Trying to Explain

I bought my ticket to Auckland, New Zealand.
It was my intention to spend a decent amount of time there before flying home from there, but it's not happening.
I am saving upwards of $400 flying to NY from there instead of Brisbane. I used my Qantas frequent flyer points to get a decent chunk off of the flight from Brisbane to Auckland, so all in all I am comfortable with the price of the plane (as comfortable as can possibly be with a sum over $1000....but we won't talk about that...)

I will be flying out of Brisbane and out of Australia on Thursday at 6:45 PM, spending a grand total of 17 hours in Auckland before going home. I thought long and hard over this decision, and in light of my bank account and in view of all of the things I want to do with my summer in the US, I am saving my money for those things.
 I'll be back coming back someday.

I have a list of all the things I want to do in Brisbane before I leave in less than a week.
I started packing yesterday and I'm like, halfway done already.

I promise to still write about Sydney, and I promise I'll come up with a list of things I'll miss and things I won't miss about this country and this part of the world.

But before that....I need to discuss something while I feel inspired to explain it.

Reverse culture shock for me is the hardest part of traveling.
You see, they prepare you for culture shock when entering a new country. It's all about looking up public transport and maps and the "must-do" attractions. It's about understanding customs and accents and politics and stereotypes and history and what to do and what not to do. It's all so new and it's all so colorful and bustling and it requires lightning-quick adjustments.

What gets ignored is reverse culture shock - how going home after it all....just fucking sucks.
I'm sorry to use the F word, but the sentiment requires it in this instance.

Allow me to try to explain what I mean by that.

I think travel is weird in a lot of ways, mostly because I find myself in genuine disbelief at my life.
I noticed this in London too, like, you know you are in a different place, you know that you are away from your family and your childhood home, but it doesn't feel all that different.

It never felt like I was halfway around the world then. Here in Australia, it doesn't feel like I'm on the complete opposite side of the world. It doesn't feel like I'm in a completely different hemisphere. It feels normal. But how could I have ever expected it to not feel normal? 
When I stepped out of Brisbane Airport, I was like, palm trees. This could be Florida. This could be California. This could be literally anywhere with palm trees. What should Australia feel like? and why should it feel like I'm so far away? Why did I expect it - and want it - to feel different?

The first time we went to Westminster and I looked up at Big Ben, I was just staring at it like, yep, that's Big Ben. That's St. Stephen's Tower and it's gorgeous. It's everything I wanted it to be, and now I've seen it, and I have the ability to see it every day for the next three months....why don't I feel different? Why doesn't this knowledge and this new mental image make me feel different?

When I was in Sydney, I was like, cool another city. Back in the city. Always in a city. We walked to the Harbour and I looked to my right and saw the Opera House and I said to myself, Self, that's the Sydney Opera House - take a picture of it! So I did. I saw the Sydney Harbour Bridge and that was cool too. But do I feel like a different person? Do I feel as though some part of me is more complete than it was before that moment? No. I just knew I had to see it before I left Australia, so as soon as I saw it, it was off my list. It was a complete "Now what?" moment. I was sort of stunned, like, really guys...now what? Day one in Sydney and we did the one thing that must be done in Sydney and the whole reason we came to Sydney, and we still have three entire days left? NOW WHAT?
I think also that's part of why I loved Melbourne so much. We didn't know what was there, we had no expectations and therefore nothing but discovery of the coolest city in this country.

Anyway.
I always think I'll feel different. That I'll go to these places and I'll see these landmarks and I'll feel more traveled. I will feel more happy. I will feel like my stay had a purpose. But it is never like that.
I'm not saying I'm not happy doing it, or that I'm wasting my time somehow - not at all.

 It's like when you plan your birthday and how your party is going to be and how it's going to be a great day because it's the first time you'll be this new age and the only time it will be the first time - and then its always ruined somehow. Someone or something just happens to make sure it is not the perfect day you planned - but that NEVER stops you from trying again every single year to have the perfect day.
It's like that. 

Reverse culture shock is coming home after it all. Going back to America.
Everything and nothing is still the same, it's a weird in-between that is just all kinds of uncomfortable.

I can't wait to see my family, my friends, and my room, and go to a grocery store and cry at how cheap everything is, and plan small trips and go to the beach and TACO BELL. It will all be out of place compared to how all of 2013 has been for me, so it will feel different - yet so normal and right because a majority of my life has been like that. Does that make sense?

