Week 16: Boz in Oz

I’m officially on vacation! (I’m a bit behind on my blog so this is the adventure from October 18-21.)

I’ve left the land of sheep and entered the land of koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, crocs, sharks, and dingos! Chenay and I took a late flight from Auckland to Melbourne, deemed the most livable city in the world. It was around a four-hour journey across the Tasman Sea and the stars were incredible!

For a few days, we had the pleasure of staying with my friend from ASU, Rachael, and her Australian boyfriend Nick at his parents’ beautiful house in a suburb called Ivanhoe. Rachael graduated from Cronkite this past spring, and is living with Nick for the foreseeable future. She has a few writing/editing gigs that she can do remotely. He is a real estate agent and a baseball player, so it was a funny coincidence I was wearing my Red Sox tank (I think they call them singlets?) when I got there!

Fun Fact: Did you know that the regions are called states in Australia? So, Melbourne is in the state of Victoria and Sydney is in the state of New South Wales, etc.

The next morning, Rachael took us to her favorite brunch spot, Café N Addictions, where we had a tasty meal. So not going to miss gross dining hall food from Student Village! I got an iced coffee and it came with a scoop of ice cream!

From there, we Ubered to the city. By the way, the cars are the same size as in America, and the Ubers are really nice here – some even have tissues and bottles of water for riders. We heard some interesting stories from our drivers!

Super Random: One of our Uber drivers went to the same primary school as Jimmy Choo!

We explored the gigantic and gorgeous State Library of Victoria, which doubled as a history museum. We then checked out some trippy experimental art exhibitions at an RMIT art center. The RMIT campus includes some insanely cool and modern buildings, which we gazed at before doing some shopping at the Red Cross Store. Chenay bought some dope shades.

We walked around the Yarra River, which has 64 bridges of all different styles crossing over it, and traversed Queen Victoria’s Garden. It had some nice war tributes in it – including a memorial for the fallen horses. Then we climbed to the impressive Shrine of Remembrance, which had Lincoln Memorial vibes. We sat there looking at the city skyline for a while, ending our first full day tranquilly.

Back home, we met Pam and Alex, Nick’s parents, who were super nice and accommodating! Pam is a high school teacher and Alex runs Nicholson Real Estate, where Nick also works. It was so nice to be able to chill out on the couch and watch The Bachelorette Australia with everyone. Being abroad makes you miss those low-key moments! And appreciate a good wi-fi connection!

Australia is voting on whether to legalize gay marriage so there are heaps of “vote yes” signs and street art around Melbourne. It'll be interesting to see what happens when the votes are all counted – I'll still be here so I might get to join a celebration or a protest depending on how it goes. Melbourne seems to be the California of Straya, which might be why the population grows apparently around 2,000 people a day, with around 300 cars joining the streets daily.

There was a Wallace and Gromit exhibit happening and we were tempted to go but too cheap to pay admission. Instead we started out our next day by visiting Federation Square, where larger-than-life rugby player figures stood on display. We toured the magnificent St. Paul’s Cathedral; Melbourne has the perfect mix of amazing old architecture and funky contemporary buildings. I really like the atmosphere!

I have found Aussies to be extremely nice and polite, just like Kiwis. There are heaps of smokers but that’s not a surprise in big cities. One thing I found interesting, and I’m not sure if it’s just in Melbourne, is that they have specific rubbish bins with liquid at the bottom to put out cigs and prevent second-hand smoke. Smart!

We spent most of our second day on a river cruise on the Yarra, complete with interesting and funny commentary by our comical captain. It was a bit chilly but nice in the sun. One thing we learned is that Port Melbourne is the busiest and largest port in Oz. It was relaxing to just sit back, listen, and enjoy the views.

After our cruise we strolled around Chinatown and up the Parliament Building steps where we basked in the sun for a bit. It was so nice to catch up with Rachael and to have three Sun Devils abroad!

Lingo:

Raisins = sultanas

Bottle-O = liquor store

Esky = cooler (or as they say in NZ “chilly bin”)

That night we went to this awesome bar called Naked for Satan (for some reason I kept calling it Satan’s Armpit lol). It was wallpapered in retro nude photos and had a balcony with panoramic views of the city. We enjoyed some drinks and met up with some of Nick’s friends. It was breezy up there but the overhead space heaters were nice. We then went to another club and danced there for a while before heading back to Ivanhoe.

In case you were curious, beer sizes in Australia: jug (40 ounces), pint (20 ounces), schooner (15 ounces), pot (10 ounces).

Our final day started with us heading to an open house auction just up the street. It was a wicked nice place with views of the park and city in the distance from the back patio area. Nick informed us that auctions are typical for places on the market, and it was exciting and slightly awkward and nerve-wracking to watch the agent try to get the price the seller wanted. I think it ended up going for just over 2 million!

Afterwards, Chenay and I were craving pancakes so Nick drove us all to the Pancake Parlour, which turned out to be an IHOP-like restaurant in a mall. Then we headed to St. Kilda, a beach city. We walked along the esplanade, and I dipped my toes in the Tasman Sea!

Cheesy Joke: What do you get when you put a Sun Devil in the Tasman Sea? A Tasmanian Devil!

We ended up seeing little fairy penguins in their natural habitat semi-concealed in the jetty! Even two fluffy babies!! Then we hit up the Brighton Beach Bathing Boxes, which are famous colorful little cabin things that people can rent out for a fortune. We took loads of pictures and ogled at the beachside mansions on our drive back.

Sad to leave, Chenay and I packed up our things and headed to the bus station where we would then take a 7pm to 7am ride from Melbourne to Sydney. Obviously that was a blast!!!!! (note the sarcasm)

I really loved Melbourne and would love to come back some day! Thank you so much to Alex, Pam, Nick, and Rachael for making it such an enjoyable experience and giving us a local’s perspective!

Up Next: P Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney!

Sorry but I have no space on my camera/laptop/phone so it’s been b***h trying to take/upload photos. Of course I stupidly left my external hard drive in NZ. I'll try to post FB albums ASAP! Cheers :)