Giving Geordie Shore a Run for its Money in Melbourne, Australia

I've thought a lot about how to write this first Oz entry.

Should I skip it entirely and go straight to my time in Cairns and travelling down the east coast? Is this blog just to show you how every place is amazing and I'm having the most amazing time? Or am I telling you, truthfully, the things that stood out for me in each country, good or bad? With there being so little/no bad things happening during my time in Asia I've never had to ask myself until now, but I've been honest.

At risk of airing dirty laundry I think I'm going to continue to be honest; my shining stars at Base St. Kilda hostel deserve their air time and this next experience is a big one that influenced many decisions afterwards. So I'm going to tell you why, when I had every intention of sticking around for a good 3 or 4 months in Melbourne, after only a few weeks my mind had been dramatically altered and frankly I couldn't wait to leave.

Obviously, and shamefully, it involves a boy.

Which I'll get to shortly, but first let's rewind to when I first arrived on Australian autumn soil. Dazed with that well-perfected backpacker tan (aka layers of grime and dirt), in my now horrifically out of place traveller pants (those purple elephant ones that's worn by 75% of all backpackers at any one time in SE Asia), I ran into the arms of my loves, Nita and Adile. They were my besties for my first three months of my year in Alicante, Spain. I hadn't seen them in about 3/4 years but it felt like no time had passed at all. Adile and her family welcomed me into her home and her adorable mum had a bed made up for me and there waiting on top was fresh PJs, a toothbrush and a dry, clean towel (such a rare, sweet gift in the life of a backpacker). I felt so pampered and safe, another rare treat for backpackers.

Adile and Nita were incredibly generous with their time, helping me get my CV (résumé) ready and showing me their city.

In many ways it's oddly similar to London, with its business area and high rises similar to Canary Wharf; smaller, pedestrian cobbled streets, lined with boutique cafés and restaurants that reminded me of Covent Garden. There's even a river that runs through it and over-priced restaurants that line its very own Southbank (seriously, they call it Southbank too).

Melbourne city dwellers claim to make the best coffee in the world: serious coffee snobs; Australian's disdain for average coffee, resulted in mass closure of the Starbucks chain. 60 in total across the country from the year 2000. Melbourne has three left standing in their city centre where, in the same space, London has nine stores open. I can neither confirm or deny whether the coffee is world-class (not being a huge connoisseur myself), but I can say a Melburnian takes it very seriously and will not hestitate to return bad coffee. I had a Melbourne friend recently return a coffee from a McDonald's in Argentina. Don't worry, I did point out how ridiculous this was.

Melbourne also holds a mad-love for dumplings. As though in the chinese food which seem to be a poor uncooked spin-off of spring rolls. I seriously don't get it. I'm not kidding when I say there are dozens of restaurants catering just for their dumpling crush, from the popular chain Dumplings Plus to Dumpling Sisters, they plonk a few on a plate, show you where the soy sauce is and charge what I deem to be the equivalent of a what a dealer supplying a high class drug might charge. I guess feeding addiction will never be cheap...

So, three days after arriving, with my now updated CV in hand, I started handing them out in cafés, bars and restaurants. So I hadn't waitressed in 6 years? I still knew how to carry three plates at a time which is what I told the many bar/cafe managers. By the end of my first day looking for jobs I already had two trial shifts lined up for that weekend, I was feeling pumped and confident. Getting a job was going to be no problem! The rest of the week flew by in absolute luxury for me. Nita's mum made the family and myself the most epic BBQ, my first Aussie one! And honestly, nothing else lived up to my whole time in Australia!

We pampered ourselves with girly nights - movies, wine and cheese - oh, how I'd missed them! And I finally got to see the unedited version of Fifty Shades of Grey, I'd seen it once in a cinema in Hanoi. Let's just say Vietnam's highly (and badly) edited version was.. short and... entirely pointless. Girls night out in Melbourne was so much fun, dressing up, wearing heels again for the first time in months- what luxury for a backpacker!

I had a great time that week and I'm so grateful to their families for all their kindness and generosity for taking in a stray. So I looked at hostels and started asking around about the 'work for accommodation' situation that so many of them did. Many seemed big, unfriendly places with unwelcoming staff and odd work-for-accomm policies. Finally, I stumbled onto one twenty minutes out of the city centre in the small seaside suburb of St. Kilda called Base (a popular chain of hostels in Australia and New Zealand), they had a notice up saying they were looking for a receptionist. I asked the blonde girl behind the front desk who had the first welcoming, friendly smile I'd encountered in my search of Melbourne hostels. This was Holly, she'd quickly become one of my fave Aussies.

I asked her about the job, she then introduced me to Matty, he had striking red hair and giant grin. He asked a little about myself and then said I'd be starting on Monday! I'd be working around 20 hours a week on reception in exchange for a bed. Compared to prices of rooms/beds in the city I'd be getting reasonably good deal. I was so chuffed things were working out so well, thinking it'd only be another week or so until I'd have picked up another paid job on the side. At this point, if someone had told me I'd be begging to leave Melbourne in a few weeks time I'd have told them to sod right off.

St Kilda beach

That Monday, I'd packed my things and unwittingly moved into the real life Big Brother/Geordie Shore reality TV show. No script or 'scenes created for your entertainment' necessary. I was entirely overwhelmed at first, I was the new kid in what seemed to be a well established group of friends. I unpacked my things in my new bedroom, that I'd be sharing with 6 others. When I was there I believe there were about a dozen staff all work for accomm. From reception, bar, breakfast, maintenance and activities, we all had our own jobs.

