Melbourne Beginnings

So, finally my blog catches up with me. Here I am, in Melbourne! Almost a year after I came the first time, when I discovered how much I like this city, this place so much like Montreal and yet not Montreal (definitely not 30 below at any rate.) This city of art/design/culture, ultra ultra hipsters, and mild weather. This is going to be the boring part of my adventure. Well.. exciting to me, but boring to you perhaps because I won't be moving around anymore for yet another big chunk of time. I'm basically here to try out real life. Actually, I reckon this will make my blog more interesting.
Yes, I DID just say I Reckon.

The sad truth is I need to work and save up cash. In other words, I unfortunately spent in Byron all the money I saved in Byron. Crud. On the upside, I now have one more thing to check off my list of typical-backpacker-experiences-to-have-in-oz: being terribly broke and desperate for employment!

First things first. When Tamar left, I stayed at "The Nunnery", a lovely homey hostel in Fitzroy (aka, Melbourne's Plateau Mont Royal...) Room 20 -- a ten share dorm with 5 sets of bunk beds, a dresser, a few narrow closets, and two couches in the middle -- was to become my new home. I couldn't have hoped for better roommates; mostly travelers like me who had just arrived to settle in Melbourne. These people, little did I know at that moment, were to become good friends of mine in the weeks following. Maybe even years following: who knows!

Top - Room 20, Below - some of Melbourne peeps, St Paddys day.

I was intent on starting my job and apartment hunt right away.. and... of course I procrastinated. Like MAD. But this was more than just normal job-hunt-avoidance. This procrastination was being fueled by EVERYONE at the hostel bemoaning the impossibility of finding a job and home due to 1) the fact that our arrival coincided with the beginning of the uni semester, 2) the global economic crisis, and 3) being a short term backpacker on top of it all. Who wants a housemate/employee who will leave in 2 months when they can have one for a full year?

Living in a hostel again didn't help either. The temptation to go out drinking every night proved irresistible, and I would up a few pounds heavier while my wallet got a few pounds lighter. That said, I had some really memorable nights! About a week into my time here we had a long music and beer fueled night with a few guitars, my uke, and lovely talented musicians and voices all around. The next few days as everyone recalled how fun that night had been, I recalled with a touch of sadness how fun and spontaneously musical just about every night in byron had been.

Music Nite! Chris, Corrine and Dee

(Ok, so I still missed Byron. Achem, still miss Byron. The feeling will subdue a bit over time, but I suspect it will never ever go away completely. It's like missing Saturday mornings as a kid. Or high school crushes. You know you can't relive these joys, can't actually revisit them, if you do it will be like going back to your high school as an adult - everything seems small, a bit cold, and a bit dirty and smelly.. But you can go there in your mind when you need to access that pure, naive joy you felt at the time. )

Having drinks with Madi and Kayla outside Black Cat

I spent scattered days pounding the Melbourne pavement, handing out resumes in shops, cafes & restos, lying through my teeth the whole time about my experience, my intended stay, etc. Job and house hunting became quite discouraging quite quickly! And then, on the cusp of reassessing my plan out of desperation, I was delivered a wonderful gift from Kayla; a new home in a lovely apartment with fabulous housemates just across the park from the hostel; exactly where I wanted to live. Though still unemployed, this was enough to keep me going, just enough of a taste of the months to come to revive my motivation. The next few months in Melbourne stared to take shape in my minds eye, and I found myself excited again.

thank god.

Grant, Rose, and my housemate Chrissy in the kitchen of my new home!