Back in Melbourne, we decided to stay at the Market Inn Hostel for the time we should have been staying at the volunteer house. The Market Inn was wonderful; cosy, homely and gave off a very welcoming atmosphere. That weekend, we did a spot of shopping and visited the Old Melbourne Gaol (pronounced as jail, not ga-owl as we initially thought) and the Museum. These visits made me realise just how British Australia’s history is because of the large number of convicts that had been sent there in the eighteenth century. I shouldn’t have been surprised really because even though Australia is the world’s oldest continent inhabited for more than 60,000 years by Aborigines, it was settled by the British over 200 years ago, in 1788, and since then has transformed from a colonial outpost into a nation with a population of about 20 million people.
One other memorable experience I have while staying at the Market Inn is becoming friendly with one of the receptionists, Julie, who invited us to join her and a couple of other guys at The Swan pub. Once I found out that Kym Valentine (aka neighbours Libby Kennedy) would be there performing in a band, I jumped at the chance – I’m not even sure if the boys were that bothered about going but I was ecstatic, so I hardly gave them a choice! I’m such a huge fan of neighbours so there was no way I was missing an opportunity to meet her. Once we got there and I saw Kym I suddenly found I was too nervous to introduce myself. We did get to have a chat with her though; Julie introduced us to her after discovering we were too scared to pluck up the courage!
Tags: Australia