Believe me when I say that stepping into an Airport it feels like all of your life is where you are going. Nothing else matters but you, your stuff, your passport, keeping track of your stuff, where the gate is, where your stuff is, where you can sit with your stuff, and then boarding hoping they don't stop you for having too much/too big of stuff. Then sitting on the plane you just want to be off of it.

Believe me when I say that stepping into an Airport after a trans-continental flight feels like none of it ever happened.
I landed in Newark Airport after London with Lindsay, and I could feel my happiness just sloughing off of me. With every step and with every person I passed I just felt less and less special. I had just lived in London for three months and traveled in the UK and Hungary - and I knew that no one could see that, no one cared, and all of the people who WOULD care, wouldn't care for very long - because life goes on.
Once I was through Customs and saw my parents in the arrivals area, it instantly felt as if it never happened.
If Lindsay wasn't with me, a wonderful friend and a glorious piece of Hollins and staple in London - if she wasn't with me - I don't think I would've had anything left to remind me in that moment of what we'd done.

The only way for it to feel real to me at all is for me to talk about it.
I've said this before so many times that I know people are bored with it. I know that it annoys people.
I know that I talk about loving it more than I loved it while I was there. I can't not talk about it. I don't think I'll ever stop talking about it.

I'm not explaining this very well....

Basically the only thing I dread leaving Australia is what it will be like being back.


I KNOW that as soon as I step off the plane in Auckland, my whole life will revolve around existing in that airport for 17 hours - then getting on a 12 hour flight to San Francisco and then a 6 hour flight to Newark. That will be my life.
Then as soon as I step off into Newark, I won't feel like yes finally - I'm home.
Nope.
I'll feel like turning right back around and going back to Australia.
I can't explain why because I know it won't make sense, but I know that's what I'll want.

I'll suddenly remember all of the things about the US that I was glad to leave behind, and I'll remember all of the things I'm thrilled to have back. But I won't feel like my life and time and travels in Australia were real.

Because part of me can't believe it is real right now, or that it has ever been.

And yet - and perhaps this is the most important statement of this entire post - and yet - none of this will ever stop me from traveling again.

Ever.

Vacationception

The Great Ocean Road tour was a vacation within a vacation within a vacation. Vacationception woooooo

Now words can not explain this trip any more than the pictures do. I can not describe with words how beautiful the landscape was and how gorgeous the shoreline was even through the foggy windows of the bus. 

The day started at about 630 am for us. Emily was awake before me, getting ready, because we were being picked up from the hotel at 725 am. 

We were down in the lobby at 7, and te bus ended up being early. I was expecting a coach bus, but this was more of a 20 seat job, but it was alright. 

We were the first ones to be picked up, so thankfully the driver, Travis, wasn't too creepy. We made small talk while we drove around picking up a few other people from different hotels before meeting up with the other bus that was also doing pick ups. The other bus was the bus we would be on all day, with the other driver whose name was Allan. 

I knew I would get car sick at some point so I had snagged the front row on our bus, intending to get it on the second bus, but then an Indian couple were complaining about the cramped leg room and the driver told them they would have more space in the first row. When the doors opened I meant to take the first row anyway, because motion sickness should take precedent over pickiness, but Emily didn't want to make enemies so early in the day so we went to the last available row - which was 3 rows from the back. 

Good thing I carry Bonine in my backpack at all times!

We ended up in front of a married couple from Boston, behind two girls from Swindon England (near Bristol) and another couple from Argentina. There were a few groups of Korean girls, Cantonese and Japanese couples as well. The only annoying ones were the two in the back of the bus - a guy from Switzerland and a girl from Brazil who were insufferable. His laugh was the most annoying high pitched squeal on the planet, and he thought she was the funniest thing to walk the earth. They laughed and talked over the drivers commentary and even when people were trying to sleep. 

At the first stop, which was just a 10 minute lookout point at a nice beach, we were told going down to the sand and back up would take too long so to just get on the lookout path. The Swiss and Brasil ran down to the sand and everyone else looked at the driver like, yeah can we leave them behind? Like for real? Lol

Then everybody trekked back onto the bus (and the annoying twosome were still being annoying) and our next stop was a little parking lot on the side of a river. We went over to the picnic tables where Allan brought out the instant coffee packets and tea bags, thermoses of hot water and plastic cups, and three loaves of breakfast breads. Banana walnut, blueberry, and something else. I had the banana walnut, Emily had blueberry, and then we walked along the river and stuff.
Saw some black swans.

