Got up at about 8:30 and helped out helping Linda dye some clothes black for tonite. Tasha, Betsy & Thomas all went to Westco & pinched their black gear!! At 5:00 we all got together for photos then all 15 of us walked down to the Exhibition Centre.

All dressed up in Black and White for the Estonian community’s New Year’s Eve gala.

There were 3000 people there from Estonia for us to wait on with each of us having 30 of the arrogant bastards to  look after. It was hard work and pretty chaotic but It was worth it ‘cos we earned $90-00 each. We walked home and I got sick¹…

¹ Remember the photograph of the Exford Hostel from a few days ago: the one with the third floor window circled? I spewed out that window on this evening!!

Aftermath. Getting wasted in a hostel room, Exford Hostel, Melbourne, N.Y.E. 1988.

WENT TO THE MUSEUM
NOULA¹ GOT A JOB WITH A
CASUAL WAITER/WAITRESS
AGENCY WHO WERE LOOKING
FOR 95 PEOPLE FOR A NEW
YEARS EVE FUNCTION. SO LINDA
AND I WENT AND APPLIED. I
TOLD A LOAD OF BULLSHIT ABOUT
HAVING WORKED IN BARS AT THE
SHOW & THE RACES². WE BOTH
GOT JOBS.

¹ Noula was one of our friends from cherry picking whose name I’d been mis-spelling intil now!
² The Christchurch Show and the Riccarton Races, local events back home.

WENT AND SAW “WHO FRAMED
ROGER RABBIT” WHICH IS A
HILARIOUS BLEND OF ANIMATED
CARTOON & REAL LIFE ACTORS. I
HAS EVERYTHING FROM DONALD &
Daffy Duck TO “ACME” HOLES.

I WENT UP TO THE CES¹ A 6:00 BUT NO LUCK
MUCKED ROUND LOOKING
FOR JOBS
WENT FOR AN INTERVIEW AT
A COMMERCIAL LAUNDRY OUT AT
ABBORTSFORD²

¹ The Commonwealth Employment Service
² An outer suberb of Melbourne.

Today, we got up to reasonable fine day which deteriorated into rain showers by mid morning. Linda & I went and had brekkie then mucked round til 1:00 when we went to Michael Jackson’s “Moon-Walker” which was OK. Russ took us and Tash & Nuala for a drive out to Williamstown on Port Phillip Bay. Where we watched the Southerly swell roll in and the ships anchored out in the bay. We had a hot chocolate in a wee cafe then went back to the Hostel. Linda & I went out for a Malay meal & a walk at about 7:30.

Russ arrived about 10-am and along with Noola & Gareth we went & got some brekkie. Earlier on we had paid the Hostel $160-00 as rent for the next week. Russ took us for a spin in his car up to a stand of bush where we one for a walk. Then we drove about 50km out to the Sth Yarra dam for a look. Has a beer at the Reefton hotel which is in a clearing in the bush then drove up to the top of a hill in a bitterly cold Southerly fog. The whole trip was through beautiful sub-tropical rainforest with huge gum trees and the sun occasionally filtering through the fog to give some beautiful effects. We got back to the Hostel at about 9:30.

On Xmas morning we did the rounds of the rooms & mucked round. Rang Jo, H&B and Colin & it took us ages to get through. Everyone went to Krazies¹ for a yummy Xmas lunch and while we were there there was a massive down-pour which flooded the streets. That finished at about 4:30 & we crashed for the rest of the arfo. Linda & I went out for a tea of bacon & eggs & wandered round the streets for a while. Went to bed fairly early.

¹ A nearby backpacker hangout.

The Exford Hostel, cnr Little Bourke Street and Russel Street, Melbourne. Our bunk bed in the hostel was behind this window.

Beers in the park, Melbourne, Australia.

HOT. Linda and I went to do our xmas shopping today. We hunted round together for a while then split up & went our separate ways. I got Linda an Aussie T-shirt and a camera bag. We met up at the Mall & Gareth took us for a ride in his Pedicab. Did a bit more shopping then wandered up to the Hostel again. A whole lot of us (Russ, Noola, Tasha, Betsy, Gareth, Linda, me & others) went down to the Botanic gardens & drank beer & wine for a few hours then Russ, Linda & I went to the carol singing.

Carols in the Park, Melbourne, Australia, Christmas Eve 1988. Linda and Russ.

When we got back to the Hostel, Linda & I got changed and went out to look for a disco but couldn’t find one in the vicinity of the hostel.We got back to the hostel & opened our pressies at 2:00am in the morning. I got a T-shirt, braces 2 banadanas & a Ricoh strap¹ from Linda & Smellies from [unreadable] & H&B.

¹ A neck strap for my Ricoh SLR camera.

Christmas Morning in the Exford Hostel, Melbourne.

HOT. We got up at about 5:00 and finished packing our gear. Left Bairnsdale at about 6:30 and drove down to Terry & Di’s¹ place at Pakenham². Had lunch there and helped Morrie unload his pailings and had lunch. Di took us down to the station and we caught the 2:00 train in to the City of Melbourne. We forced our way out of the station at Flinders St³ & the first thing we saw was Gareth going past on a Pedicab. We got a taxi up to the Exford hostel & booked in. It is a real dive. WE went out for a Malay meal in the evening.

¹ Di was Morrie and Audrey Farquhar’s daughter.
² An outer suburb of Melbourne.
³ Flinders Street Station is Melbourne’s main rail station.

Pedicabs in Melbourne. Me, Russ and some other guy on Bourke Street.

MUCKED ROUND.
WENT TO PAINESVILLE¹ FOR TEA.

¹ A small resort town on the Gippsland Lakes.