The next morning Darren has to go to work so Mark drops us at the station so that Darren can go to the city and I can get off at Brighton. I do a last minute shop and then head into the city myself to meet our guest for 3 nights - Tom. Tom is someone I worked with at Messier Services in Gloucester and will be our first guest, and the first person I've seen from home! He's been travelling for the last few months, and Melbourne is one of his stops before heading to New Zealand.
I meet Tom at Flinders Street station, under the famous clocks and bring him and his back packs back to Brighton. Washing on! Darren gets home from work early so the 3 of us head to Church Street for some cake at the Dendy Deli. In the evening we have a barbie (putting our Christmas present from mum and dad to good use!) and then watch a dvd that Tom has bought for us.
The next day is New Year's Eve and it's 38 degrees! We get the bus to St Kilda and show Tom a few of the sights and take a walk to the end of the pier where there's a good view of the city and the beaches. After that we head back to Brighton where the boys play on the X-Box for a bit. I think Tom was glad of somewhere he could just relax after having stayed in many hostels on his travels! We then grab some chips (Tom and I have shark) before getting ready for a night out to celebrate the New Year!
I had New Year's Eve all mapped out! Meet up with friends in a bar on Chapel Street, go into the city to meet up with more friends for the 9pm fireworks and then go to Port Melbourne to meet up with more friends for some fizz on the beach and watch the 12 o'clock fireworks.....best laid plans and all that!
We meet up with friends on Chapel Street and have a few drinks there before heading to the city.
As we are waiting for the train the sky suddenly blackens and the lightening starts. By the time we reach the city it's chucking it down! We manage to meet up with our friends, but because of the lightening the fireworks are delayed. Luckily I brought a brolly with me and the 5 of us stand around and wait for the fireworks, along with a lot of other people with the same idea!
At about 9.30pm there's a break in the weather and the fireworks begin - not the most impressive display, but the fork lightening that followed was quite impressive!
After the fireworks we hang around for a bit debating whether to chance going to Port Melbourne or not. The decision was a no because the weather didn't look like it was going to let us go to the beach. We try to find a bar close by that was still letting people in, but at $160 per person we decided to give it a miss! We said our 'Happy new Year's' and 'Goodbye's' to our friends and headed back to Brighton and saw the New Year in at a local bar in Brighton! Not quite what I had in mind, but a good night anyway! Still can't believe I carried a bottle of bubbly around with me all night and ended up bringing it home again unopened!
Lots of texts were sent back and forth to the UK wishing everyone Happy new Year - even though they still had another 11 hours to wait til theirs arrived! Lots of people we would have liked to have seen the new year in with - but to be honest with the rain we could have been back home - although it's a lot warmer here!
New Year's Day and Tom, Darren and I went to the Coffee Club for brekkie. Tom took on the Coffee Club Big Breakfast and managed it, even mopping up the last of the egg with his toast - we were impressed!
After breakfast we went to the MCG to do the tour and go to the National Sports Museum. It was nice to have Tom as an excuse to do something touristy! The tour was really good, and for an older gentleman, Max our tour guide didn't half move around the stadium with some pace! We got to stand on the grass and we also saw Dwayne Bravo (a West Indian cricketer, so I'm told!). An impressive part of the tour was to go into the Member's Lounge which was dead posh. We were allowed to sit on the leather couch that is reserved for the oldest members and has the best view of the oval. As we sat down there was the sound of a clatter of tiny things hitting the highly polished wooden floor and everyone looked in my direction. I was mortified as I realised that my beaded bracelet had broken and the tiny beads were scattering all over the place. I then had to bite my lip to try and stop laughing and Max continued. The beads are still there as far as I know and I'm just praying that one of the oldest members doesn't have a mishap on that highly polished floor with tiny beads all over it!
One more night with Tom staying and then in the morning, backpack crammed full again, we head into the city to say our farewells, and wish Tom well with the rest of his adventure. It was lovely to have someone from home to stay and show them where we live and what we're up to now! We're quite proud of it all!!!
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