Happy Birthday to ME!

On Friday night after arriving and having some dinner, Paula joined us at our hostel and we drank some goon and went out hoping to meet up with the Irish lads (minus 1) we’d met in Queenstown. It was our only chance to see them as they were leaving for Sydney (and apparently a superior St Paddy’s Day celebration) on Saturday. Since it was dark and we had only just got to the city that morning we didn’t really know where we were going, but eventually found a bar with no cover charge and live music. The band was pretty good, played an interesting mix of things including BackStreet Boys “BackStreet’s Back.” We met some Aussie dudes on the dance floor that I decided were lame, and well I thought the whole place was kinda lame after the band stopped. Throughout all this Kate and Paula were texting back and forth with the Irish guys, trying to figure out where they were and telling them to meet up with us. They kept saying they were ‘in transport,’ which we took to mean as they were in the progress of going from point A to point B. Eventually I looked at one of these texts and said I think that the name of the bar is Transport. Duh. Haha. So we found out where it was and went there. The rest of the night was mayhem as per usual with the Irish fellas. We met there a few of their friends, also Irish, who will be in Melbourne for St Paddy’s, sweet! Anyway, I was given a few Birthday drinks (it was well after midnight by this point) and a tequila shot that did me in (didn’t puke! Just started drinking water after that, haha). We ended up all going over to the bar under our hostel “The Joint” for a little dancing and more fun. It was a good night and ended late- 5am! A couple people ended up sleeping on our hostel room floor, how they got past the Nazi security at this place is a mystery to me.

I slept late on my birthday and shortly after waking got a call from Mom, Dad, and Julia. It was awesome and so great to hear their voices. A little later Laurie and Diva called, it was great to hear form them too. Shortly into the call Laurie asked if she could call me right back, I said sure. Then there was a knock on our door and Kate answered it and it was Laurie and Diva!! BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER! The three of them pulled the whole thing off and I had NO IDEA! Before we left Byron we had all planned on meeting up in Melbourne this week, but when we were Sydney I’d emailed Diva and Laurie and they said that Diva couldn’t afford it right now and that someone had just been fired at Laurie’s work and so she wasn’t going to be able to get the time off to come down. I bought it all! I was so surprised to see them standing there (didn’t help that I was pretty much still drunk, haha). So after the excitement of their arrival they checked in and then we went out for a 2pm breakfast and then wandered around the city for a few hours. It was cold and rainy and I wasn’t feel too hot from the night before so came back to the hostel around 4 for a shower and nap. The hot water wasn’t working at our floor and reception just told me to keep trying all the floors, so I found hot water 2 floors up. Odd.
We went out to dinner at a place called “Spaghetti Tree,” they didn’t do doggie bags, which was very weird, but I got to blow out a candle and eat cake and ice cream! After dinner we met up with Paula (who’d been drinking since 5pm! It was now about 11) got more goon, put on my Diva-made birthday tiara, and then went back to Transport. We hit the dance floor hard and hilarity followed in the form of a cardboard cactus. We wanted to go to another bar but everyone we asked ‘where to go’ weren’t from Melbourne and didn’t know. We ended up back at The Joint, danced a little, and then went back to our room for a goon break. That was the end for Kate, and after a dog pile we went back downstairs for more dancing. The place was a lot busier then the night before, which was good, but after Diva and Laurie came in from their dart they wanted to go to bed too. Booooo, it was only 3:30am! And the bar was open until 7! Haha
What a night!

This morning we hit St Kilda Beach. It was a cute little corner of Melbourne, unfortunately the weather was sucky again, raining and cold for the second day in a row. We walked a lot, sometimes in the wrong direction, and I ended up coming back to the city ahead of the girls to get groceries, while they went out for Asian cuisine. I think it’ll be a easy night, but who knows, round 3 could happen!