Week 9 & 10 – September 20th to October 4th
DISCLAIMER: This is going to be one heck-of-a-long blog post with A LOT of photos. Because it was one heck-of-an-amazing week, during which I took a lot of photos. You begin reading at your own risk, but real free to stop reading at any point. Or maybe have a nap part way through out of sheer exhaustion. Your call.
PRE-MELBOURNE:
Before we left on our mid-semester break trip, school life was looking pretty grim. The week involved some late nights, copious amounts of tea and a lot of stress. It actually felt as though I were almost at home studying…but powering through, I completed my assignments and mid-term (yes, singular) with time to spare, allowing me ample packing time and some GBBO de-stressing before our busy week to come.
MELBOURNE
An unpleasant 4:30am wake-up call rolled around Friday morning, and by 5am we were off ready for the week to come. A short 1.5 hour flight later we had arrived.
What. A. City.
Having now lived in Sydney for 10 weeks (WHAT?!), I had become accustomed to the hustle and bustle of city life. Not to say that Melbourne isn’t a city – because it really is – but I have never experienced a city so full of art and life everywhere. The first day we arrived, although tired from our early wake up and pre-break illnesses, we powered through and explored the botanical garden and Eureka Observation Deck, and all the public art Melbourne had on display along the way. The tower was similar to Sydney’s, but the view was about 10X more spectacular, overlooking the harbour and ocean for miles.
That evening we met up with Ruth, Melbourne-expert extraordinaire at a local bar called “Naked for Satan”. Why, you may ask? Leon Satanovich, known as “Satan” came to Australia from Russia. Dressed in nothing more than his underwear, he distilled vodka in the basement of a building on Brunswick Street in the suburb of Fitzroy in the early 20th century #themoreyouknow. Serving over 20 types of distilled vodkas and featuring a rooftop bar overlooking Fitzroy, the laid-back establishment was great for some chill time before some dancing to complete up our 20 hour day.
The next day we explored Queen Victoria market filled with cheap souvenirs, the cheapest fruit and veg I’ve ever seen and tasty delicatessens selling a range of delicious meats, cheeses and breads. Which also ended up being my lunch. MmmmMMMMmmm, was it good. We ventured on to explore Fitzroy during the day filled with tons of artsy print shops and vintage/retro wares, before making our way back to the CBD to explore the infamous graffiti lanes of Melbourne. I don’t think words can do the visual beauty of them justice – both ACDC Lane and Hosier Lane were absolutely spectacular. So instead, I leave this little gallery of some of the pictures taken in hopes that you’ll see just how beautiful the urban street art really was.
Sunday morning we woke up with a particular goal in mind. Some of you may have heard of them before, or even seen pictures of them. Lining a stretch of Brighton Beach in southern Melbourne are these adorable, brightly painted beach houses. They’re one of those things that you can’t just miss if you’re in the city. SO, we gobbled up some brunch at a cute cafée, hopped on the train and made our way to the sea side. Max and Linnette arrived in Melbourne that day, so fortunately they were able to join us on our adventure! We walked along the coast and took waaaaaaay too many pictures of and with the Brighton beach houses. I’ll even admit that alas, I took the most touristy Australian picture humanly possible while here.
so tourist it physically hurts
We continued our exploration into St. Kilda, another “hip-hop-happening” suburb or whatever you kids say these days, grabbed a sweet treat from one of the local bakeries (and busiest, so we assumed it MUST be good) and relaxed in a park before heading back into the main city for dinner. A restaurant called “Chuckle Park Bar” had been recommended to us so we thought we would “give it a go” (this Aussie lingo is getting to me). Located in an alley – yes, an alley and the food cooked from the back of a trailer – yes, a trailer, I experienced the best pulled-pork AND meatball sub (wrap, whatever) I’ve ever eaten. Two bests in one meal from literally this hole in the wall establishment, it was my favourite meal in Melbourne and potentially Australia so far.
Finally Monday rolled around, our last day in Melbourne. With high hopes we took a two-hour bus to Philip Island, known for the little penguins that inhabit the island.
Guess what??!
WE DIDN’T SEE ANY PENGUINS.
NOT A SINGLE ONE.
However, we did enjoy a day of beach shenanigans, terrifyingly aggressive seagulls (think Finding Nemo) and some very late Chinese food in China town when we finally made it back to Melbourne.
It was a fantastic way to end off our Melbourne leg of the trip. A city full of food, coffee, art and wonderfully friendly people, I thoroughly enjoyed the amazing sights Melbourne had to offer.