The building was three floors with a bar/club downstairs and a kitchen and lounge area in the wide well lit basement. It was a big party hostel. Staff perks included cheap booze, free chips every night, roasts on Sundays. With all this, it made it very easy to never leave the hostel. Over time it would become our very own weird self-imposed prison.

I chose top bunk for my permanent residence - choosing a top bunk in travelling is like saying you chose to have food poisoning that day you got the shits - it's ridiculous, nobody ever wants top, it's a right pain if you leave something on your bed by accident and ladders often pierce bare feet - but the usefulness (utility?) of having a bottom bunk became redundant when they made the bunks so small you couldn't even sit up straight on the bottom without hitting your head. So I introduced myself to a few people in the room, I felt intimidated and out of the loop with a lot of in-jokes banding around the place. They left in ones and twos to go do this or that. It felt very different from dorms in Asia where people came and went everyday.

Before I go further *small disclaimer* I want to stress that these guys, my Base buddies, did truly become my Base family - they were a great craic. I love them all and am on good terms with everyone, including the boy (which is why is this is odd to write). Everyone knew everyone's business and I was honest about how I felt in the beginning too, so there's no surprises here (winkyfaceemoji)...

As I said, they all left. I didn't receive an invitation to follow, perhaps they didn't realise I'd have wanted to join them. So when the boy came along (who'll remain in this blog as the boy, but he does have an actual name) I was essentially friendless. I was far from home and I was desperate to feel settled. I think this is why it happened the way it did.

He worked and lived at the hostel too (big warning flags, I know). He was adorably charming and swept me off my feet with his sincerity. We immediately spent all our time together. It was noticed by all staff, we were the new bit of gossip but I guess but we weren't hiding it. It got intense way too fast. I'm talking like a week or two tops, that fast. It was going in a weird direction, I could tell that too. Then just like that, he dropped me. I knew this was for the best, we were already starting to wind each other up in some ways. It was like a whole mini relationship condensed into a ridiculously short space of time. If you take a two month relationship and you take out all the hours you actually spend together in each other's company, getting to know one another and then add them up, that's probably the same amount of time the boy and I spent together.

Even though I knew it was a good thing, I was still gutted and very embarrassed that we were in that place now when everyone had seen us together in the hostel. My pride had taken a knock. Going from a little shaken up and feeling nauseous from the effects of emotional whiplash but thinking I'd be fine and I'd get over it in a couple of days... it all got infinitely worse with a new addition to the team. (I told you, Geordie Shore material.) A party night a couple of days after I'd told the boy I liked him and one day after we'd had the talk (in hostel years I guess it's the equivalent of one/two weeks later) the boy started making a play for the new new girl. She was tiny, pretty, edgy girl with a no-shit attitude and looked great in a yellow fedora. (Although she knew it and wore it inside too often for it to be okay.) The complete opposite of me, or at least that's what it felt like at the time. I, 100% knew that, if this had happened on the road travelling I'd be over it in a few days with a new group of friends to keep me occupied. But I wasn't on the road. I was the most stationary, the most stuck, I had ever been. I think that was around the time I booked my flight to Cairns, North Australia, for a few weeks time. I immediately felt lighter, as though an emotional albatross had been lifted from my neck. My Base family knew everything, they saw the drama unfold every night with front row seats. The situation was messed up, I was messed up. More than anything, I think little known insecurities had risen to the surface and were just plaguing me. Even though my time at Base was tainted I have so many fond memories, Laura became my biggest source of entertainment. Another fellow northerner, she is so straight talking, her turn of phrase just cracked me up constantly.

So many of the team went out of their way to make me laugh, cheer me up, make my much missed and favourite cream tea!! Buy me snakes (of the sweet variety), go get fro-yo with me or a Kit Kat McFlurry. Making me brews while I was on reception. Watching scary movies! You know who you are if we’re still snapchatting on the regular, I just think you are all the bees knees.

So the situation was an intense one for all of us there and if you think I was the centre of all the drama for six weeks, you can think again. A lot was going on, all the time. It became a complicated spiders web of names and games. It's certainly not my place to say, you wouldn't believe me if I did. Base buds- I hope you're all thinking back to your own dirty little secrets and laughing back at how ridiculous we were! Apart from the awesome group, there were other things I loved about my time in Melbourne. I loved my job as a receptionist. I enjoyed being the person to welcome others. Many had flown in from other countries and having been that exhausted solo traveler on many occasions l knew how much a difference friendly staff at a hostel could make to their stay and it makes you feel that bit more comfortable when you arrive. I was happy I could be that person for other people. I had excellent managers and a great team on reception to work with. This only went to highlight how much I disliked trying to get back into restaurant hospitality, too many rude managers with superiority complexes. After having three years of working as a professional, speaking cordially to people and politeness going along way - I completely forgot that is not how it is in the restaurant game. After trying for four weeks I admitted defeat, another pushing factor to moving on.

When the time came to leave Melbourne, I was sad to leave another amazing group of people but so many are Brits so I know we'll be crossing paths again! As I waited in the airport for my flight to Cairns I felt lighter than air, I could breathe again. The hostel life was a unique, unforgettable experience, I don't regret it - oldest cliché in the book but we live and learn - if I was to work in a hostel again (and I probably would) I'd like to think I'd be wiser and that's advice I'd give to others.

Sunset in St Kilda So I was on the road again! Next stop: the Great Barrier Reef! Rainforests, sailing adventures and speeding through tropical sand islands in 4 wheel drives (andnomoreboys).

The Great Ocean Road

#hostellife #hostel #backpacking #travelling #travel #melbourne #australia #base