Then the clouds got ominous and it was super cool - but it didn't start raining until we all started making our way back to the bus.

Our third stop about 15 minutes later was the start of the Great Ocean Road, which has this really cool archway. That's the back of our driver's head, and the two Korean girls.

Most of us snapped one picture of the arch and then ran down this path to the beach, because lets face it, when given 10 minutes to take a picture of an arch that needs only 20 seconds, it's just cooler to run down on a shoreline for a bit! Everyone loves waves and sand.

I left my mark.

"CBBC" stands for our group of friends' youtube channel, where we make little video updates on our lives and post them for each other. We wanted them all to be represented in Victoria, Australia ;)

The thing about this day was, according to Allan the driver, was the worst weather they had in the last 6 months, and we all just so happened to be traveling during this time. Not that it mattered to me - I LOVE beaches and rocks and waves and beautiful scenic drives, so even though it was raining and even though it was a bit cold, I was perfectly fine.

The only thing that wasn't fine was that the bus' windows fogged up and would not stop, despite Allan keeping up with blasting the heat and then blasting the air conditioning. Everyone tried to use their sleeves or tissues or towels but nothing was working.

For about 20 minutes we drove along the Great Ocean Road, past a bunch of scenic lookouts that we didn't stop at because it would take about 15 minutes each time for everyone to get off and get pictures and get back in the bus and whatnot.
Even through the foggy windows, the entire drive along this road was GORGEOUS. I don't have any pictures because I was on the opposite side of the bus, but it was just gorgeous coastal views and little hidden beaches and rocks and tidal pools and shades of blue and green that just don't exist in America.

I popped another Bonine around this time because the road was winding a bunch, if not for the ocean in view, it would've been like driving up to Silver Bay.

Our next stop was the highest part of the road, looking down into this gorge which was apparently named "suicide gorge" because a lot of people have thrown themselves off of it. Which was just lovely. the view - not the suicide thing. In fact, a lot of the "fun facts" that Allan gave us were all about the war and the deaths of the ANZACs and how many people had died building the Great Ocean Road and how building the road was designated to ANZACs back from the war and the work drove some of them insane / to suicide at places like this gorge.

He also played music with elderly Australian men singing about the deaths of the ANZACs.A song I remember distinctly that he played was called, "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" please look it up on youtube if you get a chance. It's about 8-minutes long.

The bus, and another car.

There's no way to show you how high up we were. I wish that cameras showed depth. Basically, we were high enough up for people to die jumping off.

After this, we continued along the road, down slopes and past more incredible, stunning, picturesque-despite-the-weather ocean. Our next stop would be Apollo Bay, one of the premiere vacation spots for Aussies.
It was here that we stopped for lunch, which was paid for as part of the tour cost. It ended up being this little Thai restaurant off the main road. Allan had passed a menu around on the bus earlier in the day and everyone wrote down their name by what they wanted, and at another stop he called it in so it was ready when we got there. I ordered Pad Thai with no peanuts.

When we got to the restaurant, the man who owned the place said that they didn't get the memo about the no peanuts, so whoever ordered that would have to wait a bit. When it was my turn to get my food, I saw that they had the Pad Thai already made with the peanuts, so I told them I would eat it so it wouldn't be wasted. They tried to accommodate the no-peanuts order but I was like no really, I prefer it without but I don't have an allergy. He said he didn't want any law suit and I said no don't worry about it, I'm good. So I took it.

It was delicious anyway. Thankfully it had been sitting there in the steam long enough that the peanuts had softened anyway, so I couldn't even really tell it had peanuts at all. It was my first pad thai and it was great. Emily had a stir fry, and we both ate it (I pretty much inhaled mine) and then went off into some of the shops. Emily wanted to find a hoodie because it was still so cold, and I walked across the street to the beach by myself.

 On the sand dunes there were tons of little shells, completely intact from small critters. They were perfect spirals so I ended up collecting a bunch of them. I love beaches. I can't stress that enough. See how green and turquoise that water is? Imagine how it would look in the sun!