GREAT OCEAN ROAD
Tuesday morning we walked over to Hertz, where we picked up our beautiful, spacious, GPS-included rental SUV for our three-day road trip. Where were we going, you may ask? Well, only one of the most beautiful ocean drives in the entire world, and one that has been on my bucket list for years. Yup. The Great Ocean Road. Spanning 243km of the south coast of Australia and built by soldiers returned from WWI as the world’s longest war memorial. I can honestly 100% say that this is my favourite thing I have done in Australia so far. The view was absolutely spectacular – winding roads around hills of green forest, the blue sea next to us, and tons of tiny beaches, with the only sign of civilization being the campers at them or the occasional cafe. Our first day on the journey was a bit rainy and cloudy, but we persevered on (the Australian sun and once a month rain is making me soft #VancouveriteFailure). We stopped off at Bells Beach and continued onto Aireys Inlet where we found an adorable, red roofed lighthouse. As I was snapping my first pic of the tower, I saw this:
Instant shenanigans ensued.
But of course we also took the opportunity to absorb the gorgeous view that the misty day was providing for us.
We also stopped at a tiny, adorable café for a scone and a chai latte. Cream and jam, mmmm.
We then headed back to our hostel in Torquay to meet up with Ruth, Jacinta, Jordan, Uillo and Olivia for a BBQ dinner and a game of Harry Potter Clue. The next morning we headed out again, bound for Apollo Bay, stopping at the memorial marker along the way.
Off again, we were headed in search of the purpose of our trip – the infamous Twelve Apostles. Originally 12, now reduced what we guessed was 7, the Twelve Apostles are giant towers of sandstone sitting in the ocean. They were pretty spectacular – but my excitement to see them was instantly diminished when we arrived.
TOURISTS.
TOURISTS EVERYWHERE.
We basically had to push our way through hordes of people, just to get to a decent viewing point to see them. Dirty looks from walking in front of photographs taken (DON’T TAKE 500 PHOTOS THEN, JEEZE), bumping into others – not my idea of fun. In fact, quite the opposite. I think I would have enjoyed them much more if it hadn’t felt like we were being herded like cattle, but, c’est la vie. You take from it what you can and try to make the best of it. The plus side is I got to see a spectacular natural wonder of Australia. And that in and of itself is pretty dang cool.
On the way back to Apollo Bay we decided sunset by the beach was the way to end the day. Afterwards, back in the car to drive back to Apollo Bay for our last night on the G.O.R. With a sunrise wake up the next morning and a semi-early start, we had one last item to achieve on our trip. We were going to chase waterfalls (although a certain song has told us to avoid this otherwise). Just outside Lorne, we stopped at the 30 metre-high Erskine Falls. The 2-minute trek down the stairs made for easy access, but it truly was beautiful, and a nice break to stretch our legs before our journey back to Melbourne. After dropping the SUV back off, we ate a quick dinner, hopped on a plane and before we knew it, jetted back home to Sydney for one night in our own beds before the weekend to come.
UMINA
Thanks to wonderful, wonderful Elle, with all her planning, a crew of 11 of us headed about 2 hours north of Sydney to Ocean Beach (yes, that’s what it is called) in Umina for weekend of sunbathing, swimming, BBQs and a few beers pops. With the weather reaching well above 30 degrees, it was a great way to finish up our mid-semester break after a busy week of touristing and non-stop on-the-go adventuring. I wish I had more to say about Umina, but it actually was just a fantastic weekend of doing nothing before heading back for the start of classes again this past Tuesday. But honestly? I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I got to spend the weekend with a fantastic bunch of people in a lovely town and eat tons of yummy food. Heck, I even had my first “shrimp on the barbie” (NEWS FLASH: AUSSIES DO NOT SAY THIS. IN FACT, THEY DO NOT EVEN USE THE WORD “SHRIMP”. MIND BLOWN. I KNOW).
All in all, I enjoyed the most jam-packed school break of my life. Thanks team, for providing banter, jokes, deep talks and a whole lot of love on this trip. I guess that’s what happens when you’re on exchange in a country half way around the world 😉 but hey, no complaints here. I’ll admit, I am a bit glad to be back on a regular schedule, despite the fact that it is school. And holy, only 4 weeks left of school! Ack!! Time flies when you’re living in a beautiful new place full of exciting things to do. As always,
Much love,
Steph
An added bonus, for your viewing pleasure: pictures of Ryan asleep in the back seat of the SUV! <3 hehehe