More Melbourne and Funk Volume

We've been exploring more of Melbourne in the past few days, which happened to be perfect timing because a heat wave just hit and now we're happy to just remain indoors and wait it out.  First place we went was Royal Park, which is only a block away from our apartment.

Instead of going down the street (towards the library), we went up the street and to the left (wow, we're so adventurous!):

We walked along this road about a block until we got to Royal Park:

It was beautiful!  They also have a baseball field and a soccer field, this place is huge!  If you keep walking, you eventually reach the zoo, which we're saving for another day.

The next day (Wednesday), we took the train from Flemington to Flinders Street (the city AKA CBD = Central Business District):

It went around the loop past Southern Cross, so only 4 stops.  It only took about 10 minutes.

You can buy a Myki card at lots of places (we got ours at 7-11 for $6) and then you put money on it (for a one day pass it's $7.50).  We putt $22.50 on each of ours, so we get 3 days.  When we run out, we can just add more.  Like I've said a million times, everything's expensive here.  When you get to the station, you tap your card on this:

When you get off, you tap off at the next station.  It's kind of the honor system, but I've heard there is security who periodically go around and check that you've touched on.

We got off at Flinders Street because I wanted to go to Federation Square, since that's where we'll be spending New Year's Eve.  Here's what we saw when we exited Flinders Station:

That's St. Paul's Cathedral and right across the street was Federation Square:

This is probably where we'll go for New Year's Eve, as they're putting on a huge concert and having fireworks.

We kept on walking along Russell Street:

We stopped for a little rest:

So random, but actually quite perfect in the middle of a bustling city.

Speaking of random:

Somebody help that poor guy!

We made it to Chinatown and we were down for some chow mein, so we walked through:

It's really got nothing on SF Chinatown, but we saw some interesting stuff.  For example:

A store full of jerky!  A lot of them actually looked really good, but super expensive!  For 1kg, some we're $100!  You must be high if you're willing to pay that much for some jerky!

We found Heaven, the first I've seen since we left home:

We walked around a bit, but it honestly wasn't as nice as an American Target (and not as cheap!).  I hate whoever buys this:

Bah humbug!

We finally got some cheap Chinese food:

The perfect amount of grease to tie us over for the next few hours.

Now the real reason we went to Melbourne was for a concert Aaron got tickets for online called Funk Volume.  It's a rapper called Hopsin and a few other guys on his record label touring New Zealand and Australia.  It took place at 170 Russell, which is also called Billboard Saturdays and I've heard it's where lots of acts come to play.  It's a more intimate venue (I think it fits 1000 people) and it was super fun!  Full disclosure: I don't know any of these guys from a hole in the head, but it was fun just to hear live music and be at a concert.  The energy was electric.  It's funny how universal music can be.  All the way across the world, these guys have a pretty loyal fan base.

Aaron made sure we were the first in line (after the VIPs of course):

Right behind us was our new friend, Carol:

Aaron also met someone wearing the shirt of a rapper from the Bay Area:

What a small world!

Inside:

The place got really packed, but we were able to get way up close in the 2nd row!

Short girl problems:

Opening act was decent, but I didn't catch their names:

First up: DJ Hoppa:

Then Jarren Benton came up:

Then Dizzy Wright:

Then Hopsin:

He wears these white contact lenses and it's both really creepy and really mesmerizing at the same time.  Aaron was loving it:

Hopsin even crowdsurfed:

He stood ON the crowd!  I've never seen anyone do that before!  And he rapped the whole time.  Skills.

After the show, Aaron got DJ Hoppa to sign his lucky $5 bill he's been carrying since we left home:

And we got a T-shirt:

3 fire trucks outside, no idea why:

The guys told us of an after party at a bar around the corner, so off we went to Furdydurke:

DJ Hoppa showed up and did a really good set:

Super small, but packed bar:

Aaron squeezed past everyone and got a picture with Hoppa:

and later got into the VIP to get one with Dizzy Wright:

Dizzy was high as a kite, but so cool.

The bar turned the lights on at 1am, so we wandered for a bit trying to find another bar open, but none were open past 2, so we took a cab home.  Australia's really cracking down on crime and have zero tolerance for public drunkenness or disturbing the peace, so people don't really party too hard here.  Stuff shuts down early, especially on weekdays.  For what I've observed, Australians are a super fun, party people and can get a little feisty with too much alcohol, so I can only imagine the chaos that ensued before they started cracking the whip.  Oh well, no regrets.  Super fun night!  Aaron was on Cloud 9!

Other than that, we've just been doing the same old stuff, nothing exciting.  Like I said, the heat wave will probably keep us indoors over the weekend, although we might go see Star Wars.  I'll try to blog with anything of interest in the coming days, but no promises.