Geelong and Melbourne, October 2002

My car had to be returned to central Melbourne by 11am. I didn't fancy the prospect of finding an overnight car parking spot in the city, so decided to spend the night in Geelong. I stayed at the Carlton Central Hotel, a pub with reasonable cheapish accommodation. I had a wander around the shops, which weren't very exciting. I did manage to find an Internet Cafe in a pub, so was able to check my email. They also did some rather nice Boags Premium on draft, which is in my opinion far superior to the usual rubbish you get on tap. With an early start planned for the morning, I wasn't really that bothered when they started mopping the floor around me before 10pm. And this was on a Wednesday night too.

The drive to Melbourne should have been quick, but there were roadworks and 80km/h speed restrictions almost the entire way. Once we'd entered the outskirts, the jams started. Budget's office is right in the centre, which meant I had to brave driving along the city streets with the trams. This didn't really represent a problem as they didn't live up to the infamous reputation. After I'd dropped the car off, they kindly gave me a map of Melbourne city centre. I did remark that it would have been better if I had been given one before, but the idea that they might be available in Sydney was a bit of an alien concept. My bill also had to be done in Sydney, so I never got a credit card receipt. Fortunately there wasn't a query.

The Hotel Bakpak was nearby, so I checked in there. There were reasonable facilities with a mini-cinema and cable films on show, which was impressive, though I never used it. Downstairs was a bar and they organised some entertainment such as a Halloween party and a casino night. I needed to book the bus to the airport, but the people on the front desk didn't seem to have much of a clue. Eventually I found one of them who knew that they did do pickups and gave me the number. Otherwise I would have had to go to Spencer Street Station, a fair walk with my luggage, which seemed to get heavier with each week.

I didn't do that much in Melbourne. I did visit the Botanical Gardens and they are well worth a look and free. They've got plants from all over the world as well as all over Australia. The Yarra river is a nice walk too, and the weather had decided to behave itself. It was pleasant in the day, though it got colder in the evenings. If you're into shopping, there are plenty of shops in Melbourne.

Finally, the day came to leave. Qantas cancelled the flight because of a bird strike. I know it wasn't their fault, but they had no replacement plane and they didn't really have to leave us waiting in the check-in queue for 3 hours before telling us what was going to happen. Eventually they put me on a Singapore Airlines flight, with a long stop in Singapore. It took over 40 hours my original scheduled depature time until I got back to London. It was not the best way to finish off the trip.

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