one and then the occasional fight. It was all in very good humor though, and I think its refreshing to get a bit lairy every once in a while.

Another major part of our agenda was the visit to Bells Beach, the setting for the final, and rather epic scene in the film Point Break. We made the effort to watch the movie before our visit and got rather excited about walking the famous beach that had played host to Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. The weather was a bit below par though and there was no surf to be had. We had a few pics and went on our way. Luckily we spotted a mob of kangaroos on our way back. They were down a long dirt track on someone’s private property, but we took the van down and spent a couple of minutes taking some pictures.

It was a sweet final day with Luke, and it had been a pleasure seeing him and Lisa in Oz. Hopefully they enjoyed the road trip as much as I did… maybe we’ll see them back in the southern Hemisphere in the coming months?