Then I met up with Emily in her snazzy new hoodie and went back to the bus. Our next stop was a camp where we would be spotting wild koalas. Allan said that in all the years he has done the tour, not once has there never been at least one koala where we were aiming to go. He said up the road there would be scores of them, but at this one patch where everyone ended up staying, there were 3.

  

 There are two of them. The third one was too high up to get a good picture. They were all sleeping, so we all pointed them out to each other and people took pictures and whatnot, but the real scene stealers ended up being the flock of King Parrots, as seen in the pictures below:

They got on pretty much everyone! We were just looking at a koala when we heard some screams and a lot of flapping of wings, so I thought they had all just up and flew away, but no, I look back and the whole crew has one or more on their shoulders and head - Emily included.

So I run back, and one lands on my shoulder (pictured above). It was great that I had my iPod camera with me this time as well as my regular camera ;)

Allan is in the picture above, our driver, and apparently he had some sort of bird seed. Once it was gone, they were all just milling about, so Emily went back to the bus to get the granola bar she packed as a snack. The birds went CRAZY! 

 

I looked them up on the bus - The green and red birds are King Parrots, and the Red birds with Purpley feathers are Crimson Rosellas. (A crimson rosella is in the above picture, pecking the ground in the corner) and the picture below is a King Parrot. 

 They were just so cute. Their claws were sharp though. So Emily fed them her granola, gave the bar to me and then they were all over me, and then another bus full of people came out from a different tour and since I had a bunch of granola left I gave some pieces to a few people who wanted to get flocked by wild parrots. They knocked themselves out lol.
I made small talk with a woman from Boston and she has a terrible bird phobia so she was freaking out about it but she still insisted on taking my camera and taking pictures of me with the birds on my head and arms. I don't post those because I look terrible, and please excuse me one shred of vanity as I write about my vacation on this public forum. (the irony is not lost on me, I know.) 

(I realize at this time, that we actually stopped for the koalas/parrots BEFORE lunch at Apollo Bay, but I don't feel like cutting and pasting the whole sections.....)(I took over 1000 pictures with my camera from the start of the trip, so halfway through the tour my camera started numbering the pictures differently, so the whole album is out of order)(IMG_999 was taken mid-day so then the next photo, IMG_001 - comes up in the album first but is actually from the afternoon....etc)(I'm rambling)

Our next stop was the Mait's Rest Rainforest Walk, which ended up being a very nice pathway through the rainforest. It took about a half hour to walk through the whole thing. Emily and I broke off from the trail a few times to look at some bigger trees. I admit I was sort of freaking out about the bus leaving without us so I was the killjoy of the situation...I own it. Here are some pictures.

 The big-ass tree that Emily found, had a path around it so we went off the trail and found that the tree was hollow on the other side.

Then we caught up to the rest of the group, where a bunch were taking photos in this other tree hole, so I made Emily get in it with me. We talked to Allan about where we were from and how we met at uni and how long we were here and how we couldnt find a job. He echoed the same statement that our morning driver said - that yeah, retail places don't hire temporary people usually. To which we said, yeah, getting that impression now after three months. 

The next stop was really what the whole tour was about. 

The Great Ocean Road is lovely and has an amazing scenery as I've said, but really the gem of the whole thing is the 12 Apostles.

The 12 Apostles are limestone stacks on the southern coast of Victoria. There aren't 12 of them, I think there are only 7 or 8 still standing (but there weren't 12 to begin with when they were named).

 Here is a confession of mine - after graduation and coming back home to NY, I started browsing Facebook profiles of people from high school, people who I hadn't looked at or caught up with since high school, and one of them had studied abroad in Australia. She posted an album and some of the pictures were of the 12 Apostles. I was like, my lord, I want to be thereeee. So I put it on my bucket list of life.

It really was several months before Emily put the offer out there for us to move down to Australia, and months before I even fantasized about going there in the nearish future. 

Where I am going with this - is that I wanted to see the 12 Apostles before I even wanted to move to Australia. I had been dreaming of seeing these things ever since knowing they existed.

The only thing that I was even 1/1289th upset with was that the sun was behind them when we got there, and not upon them...but I got over it quickly because they were as gorgeous as I'd hoped. 

Look at those sun rays. Look at that coast. Look at the cliffs. Look at the stacks. Look at everything. 

 Again its impossible to see the depth on this camera, but those cliffs were massive, the stacks were massive. THe waves were at least 10 feet upon breaking on the sand. The sand was VERY far beneath our feet.

