I just paid real money for plane tickets. Also booked a hotel for the duration of PAX AUS. Still planning what to do for the remainder of the time there. Lots of options.
If you have any questions or want any advice or recommendations, just ask.
Rym has had much talk of bailing, so bah unto him!
I've some confidence that he won't pike out. Not full confidence, but some.
Oh, did I ever mention to you that PAX also co-incides with the first blush of Thredbo's Ski season, and we're looking to have a GREAT year this year? Not many people around at that time, either, most wait for the September school holidays, so the gorgeous long runs are relatively open and unpopulated, six kilometers of practically pristine powder. No use telling you this, though, neither of us are big skiers, I don't think, so forget it, doesn't matter. I'm just rambling.
Rym is big on skiing. I refuse to ski because broken legs. I especially don't want to get injured on the other side of the world.
Tell me all the things I should do. I've pretty much given up on going to see things that are too far away from Melbourne since it will take a very long travelling time. Even Sydney is pretty far away. I will probably spend a day or two seeing city things in Melbourne itself. I definitely want to see an Australian sporting event of the Rugby or AFL variety. Mostly other than that, I want to see your crazy ass nature without getting poisoned to death.
Oh mans, I would try to go see a rugby game where the Blacks visiting to see them perform the haka.
Did I ever tell you the story about how the Australian camp counselors taught us the haka, but told us it was some native america war dance. We did it during the Apache relay. Only after I got to RIT and had fast Internets did I realize.
Rym is big on skiing. I refuse to ski because broken legs. I especially don't want to get injured on the other side of the world.
I know, I'm just playing at blatant, clumsy manipulation for laughs. Not that it isn't true, but I'm just pissing around a bit.
Tell me all the things I should do. I've pretty much given up on going to see things that are too far away from Melbourne since it will take a very long travelling time. Even Sydney is pretty far away. I will probably spend a day or two seeing city things in Melbourne itself. I definitely want to see an Australian sporting event of the Rugby or AFL variety. Mostly other than that, I want to see your crazy ass nature without getting poisoned to death.
Well, the big east cities are cheap to fly between, if you book in advance, if you do decide you want to see some stuff outside of Melbourne. They're a pain in the ass to drive - it'd take me nine-ish hours to drive to Sydney from here - You can also catch the trains, which are quite plesant and well-appointed - None of that amtrak business here. But, you can save that for next time, if you want, there's no shortage of stuff to see and do in melbourne.
We'll get sport out of the way first - Always games on TV over the weekend, but fuck that. You can see that anytime. Live games, I'm pretty sure the Super Rugby qualifiers and Semis are held right at the same time as PAX, and you should be able to get tickets Right here, When they're available, IF they're available - the finals location is not public yet. Unfortunately, you're probably gonna miss the State of Origin, which is in Sydney on the 17th, right before. Wallabies Vs the British&Irish lions is too early, and sold out.
For AFL, there's an Adelaide Crows vs the Geelong Cats on the 21st, And then Freemantle Dockers vs the Crows on the 27th. Unfortunately, you have to order through ticketmaster, and tickets are not yet availiable, but the details(including when tickets are on sale) for the Crows and Cats game are here, and the details for Freemantle Vs the Crows is right here.
You can get tickets on game day, but don't rely on it. And even if you can, book beforehand, so that you don't get stuck in the fuckin' nosebleeds.
As for other things, You don't get many street festivals that time of year, sadly - they're always great. BUT, there is the Gertrude street festival. A friend of mine went last year, and she said it was extremely enjoyable.
One of the things that you might be interested in that you're JUST in time for is Open House Melbourne. It's not a boring real estate thing, what they do is they take a whole bunch of buildings - many historical - that you're normally not allowed to enter, and put on a whole ton of public tours. Check it out, see if you dig it.
Scienceworks is, admittedly, aimed toward a younger set, but it's still good fun. The ACCA and federation square are worth the time, too. Old Melbourne Goal is worth the trip, and I'm pretty sure that the Good Ship Polly Woodside will be around. Queen Victora Market is pretty cool, even though it's a old-school market. Melbourne is famous for it's restaurants, being founded by Batman, and it's cafes, but those can wait for later.
There's Luna Park, which is well known for it's Rather memorable entrance. It's also got the Scenic Railway, which despite the name, is actually the world's oldest continually operating rollercoaster. Free entry, but naturally, you pay for rides.
