Backpacker Student: Sally comes to visit

Tomorrow I'll be into my final two weeks of uni at Monash, and frankly I can't wait to have it all over with and to begin something new. My exchange has begun to feel dangerously close to hard work and I want it to feel like a holiday again. I've had chances to do some nice things in between preparing assignments and doing readings for my classes; one weekend we took a river cruise from the city to Williamstown, which was far colder and greyer than when I last visited back in March! Another weekend, we took a brief trip around Philip Island where we visited a koala sanctuary. This week has certainly been the most fun as my wonderful friend Sally from back home came to visit me. She arrived early last Sunday and I was full of excited energy as Chris drove us to the airport, despite the fact it was early in the morning. Our first day together was spent having brunch and wandering along the Yarra and through the city and getting used to seeing such a familiar face in a completely new setting.

On Monday we had a very interesting day. I skipped my lectures (well, they're semi-optional here anyway!) and went with Sally to see the beach huts at Brighton, a posh bayside suburb with colourfully painted huts along the beach that always feature in Melbourne photography. Next we headed into the city and to the state library, where we met Bas, a family friend of Sally's. Bas used to teach Sally's dad at secondary school in Grimsby, and he happens to be the son of Australia's most well-known historian, the late Manning Clark. As a history student I was interested to meet him. After introductions over coffee at the library's cafe, Bas took us around the beautiful library building and then on to Melbourne University in the stylish northern suburbs on a cultural tour that left me with serious university envy. He showed us the spot where his parents first met, and told us about being in the student theatre with Germaine Greer, along with sharing some pretty rude stories about the professors whose plaques lined the pavement on campus. Later he took us to an impressively cool grungy bar in Fitzroy, where his son's band Graveyard Train often plays. Sally and I exchanged looks of surprise at what an interesting bloke he is. At the end of the day, as the sky turned dark and Sally and I ran down to the last of our energy (Bas was still sprightly), we walked down Lygon Street where hipsters dined on the pavements outside gourmet pasta restaurants and went into Readings, a bookshop highly recommended by Bas. When we left Bas had a paper bag under his arm, and as we said goodbye and boarded our tram he passed it to us, telling us there were two things in there and that we could fight over them. Inside was his father's book, A Short History of Australia, and a copy of his son's record. We left feeling greatly touched, and intrigued about the fascinating character we'd spent the day with.

The week flew by. On Tuesday we joined a trip to some hot springs on Mornington Peninsula, a good hours' drive but worth it to spend an evening under the stars in steaming hot pools, which we appreciated even more for the cold night air that had us dancing and hopping to get to the next pool. It was so cold, in fact, that we were caught under a brief spurt of hailstones as we dashed to the bus afterwards, and by the time we got home we were well and truly worn out. I said goodbye to Sally for a few days while I worked on a tedious essay for a tedious class, but rejoined her for a night out in the city on Friday and a day spent recovering with a bit of hair of the dog at a chilled-out rooftop bar on Saturday, the first good weather of the week and the only time Sally saw the sun in Melbourne. It was sad to say goodbye to her as I saw her off at Southern Cross station that afternoon, but nice to think of the wonderful time I'm sure she'll have in Sydney and Cairns before I see her again for a few days at the tail end of her trip.

The good weather lasted into today so Chris and I went out to make the most of it. We discovered the one advantage of living in a dead-end suburb in the middle of nowhere; that it's really quick to get into the outdoors, with the Dandenong Ranges a sweet twenty minute drive away. We enjoyed a walk through the forest under the sunshine, before heading to a village called Emerald which appealed to me mostly because of the name, where we looked around their monthly craft and deli market and finished the day by the lake, where families rode peddlos and the historic Puffing Billy steam train whooped its way past.

The weekends never last long enough, and the weeks fly by pretty quickly too. Both Chris and I look forward to moving out of our poky apartment and chasing the sun a bit. I still love Melbourne; the city manages to be just as beautiful on a rainy day as when the sun shines, but I still have so much to see. In my literature class about travel and travel writing we have been studying the American road narrative over the past few weeks, which has included reading Kerouac's On the Road and watching classics such as Thelma & Louise and Easy Rider. As these influences have come together and I have become increasingly restless with the shortening days and the repetitiveness of studying I am keen to get back on the road again myself.