I mean, it looks so close but if a person were standing down there, they would be dwarfed by everything.

The lookout path was very big, and crowded. There around the bend is another part of the 12 Apostles.

 Here are two of the other stacks, on the other side of the peninsula pictured above. These had the sun upon them, instead of behind them. Look at the COLOR. Like jeez. Look at those cliffs. Look at the color of the water! This picture is literally the background on my computer and I don't think I'll ever change it.
 

 So I walked around a bit more, Emily and I had split up, and then eventually made way back to the little shop. There was an option when we first got there to do a helicopter ride along the coast and see everything from the air - but it cost $95. Excuse me that I didn't end up doing it ;)

Got a popsicle at the little shop and ate it outside the bus. I got some joking comments from fellow passengers that it was so cold yet I was eating ice cream, but Allan and I both said it didn't matter the weather, we don't turn down ice cream. Boom.

Then we waited for everyone to get back, but a few people didn't make it in time and the sun was getting dangerously low, so he went ahead and drove those of us who were on time to the next location (he'd go back for the others though).

The next place was Loch Ard Gorge.
Now I felt that the highlight of the trip would be the 12 Apostles.
But....then we got to Loch Ard Gorge.

The history we got of the place was that there was this passenger ship that was sailing along, and got stuck in the currents, and while getting sucked into the area of the gorge, it sank and there were only 2 survivors out of several hundred (another uplifting story from Allan and the Great Ocean Road). One was a boy, who swam to shore, and the other was a girl who lost her entire family, and was clinging to debris. He heard her screaming and swam all the way back out to get her and bring her to shore.
Allan said that he was a national hero, famous to the area, and if it were a Disney film the two would have gotten married - but the girl was so depressed that she was the only survivor of her family that she went home to Ireland (who can blame her). The boy who saved her ended up dying from natural causes at age 27.

One of the paths we could have taken was to the exact place that the ship sank. With our time limit, Allan recommended we go to the third path first, then if there was time, double back to the first path - as the second path with the ship wreck was unimpressive visually.

Everyone followed his advice.

The third path ended up being another highlight of the trip. I literally found myself saying over and over, out loud, to no one in particular - "Oh. My. God. Ohmigod. Oh. My. What? How?" and just smiling because it was just. Like.....wow.
Pictures can't do it justice, but I tried. The top of the lookout:

The steps to the beach:

Now, here's the thing. I had just discovered the Widescreen setting on my camera, and had it set on a different light adjustment setting, so all of the pictures from my camera from here to the end are awful. It kills me. It was a good thing I had my iPod with me to take some decent ones with or I'd be crying. But either way.....this beach....REALLY? This exists? In real life?

Then as soon as I had pulled it together a little bit, literally feeling like I was in paradise and i needed to build a house or pitch a tent for the rest of my life right on that sand - Then this happened:

My ugly face? No.
No people.
A RAINBOW. A RAINBOW OVER THE WHOLE THING. WHAT.

So then I was like....where's my tent? Where is it? How do I live here?

But then we went back up the staircase and back to the parking lot, where I chose to go down the other path really fast, just to see what the other good view of the area was.
It did not disappoint - and I had to RUN back to make it in time for the next so I wouldn't be left behind - it was beautiful but I had my camera on the wrong setting, so naturally the pictures are bad, but even the bad pictures don't obscure the beauty of the place.

So after taking these, I RAN back to the bus (it was also raining, so I looked great) and made it. I told Allan that the Argentinean couple were on their way back, just a bit behind me, so we waited for a few minutes and then he ran out to tell them to run and then they made it and we drove off to the last stop.

The last stop was London Bridge.
Now having seen the actual London Bridge, I found this to be more impressive ;)
It's another rock formation, completely natural, but it made big news because it used to have two arches, but one collapsed in 1996. There were a happily married man and woman who were stranded on the far side of the collapse for several hours before a helicopter came to rescue them.
The media were going wild, and once they landed wanted an interview about their long time being stranded, but both very aggressively didnt want to appear on camera.
It was revealed later, that they were indeed happily married - just not to each other.
HA.

So here is London Bridge:

 They were massively tall and as you can see, no way down and no way up - no way onto the bridge ever since the piece missing collapsed.

 and there's a good picture of me, I guess, that the Argentinean woman took for me :)
It was windy and still rainy, and the sun was behind the clouds. But it was still great. I can stand near the surf forever. (at least until a hurricane comes - then I'm out).