If you get a few spare hours, Wander around the middle of the city - Melbourne has this funny thing with laneways that's a bit like hong kong, they'll jam them full of shops, cafes, and other such things.
As for wildlife, there's two best options - Melbourne Zoo is internationally known for it's excellence, and you can do the whole pet a kangaroo, hold a koala thing there too. The other is to head out to Phillip Island - not far from the city, just outside of mornington, I think? - where you can see the Fairy Penguins, which are pretty much the most absolutely fucking adorable thing I've ever laid my eyes on. You could also just go out in the bush, but I don't personally know anyone I'd trust to take you out. Maybe investigate a tour or a guided bushwalk? I can't recommend much there without really looking into it, because I don't often take those tours, and I've not spent much time in the area outside melbourne. But if you can, I strongly recommend it, as the bush is absolutely breathtaking.
That's a super-broad overview, and only somewhat tailored - we can narrow it down, and add more as you eliminate or add things. At this point, time is on your side. I'll have more for you in future, when a)we've narrowed down some, and B)I've done some research on things other than what time the AFL and SRL are on.
Like... 60? I remember only ever needing to wear a sweater and that was after I had lived there for at least a year. I can imagine you would be fine with a sweater and may never need to even put it on.
Actually last time I visited WA it was winter and I never needed a sweater. Maybe a rain jacket would be more useful.
Matatat's pretty on the money. It's probably sweater/jumper weather at worst during the day, and some sort of rain-jacket will serve you well. It can get pretty chilly at night, though, down in the single digits, and sometimes with stiff winds that cut you to the bone - you could get by with a sweater and a light jacket, though, maybe? I'm pretty sure you think differently about the cold than I do, let alone handle it differently - You're from New York, dude. I never even saw snow till I was about 22.
Also, melbourne weather is famously schizophrenic, real four-seasons-in-one-day kinda stuff. Not much I can say to help with that, other than it might be wise to know where to grab a small, cheap umbrella, but just keep it in mind.
I gotta get down to Australia again. Last time I was there was 5 years ago. My mom goes about once a year to visit her family. I always end up going to Perth because of that but I want to go back to Brisbane since I haven't lived there for like 13 years or so.
I gotta get down to Australia again. Last time I was there was 5 years ago. My mom goes about once a year to visit her family. I always end up going to Perth because of that but I want to go back to Brisbane since I haven't lived there for like 13 years or so.
The Victory burnt down. Don't worry, though, they fixed it.
Few years back now, 2008. Burned out both the bars, so they ripped out the lot and rebuilt them to original, with a few little improvements. The Beat and The Wickam are still around, so's The Bank and the Valley burlesque. I think RG's would be new from when you were 13. Hungry Jacks in the mall is still there, so's valley maccas and valley rocksports, as is Off Ya Tree, but Tops closed down, it's just a movie theatre and arcade now.
Thankfully when I visited Melbourne I caught the tram from the cruise terminal, and there is a shop to buy tickets right there. I've had the same experience in many other cities though.
Thankfully when I visited Melbourne I caught the tram from the cruise terminal, and there is a shop to buy tickets right there. I've had the same experience in many other cities though.
I will now stop taking the excellent Metrocard system for granted. You can get a metrocard at any station 24/7 if you have a credit card. Sometimes a specific machine will be cash only if the credit card system is down. Sometimes the machine won't be able to make change for cash, if it runs out of change. But in both cases, the machine clearly says this before you start using it, and you can cancel.
I'll be the first to admit, the Go-card system in my city isn't that great either, only marginally better than Myki, mostly for availability and usability - they work with every form of public transport, and if you take the time to set it up ahead of time, you can even hire bikes with it, but that's another system that only recently started working with go-card, and has a lot of weird shit going on.
It's definitely something that sorely needs improvement - especially since they keep raising the paper-ticket fares to try and force people to use Go-card, but the go-card system is strange, doesn't work half the time, and it's fucking expensive either way. It's cheaper for me to drive in and park a little ways out, then walk, and takes about the same amount of time.
Churba - great guidance on Melbourne, thanks for putting in the time to spell somethings out for the visitors coming for PAX. As a new resident to Melbourne (from NZ) I can say the public transport is good and trams are the key - trams go from the central city to the PAX venue frequently - however its not like the underground - getting a myki is the only way to go but it will be a simple thing to have and gives you access to all of the public transport systems - train, buss and tram.
