Oct 27 - Two Flights and Chilly Temps

3 AM came waaaay too early, but we dragged ourselves down to reception, checked out and hopped in a taxi to the airport. Taxis are so pricey here, and the 5 minute ride to the airport cracked the 20 dollar mark. We flew with Virgin Blue airline from Cairns to Sydney. This is a no-frills airline even more than Westjet, etc. with no TVs, no snacks and no drinks. But it's cheap. We landed and took awhile to get off the plane due to delays on the tarmac and had 5 minutes to get to the next gate to catch our next flight before check-in closed. Made it just in time. The Sydney to Melbourne flight was shorter than the Cairns to Sydney flight. Before we knew it we were stepping off the plane into chilly air (15 Celsius) of Melbourne (or Melbin as the locals pronounce it). Less than 4 hours to cover the same distance that had taken us the last 44 days to cover on the way up.

We took the "Skybus" from the airport to the city center then a train from there to the area of Collingwood (sounds like LA), where our hostel is. We had the name and address of the hostel, but had no idea where the street was. We tried to find maps in gas stations, but there were none, so we walked until we found a McDonald's and used their wifi to look it up. 2 KM away. Sigh. Off we walked with our very heavy backpacks and eventually arrived at Johnson Street. Wait a minute, the hostel is on Johnston Street, with a T! Awwwww, seriously?? Yep. No clue where that is... Back to McDonald's we went, grabbed a meal to boost the spirits and then had them dashed when we saw it was 1.5 KM more to get to the proper Johnston street. But we had lots of time, so we walked slowly over and finally arrived. The area around is a bit sketchy, as hostel neighbourhoods tend to be, but the hostel seems nice and is of the small variety, so you get a good homey feel, instead of the large, corporate feel of some other hostels like Base or Gilligan's. Picked up some pasta and garlic bread for supper then chilled out and watched terrible Australian tv til bed.