Last Weekend in Melbourne

Days 441-442, February 11-12, 2012

So with my initial depression, for the most part, sedated, I finally got myself out to explore some more of Melbourne. This would be my last weekend in the city and I didn’t want to leave without seeing a bit more of it, as well as seeing friends before I took off for Canberra.

Those that know me really well would not be surprised at the type of weekend I had. Low key, non-drunk, and full of board games. I don’t change all that much, do I?

Southern Cross Station

Saturday initially began with me attempting to get my photos for my passport picked up, but, as I will explain in my next post, it didn’t go quite as planned. But by then I was through with the red tape and bureaucracy and just did things my way. My fingers were crossed that I wasn’t shooting myself in the foot by going the “Fuck you government rules” route.

I knew I had to make my way to Canberra, the Australian capital, so I wandered over to the train station and purchased a ticket for Monday morning on a train/bus to get me there. Trains, at the time at least, didn’t go all the way to Canberra. I had to take a mix.

Waiting for a tram car

With work out of the way, I simply waited to hear back from Steve as he had invited me out to dinner with his boyfriend and their friends. I wandered through downtown Melbourne, admiring the sights of the Flinders Street train station and the surrounding church.

Eventually Steve got a hold of me and gave me  directions on how to get to where the little get-together with his boyfriend and their friends were. I grabbed the train and was picked up 40 minutes later by Steve and Matt.

The night was actually really fun. We all went out to this nice Mexican restaurant and, in general, had a great time. It was nice for me to just get away and ignore the problems for a little bit. Plus, it was fun to hang out with Steve again like old times. I never realized just how much I had missed him before that moment.

Of course, all good things come to an end and I had to say goodbye to them. It wouldn’t be the last time I saw Steve though, and I knew that so I wasn’t too sad yet.

The next day was the St.Kilda Festival, which is a major celebration of Australian music and summer in general. It’s also a major excuse for young Melbournians (Melbournites?) to engage in copious amounts of drinking as bars open super early and are packed to the brim with revelers. I even ended up running into Stav and Slim in one of the bars there. They were the two Aussie guys I had visited the Bolivian Pampas with way back in January of 2011. Drinking with them and their friends was an interesting experience as I learned just how straight Aussie guys attempt to attract women.

Not very successfully in this particular moment mind you.

The day ended with Hammond picking me up for another wonderful night of games and food. It was my official last night in Melbourne and leaving was a bit bittersweet. Both for the friends I was leaving behind, and the laptop. In my head, by leaving Melbourne, I was acknowledging that I wasn’t getting it back. But looking ahead, there was too much more to see and explore. I had to get my head back in the game.

“I Am Mr.X”