It will be winter and so short days will happen as well as cool / cold temperatures, as Churba said going for outdoors experiences will generally mean travelling and if you are here for a week you may not have sufficient time to travel or the budget to jet around the country - fly to Brisbane and snorkel the great barrier reef then go home - nope prob don't have time/money for that. I suggest you focus on socializing and enjoying the city and people but if you have some significant time I would look at internal flights and things to do elsewhere or consider a flight to NZ for some outdoor stuff - fly Melb Queenstown and soak up the mountain resort air and fly back.
just some ideas - shame its not summer here when PAX is on
Public transit systems where you can't buy tickets at any stop? Why would you do that? In New York, even if you don't have a Metrocard you can pay bus drivers for bus fare, and every subway stop has machines.
Thank you, this is just a happy overlap of a few of my skills, namely, traveling and fixer work. I've got some more, but I'm just making sure all my ducks are in a row first.
Generally, if you're only here for a week after PAX, you want to pick a city per trip, and do THAT one. Melbourne this time, Brisbane maybe next time, Sydney another time, etc. Even single-destination tourism can take a few days, like going out to see Ayers Rock or the reef.
Also, one big tip I should have given earlier - Fly into Melbourne-Tullamarine(MEL-YMML), NOT Avalon (AVV-YMAV). Avalon Airport is a miles from anywhere you want to be, and it's a pain in the arse to get back to civilization(or at least, Melbourne) from there.
Public transit systems where you can't buy tickets at any stop? Why would you do that? In New York, even if you don't have a Metrocard you can pay bus drivers for bus fare, and every subway stop has machines.
I think you can get paper tickets on Buses and at train stations, just not on the tram. I don't know why, presumably because Melbourne. I think you can get paper tickets from a few other places, but most of the time that I've been to Melbourne, I've either driven around, or been driven around.
Also, one big tip I should have given earlier - Fly into Melbourne-Tullamarine(MEL-YMML), NOT Avalon (AVV-YMAV). Avalon Airport is a miles from anywhere you want to be, and it's a pain in the arse to get back to civilization(or at least, Melbourne) from there.
Is that like how you don't fly into New York's JFK airport if you actually want to go into New York, or is it even worse than that?
Also, one big tip I should have given earlier - Fly into Melbourne-Tullamarine(MEL-YMML), NOT Avalon (AVV-YMAV). Avalon Airport is a miles from anywhere you want to be, and it's a pain in the arse to get back to civilization(or at least, Melbourne) from there.
Is that like how you don't fly into New York's JFK airport if you actually want to go into New York, or is it even worse than that?
Eeeh, not quite the same. It's more just a case that buses, trains, and other such things are practically unheard of out there, It's gonna cost you about a hundred bucks and take forever to catch a taxi to the CBD or anywhere near, and it's a nasty, shitty little terminal. The arrivals building is literally a corrugated steel shed, albeit a big one.
one other thing you might want to consider - a pre-paid mobile sim and swapping this into your phone for reduce data fees - wi-fi is not everywhere and this could help with your costs
one other thing you might want to consider - a pre-paid mobile sim and swapping this into your phone for reduce data fees - wi-fi is not everywhere and this could help with your costs
Oh yeah - don't fucking use your roaming data. Turn data off before you leave, or it will cost you a lot of fucking money. You can buy prepaid sims everywhere, mostly newsagents and phone stores, and they've usually got a decent amount of data per sim/top-up.
Comments
Tell me all the things I should do. I've pretty much given up on going to see things that are too far away from Melbourne since it will take a very long travelling time. Even Sydney is pretty far away. I will probably spend a day or two seeing city things in Melbourne itself. I definitely want to see an Australian sporting event of the Rugby or AFL variety. Mostly other than that, I want to see your crazy ass nature without getting poisoned to death.
Oh mans, I would try to go see a rugby game where the Blacks visiting to see them perform the haka.
We'll get sport out of the way first - Always games on TV over the weekend, but fuck that. You can see that anytime. Live games, I'm pretty sure the Super Rugby qualifiers and Semis are held right at the same time as PAX, and you should be able to get tickets Right here, When they're available, IF they're available - the finals location is not public yet. Unfortunately, you're probably gonna miss the State of Origin, which is in Sydney on the 17th, right before. Wallabies Vs the British&Irish lions is too early, and sold out.
For AFL, there's an Adelaide Crows vs the Geelong Cats on the 21st, And then Freemantle Dockers vs the Crows on the 27th. Unfortunately, you have to order through ticketmaster, and tickets are not yet availiable, but the details(including when tickets are on sale) for the Crows and Cats game are here, and the details for Freemantle Vs the Crows is right here.
