Muffins, kangaroos, and boat trips

On Wednesday morning we went to the doctor. The bladder infection was still there, despite home remedies and over-the-counter medications. We immediately got an appointment for the afternoon. After a fifteen-minute conversation, which was more small talk and repeating the information we had already entered in a form, we were prescribed antibiotics and still had to do a urine test. The doctor's appointment cost us 80 AU$ each, and an additional 64 AU$ for the test. Krissi went straight to the pharmacy, where there was even a German contact person. We also let ourselves be talked into buying probiotics. Krissi paid 22 AU$ for the antibiotics and another 17 AU$ for the other pills - expensive pleasure, but hopefully we will get reimbursed by our insurance. When Kenny later went to a pharmacy, he only paid 12 AU$ for his antibiotics. So Krissi was obviously ripped off. Although Krissi was promised in the pharmacy that she would get a much cheaper alternative than what the doctor prescribed. The "absolutely necessary" evaluation of the test on Friday afternoon cost us another 60 AU$ each and did not bring any new insights. So that was worthwhile. :/

On Wednesday evening we were meetin with Ghani again - our acquaintance from Flinders Backpackers. We wanted to have dinner together and he said on the phone in advance that he had a surprise for us - so we were curious. When we met, we met "the surprise". A small, lively and very talkative Melbournian. Together we went to a Malaysian restaurant.

Here we shared our 4 dishes, ate a crazy dessert (it consisted of ice cream, over which various syrups were poured, and on the edge of it was among other things corn and bean mash) and exchanged information about different country specifics. In the end, Ghani even paid the bill - many, many thanks again at this point. 

Thursday morning we went to the Queen Victoria Market to look for breakfast and found delicious croissants and a chai latte for Krissi.

Then we went to the Melbourne Zoo. We paid a whopping 72 AU$ for 2 people. But it was worth it, even Kenny did not regret his decision not to give in to Krissi's request.

We discovered a variety of monkeys, saw a hidden koala, our first kangaroos, sleeping wombats, tigers, giraffes, etc... We spent a whole 5 hours at the zoo and in the end we had to hurry to see everything. Otherwise, we might have missed super cute baby meerkats. They were mainly busy fighting and pretending to help their parents dig.

On Friday, in addition to the aforementioned doctor's visit for evaluation, we had a meeting with Francis. A friend of Kenny's family. The meeting with Francis was originally scheduled for 1pm. When we woke up leisurely around 11am in the morning, we saw with horror that he had already called and Kenny had also received a message. Francis wanted to meet at 10:30am and would wait at a café near us. When we called, he was already on his way to his next appointment - he would contact us afterwards. When we called again in the late afternoon to ask about the situation, we found out that he was already on his way back to his hometown of Sales. So no meeting on this day. Too bad it didn't work out.

We spent the newly gained time in the University Library of Melbourne. Really impressive and in terms of architecture not comparable to the Dresden SLUB. But the architecture in Melbourne in general is really impressive and extremely imaginative. We spent the evening comfortably at the hostel with pizza and a movie, thanks to antibiotics.

On Saturday, the visit to the Heritage Island in Melbourne was on the agenda. According to various travel apps and their ratings (4/5 stars) and a price of 2 AU$ per person, it was highly recommended. So we set off on the share bikes. Just before we reached our destination, Krissi asked Kenny if he had checked if there was a bike drop-off station near the island, Kenny denied it, but we remained optimistic and didn't think to check. When we arrived at our destination, of course there was no bike station, we quickly checked Google Maps and discovered a station about 3km away. The problem was that the bikes can only be used continuously for half an hour, otherwise fees apply. Unfortunately, this was not feasible for us at this point. After returning the bikes, we walked back to the island. Krissi had been lured to the island because it can only be reached by boat. This was a small ferry and due to low water levels, there was even a round trip around the island. However, it was smaller than expected. On the island, there was a well-organized gallery with paintings of various, but mostly modern styles and some sculptures to discover. After exploring the island, we relaxed a little in the sun on a lawn. The nice thing - it was really quiet and idyllic, as there were no crowds of people like in the rest of Melbourne. We then made our way back to the hostel on foot and passed the time with small photo shoots here and there. :D

On Saturday night, a special surprise awaited us. Around 6:00 a.m. - yes, that's at night :D - Krissi woke up because someone opened our room door from the outside, but Kenny was lying in bed next to her. After a brief "Honey, someone just opened our door," Kenny jumped to the door, but no one was there in the hallway. Since then, we always faithfully lock our room door. However, sleeping and falling asleep the next evening was still a bit more difficult for us, even though someone definitely just made a mistake at the door.

There was no plan in advance for Sunday. When Krissi checked the weather app in the morning, from our hostel window we could only see darkness and walls, even at 11am in the morning, we saw that 30 degrees were expected. For this time of year in Melbourne, this is really hot. Since we didn't want to go back to St. Kilda beach, we headed to another beach further west of Melbourne. On the way, we passed by the Docklands and the Observation Star Wheel. In the end, we decided to ride bikes again to St. Kilda, as there was no bike station at the destination. Although we only arrived at the beach at 4pm, it was still warm. However, the water no longer really invited us to swim - but once in, that's a must. Even Kenny dared to go into the water completely this time, even before Krissi. We enjoyed the sunset at the beach and then made our way back to the hostel.

For dinner, we had Asian cuisine again. Actually, during our stay in Melbourne, we only ate burgers, Asian, and Indian dishes. As a farewell, we treated ourselves to 2 cocktails directly on the Yarra River in a slightly more expensive bar.

On Monday morning, we had to get up at 8 o'clock, have breakfast, pack, check out, and take a 1.5-hour bus and train to the airport. In the sun, we hopefully wrapped our backpacks securely in garbage bags and tape. When we took off, we even caught a brief glimpse of beautiful Melbourne. Now we are sitting on the plane to Cairns and still have about 3.5 hours of flight time ahead of us.

We are really impressed by Melbourne. The architecture is extremely diverse and creative. The city is really impressive with its size and skyscrapers. The people are all very friendly and helpful. Even the drivers are at least respectful towards pedestrians, but they honk at each other quickly. The free tram zone, public free clean toilets, and always free water at the dispenser or in the restaurant also delighted us. Melbourne was really a great start to our Australia trip. We have decided to come back for sure, when it's warmer. Because 22 degrees and the sea breeze are not exactly the temperatures you expect from your stay in Australia. :D