So that was the end of the tour.
It would've taken about 4 hours to get back to Melbourne if we drove back on the Great Ocean Road, so instead we went inland on the highway. We didn't stop until we got to this little town that had a whole heap of food options for a quick 30 minute dinner stop. I chose McDonalds. I went alone, got a big mac combo with a chocolate shake and sat down, prepared to eat alone with the newspaper, but then Emily sat down with me. Then my french fries inspired her to also get french fries.
We ate and talked about jobs and the rest of the trip and other things, keeping an eye on Allan for when we needed to leave. No reason to run back to the bus if the driver is sitting there with his quarter pounder, eh?

 Then we got on our way back to Melbourne, getting dropped off right at the door of our hotel, where we had been picked up.

Emily and I got ready to sleep, because we would be taking a 3:30AM cab to Southern Cross station, where we'd be getting the 4:10 AM bus to Avalon Airport, where we would be getting on the 6:15AM flight to Sydney.

When initially planning the trip, I had decided we could save money on the hotel and right after the tour, get the 11 something PM bus to avalon airport and sleep there - but it was a good thing I researched it beforehand because that airport closes and no one can sleep there. So....we had another night in the hotel paying but only slept for 4 hours TOPS.

Win some and lose some right? 4 hours of sleep for that glorious day tour and then four great days in BEAUTIFUL Sydney?

I'd do it again in a heartbeat. 

Vacation Staycation Part 1: Melbourne - Now with PICTURES!

So in my previous blog, I still have the post about my spring break trip to Ireland and Scotland sitting unpublished.
I am notorious for not blogging about long trips. I'm just too verbose and I want the posts to feel like you were there with me!

To make sure I get them done, I'll be doing them in parts. Because lezbeonist, y'all won't want to read this post if it's 2 miles long. I'll try to keep it at about 1.5 ;)

Before we start, this is Australia:


Cairns is the place to fly if you want to see the Great Barrier Reef. Not labeled here is Alice Springs, which is where you fly to see Ayers Rock / Uluru. If it were on this map, it would be a bit above the "L" in the word Australia (aka Nebraska territory if we're talking US terms). Hobart and that island is Tasmania. 


May 14th

Night before the trip, Emily and I packed all of our clothes and toiletries into my carry on, and then had individual backpacks. On this day, the flight left from Brisbane airport at 8:15 am. The earliest bus to Roma Street train station was at 6:03am, and then the train to the airport would get us to the airport at around 7:15.

We leave the house with all of our junk, into the pouring rain, it's still dark out, and we go down to the bus stop.
The bus is late.
Like, 15 minutes late.
Then we finally get to Roma Street, and have to wait 28 minutes for the next airport train.
Good thing I checked in on line and had our boarding passes printed!

Then we get to the airport, run to Jetstar and they announce that the flight to Melbourne's check in is closing in 3 minutes. So we run on up to security. Emily gets through security, they just tell her to take our her laptop next time. They ask me if I have any computer or aerosol and I say no, and when my bag goes through an alarm goes off. Turns out I DO have an aerosol can - Emily packed hairspray.
So then they had to do a whole sweep of the can and all the liquids and the whole suitcase.

Then we get done with that, and this lady walks over and picks up my carry-on and says no no no, you need to check this. the limit is 10kg (22 lbs) of baggage per person (comprising of your carry-on and personal item) - this bag is heavy and you have your backpack as well so youll need to check it. Go back down to the front desk.

So we go back down to the entrance, walk up to checkin which they had to keep open just for us. The bag is 11.2kg, so the super nice woman just tells me to take out some liquids, put them in my backpack, and have Emily carry both backpacks, since a person can have an overhead bag and an under seat bag.
That loophole and that kind woman saved me $70.

We run back up to go through security again, and I tell Emily to take my backpack. The woman who stopped us earlier totally sees me hand Emily my backpack, and I totally looked at her and she had a knowing smile. I hope that the check-in counter woman didn't get fired or anything if she has a penchant for sharing the loophole.

