Round the Bay in A Day (or two) 2010

This weekend is the annual Round the Bay bike ride which circumnavigates Port Philip Bay, crossing between Queenscliff and Sorrento by ferry.  This you can see on the Map below is a bloody long way - 200km to be exact. So no, I am not participating. I am not that mad. Yet.

Accidents Are Prohibited On This Road

Accidents Are Prohibited On This Road – Russell McGliton

I have always thought Melbourne a close cousin of Manchester, my home city in the UK.  Melbourne tends to come out just on top by a cat's whisker, mainly due to the ocean, the beach and the weather, but those unfair natural advantages aside, they are uncannily similar. Both begin with an M for a start. Then there are the fine historic buildings & museums, great restaurants, their lively music scenes, world class sport, buzzing night life, and the fact they are both second cities (just don’t shout that too loudly to either Melburnians or Mancunians – another thing that they have in common.) There is also something about the vibe: energetic without being hectic, especially compared to their first city counterparts.

The YHA - now available with X Factor.

Cell Block H.

I remember my first ever night at a YHA Hostel.  I also remember what I said when I left that place – ‘Never, ever, again.’ I had fallen asleep in a four bunk room in the Lakes with two of my mates and woke up to find a complete stranger in the bed above me. No one had told me that we were sharing a room. I mean, he could have been an axe murderer or something.

The experience did nothing to dispel the notion that hostels were more-or-less the same as asylum seekers detention centres, crammed with old bunk beds, peeling wallpaper, stained carpets and over populated bathrooms. True, they offered the basic necessities - a clean bed, a bathroom and a kitchen, but that was pretty much it. If you were really lucky, you might have been given a towel.