Keeping up with Beth

My time in Melbourne was the longest I spent in a place-minus Brisbane. I really loved it as a first city, and will always recommend it. When you’re travelling, and meeting other travellers and backpackers, you get some insight into other peoples standards of places, and what they like to experience. I personally have loved everywhere I have been. While I’ve had my favourites, everywhere I have been has had places I’ve loved and I’ve seen the beauty each location offers.

I’ve come across some people who love Melbourne and some who say they wouldn’t go back. I was in love with it when I was there, whether that was the novelty of being in Aus or just because its beautiful, I would definitely recommend it- especially for first time visits.

Most of the time I was there I did my own thing, and was relaxed as I settled in to my new surroundings but I had a couple of days where I joined tours and took part with groups

Public transport around Melbourne is so easy. Everywhere you go there is trams, buses trains. Even when I was on the border of Melbourne it was a simple journey to the centre either on the tram or the bus to a train. I enjoyed the journeys of just sitting and letting the city pass me by. I managed to get my bearings, seeing where the shopping centres and loads of restaurants were and high streets along the way. Even though I tended to stick to the centre, it felt beneficial to know where I could find other places.

On my first day exploring, I decided I would just let myself be completely open to the city and expose myself to what the day was like. I wondered around without fear of getting lost just to see what interesting things I could find. Straight away you can tell the city has an infatuation with street art. Every little alley way is covered in art and colour- it brings the city to life. I found a little park called Flagstaff Gardens which I loved. It was so calm and felt like you weren’t in the centre of a city even though you could see it right there. I love being in the city, but following my mothers steps, I also do love being surrounded by nature. Not necessarily walking round it all day every day as she might wish to… but a simple day admiring flowers and sitting around in something so open feels so calming to me. After that I made my way over to the botanical gardens, clearly having had enough of being surrounded by the buildings. Before you make it to the gardens there is a massive memorial shrine, stood in memory of those who made sacrifices in the wars. There is credit to so much there and it is truly beautiful and calming. There is a flag, stood with a flame next to it which was burning every-time I went down there. You can go inside the building and there is writings and diary’s and memoirs of the troops, and in the centre there was a box stood where people would gather and have some moments of silence to remember. As you walk round the building there are stairs which allows you to walk upstairs and see the most incredible view of Melbourne. I took so many pictures up here, and spent so long just staring out in absolute awe of the sight before me. If you follow my Instagram, you’ll have seen my little TOTD that I had up there in realisation of how much I have yet to discover, not just on this trip but in life! By this point I had met a few other people, and obviously when travelling, not many people are 18! I’d never thought about how young I was, I’d never realised just how much of a baby I was compared to the rest of the world. I felt like a grown up- I did grown up things back home like work, and theoretically I could do grown up things like cooking and washing (although I chose not to do those), and I had no reason to think I wasn’t capable of making this trip totally alone! I still have no reason to think I can’t do it! But so many people were amazed how young I was. To come out to Australia. Especially alone. I’d never even considered that the people I would meet here would be so much older than me. It felt like everyone went travelling at 18 and doing that solo never seemed that crazy if I’m honest…

But in that moment I realised, they were right. I had so much to discover. I had so much to see. I hadn’t experienced anything close to a fraction of what the world has to offer us. There is a whole planet that I haven’t seen. I’ve been in England for so long, I’ve been in my comfort zone forever and now I’m standing out on top of this building the other side of the world, and doing what I want to. And I am a baby! We all have things to learn, and age doesn’t change the fact we can constantly be learning and growing. I’d just never considered I hadn’t done much. Being born and raised in a village down in southern England, you learn it all pretty quick I guess. I hadn’t had time to do much outside of what there was to do! I’ve only been out of education for what 7 months? It’s felt like an eternity. I needed to do this and I’m so glad I did.

After that moment of total awe I made my way over to the botanical gardens. I wondered round with the sun beaming down, completely content. I was in warm sunny Australia, surrounded by sun and blue sky’s where everything looked beautiful and I had all the time in the world to do whatever I wanted. It was pure bliss.

That was day one and two.

I wasn’t really sure what else I had to do in Melbourne. So I took to Pinterest to see what the highlights of Melbourne were and to see how I would spend my time. I saw there was a zoo not too far away, again with the ease of public transport I could just grab a bus and be there in a flash. Or an hour… either way it was simple. I spent a day down the zoo admiring the animals. I’m still sad all the Tasmanian devils were hiding presumably from the sun. But they had seal lions and tigers and elephants and loads of other cool animals that actually British zoos don’t have! It was really simple, but filled my day and was just super cute!

Another day in Melbourne, I ended up down the dockyards. It wasn’t a particularly sunny day unfortunately, but it was really peaceful and calming. I left that morning not really sure what to do, but jumped on a tram and headed for wherever. My friend had recommended a few places for me and one of those happened to be the dockyards, so I figured I may as well take a peak even if I don’t end up there for too long, I had to get out and it seemed as good as anywhere else. And those always end up being the best places. I had a really lovely time and found a lovely little restaurant where a waitress had a conversation with me about England and travelling alone. I’ve never really been too fussed about being alone- perks of being an introvert? So travelling alone never seemed like a crazy thought for me, and sitting in restaurants alone is something I’ve done quite a bit in Australia. I don’t think its crazy or anything, But I would never do it back home- I had no reason to if I wanted food I would eat at home, grab drive-thru or take my friends with me. But those weren’t really options out and about when you’re hungry and by yourself. It’s an interesting experience and I tend to end up on my phone, but its relaxing, you just sit and eat your food. No pressure for conversation. It helped there was a pretty nice view of the docks by me, so I could just enjoy the moment.

I also took a tour trip to Phillip Island. Back home, it had been recommended to me, with the plug of there being penguins there. I realised it was a trek to go on my own without a car, but there were so many tours around especially for backpackers, and since I hadn’t done any day trips really, I decided I could splash out on this expensive day trip- thats what I was out here for- experiences! It was a beautiful day, we saw so much wildlife around, and had several stops such as this beautiful beach. That was another moment I treasure and was reminded of the other day. I’d spent a lot of time on my phone to be honest, and I was loving the experience but being solo for a while can feel lonely, and my phone worked as a connection to people back home. I don’t really have FOMO I’m not too fussed on not being home and being in with everything- perhaps because I speak to everyone so much or maybe just because I’m happy with doing my thing. My phone just helped me have connections to people whilst I was staying somewhere that made it tricky to spend time with people. Anyway, this beach was about one of the first moments I could truly spend completely alone, I left my phone on the bus just kept my GoPro with me, so I was left with nothing to do except admire everything about this beach, despite the wind, despite the clouds, despite the noise. It was beautiful and I gave up taking pictures half way down. They couldn’t do the experience and the view justice.

The rest of that day was awesome too, seeing wild kangaroos, and a penguin during the day. The tour guide was so informative too, with so many story’s to tell of the island, its aboriginal background, its uses now, random facts about certain locations. Just everything was so factual and well informed I came out of it with so many facts. I decided I loved tours.

On my last day in Melbourne I did a walking tour with a native. He had a passion for the city and so much information. He was super nice and again had loads of insane facts. Most of the people on the tour had just arrived in Melbourne, and after walking round I realised how much I missed and what else I could have seen! But it was so cool seeing streets filled with art, petitions and creative expression. He even knew about the controversies of the street arts and the recent histories! It was so interesting and there are some amazing moments across Melbourne, if you get the chance make sure you go!