You can get tickets on game day, but don't rely on it. And even if you can, book beforehand, so that you don't get stuck in the fuckin' nosebleeds.
As for other things, You don't get many street festivals that time of year, sadly - they're always great. BUT, there is the Gertrude street festival. A friend of mine went last year, and she said it was extremely enjoyable.
One of the things that you might be interested in that you're JUST in time for is Open House Melbourne. It's not a boring real estate thing, what they do is they take a whole bunch of buildings - many historical - that you're normally not allowed to enter, and put on a whole ton of public tours. Check it out, see if you dig it.
Scienceworks is, admittedly, aimed toward a younger set, but it's still good fun. The ACCA and federation square are worth the time, too. Old Melbourne Goal is worth the trip, and I'm pretty sure that the Good Ship Polly Woodside will be around. Queen Victora Market is pretty cool, even though it's a old-school market. Melbourne is famous for it's restaurants, being founded by Batman, and it's cafes, but those can wait for later.
There's Luna Park, which is well known for it's Rather memorable entrance. It's also got the Scenic Railway, which despite the name, is actually the world's oldest continually operating rollercoaster. Free entry, but naturally, you pay for rides.
If you get a few spare hours, Wander around the middle of the city - Melbourne has this funny thing with laneways that's a bit like hong kong, they'll jam them full of shops, cafes, and other such things.
As for wildlife, there's two best options - Melbourne Zoo is internationally known for it's excellence, and you can do the whole pet a kangaroo, hold a koala thing there too. The other is to head out to Phillip Island - not far from the city, just outside of mornington, I think? - where you can see the Fairy Penguins, which are pretty much the most absolutely fucking adorable thing I've ever laid my eyes on. You could also just go out in the bush, but I don't personally know anyone I'd trust to take you out. Maybe investigate a tour or a guided bushwalk? I can't recommend much there without really looking into it, because I don't often take those tours, and I've not spent much time in the area outside melbourne. But if you can, I strongly recommend it, as the bush is absolutely breathtaking.
That's a super-broad overview, and only somewhat tailored - we can narrow it down, and add more as you eliminate or add things. At this point, time is on your side. I'll have more for you in future, when a)we've narrowed down some, and B)I've done some research on things other than what time the AFL and SRL are on.
How cold will it be there in July?
Actually last time I visited WA it was winter and I never needed a sweater. Maybe a rain jacket would be more useful.
If you need data, Here's the temperatures from last year, and we're shaping up to have a pretty similar year this year.
Also, melbourne weather is famously schizophrenic, real four-seasons-in-one-day kinda stuff. Not much I can say to help with that, other than it might be wise to know where to grab a small, cheap umbrella, but just keep it in mind.
It's definitely something that sorely needs improvement - especially since they keep raising the paper-ticket fares to try and force people to use Go-card, but the go-card system is strange, doesn't work half the time, and it's fucking expensive either way. It's cheaper for me to drive in and park a little ways out, then walk, and takes about the same amount of time.
It will be winter and so short days will happen as well as cool / cold temperatures, as Churba said going for outdoors experiences will generally mean travelling and if you are here for a week you may not have sufficient time to travel or the budget to jet around the country - fly to Brisbane and snorkel the great barrier reef then go home - nope prob don't have time/money for that. I suggest you focus on socializing and enjoying the city and people but if you have some significant time I would look at internal flights and things to do elsewhere or consider a flight to NZ for some outdoor stuff - fly Melb Queenstown and soak up the mountain resort air and fly back.
just some ideas - shame its not summer here when PAX is on
In New York, even if you don't have a Metrocard you can pay bus drivers for bus fare, and every subway stop has machines.
Generally, if you're only here for a week after PAX, you want to pick a city per trip, and do THAT one. Melbourne this time, Brisbane maybe next time, Sydney another time, etc. Even single-destination tourism can take a few days, like going out to see Ayers Rock or the reef.
Also, one big tip I should have given earlier - Fly into Melbourne-Tullamarine(MEL-YMML), NOT Avalon (AVV-YMAV). Avalon Airport is a miles from anywhere you want to be, and it's a pain in the arse to get back to civilization(or at least, Melbourne) from there. I think you can get paper tickets on Buses and at train stations, just not on the tram. I don't know why, presumably because Melbourne. I think you can get paper tickets from a few other places, but most of the time that I've been to Melbourne, I've either driven around, or been driven around.