We went through two separate lines on security just to make sure we didn't get stopped, and we both got stopped anyway for a "random screening" with a bomb detector wand. Hurg.
We finally get to board the plane. We're on the plane. I pop my bonine.
We take off, we're in the air, we land. We walk around Melbourne airport looking for the exit, looking for the Skybus shuttle to Southern Cross Train Station which I had booked and printed the tickets for.
We find it, but the first one is full so we have to stand on line. It's really sunny in Melbourne, but it's FREEZING! It was like, 55 degrees but very windy, so we were standing there shivering waiting for the bus. 
The bus would take us to Southern Cross train station, and then I had printed out a google maps map of the walk from the station to our hotel (which according to google would take less than 10 minutes)(HAHAHAHA SURE GOOGLE. SURE.)

The CBD of Melbourne is set up a lot like NYC.

It is a big rectangle, and all streets for the most part are perpendicular, but some go diagonally through, making small triangles out of a few plots of land. One of these triangles was our hotel - circled in gray near the top.
In this map, circled in red are all of the places we went to - which I shall post pics - and the blue rectangle is the route of the City Circle Tram line that we rode to get around (it was free).

Walking to the circled Hotel from the circled Southern Cross was tough, because it was so cold, because the wind kept blowing my cardigan open, and dragging the bag up hills, and finding the whole city larger than expected, it took us about 35 minutes just to get there. I led us the wrong direction for 2 blocks, but then made our way back finally. (By the middle of the second day, we were semi-pros at navigating the CBD tho)

We check in to the hotel, which is ranked the 3rd best hostel / backpacker accomodation in Australia. I initially looked at it because it was on Qantas, and I thought that staying there would earn me more frequent flyer points (but it turns out not to be true - oh well, still enjoyed the place). Every door was key card access only, so it felt very secure, which is always a plus. Emily and I had a private double, which looking at pictures while booking I thought was going to be a room with a bunk bed, but it turned out to be a room with two separate twin beds so that was a pleasant surprise. We had our own room, but were sharing bathrooms with the whole floor (and sometimes other floors - more on that later).

After getting a bit settled, I said we should walk to the Queen Victoria Markets, because they weren't open on Wednesdays (the only full day we would have in Melb) and closed that day at 2pm (so if we didnt go then - we wouldnt be able to). So we found our way there eventually, then walked around inside there for an hour.

The whole market is HUGE. Only a portion of it was inside a building, the rest was just roofs built over parking lots. Each aisle was labeled clearly, and there were so many and they were each very very long. We got separated in the first few minutes, but somehow kept finding each other until we decided to split up to search for different things we might want to buy. I was looking to buy a sweatshirt and maybe some souvenirs, but I didn't find anything. She was filming a lot of it for our group of friends' Youtube channel. The market has general merchandise, souvenirs, craftspeople, and then a full on farmers market. It was classy though somehow, like, not one of the stalls gave the impression that they were selling stolen goods lol (not like Sydney - but thats another blog post *wink*)

We both found ourselves to be STARVING and after briefly being unable to find each other - we were reunited and decided to look for food. Right down one of the alleyways was a cute little Japanese place. I got sushi and miso soup, and she got sushi and a beef stir fry (maybe teriyaki? idr but it was good). Sushi rolls here are cool because they're like $2 or $2.50 each, and are basically uncut maki, so you eat them like a corndog with no stick. $2 for what  would turn out to be 5 pieces of maki if it were cut is really not bad for sushi. It's actually a bargain. I also don't eat tuna sushi because of the absurd mercury content, but the tuna rolls available here are all tuna salad with miniscule amounts of mayonnaise and it doesn't sound like it would work but its great. Anyway. I'm rambling. Sushi lovers out there?
Props also to Amanda for getting me addicted to seaweed salad, and props to myself for passing it along to Bethany.

Okay, so during our lunch it started raining HARD. We were freezing and exhausted, so we hauled our bums back to the hotel (may or may not have gotten lost too).

It was about 3:30pm when we arrived back at the hostel, cold and tired and drenched. Both of us had been awake since about 4am running on only a few hours of sleep to begin with, we crashed. I explored a bit more of the hotel first, going up to the rooftop lounge to see the view. This is the view:

When Emily woke up and we were both competent, we made a game plan for the next day, and looked up some places that were open 24 hours and would deliver us food.
Emily finally found an italian joint called Pepperoni's that was open 24 hours, so we ordered from there and waited the hour for it to be delivered, then I went to the lobby to meet the delivery guy.
I got lasagna but it was really just spaghetti with meat sauce.
Emily ordered chicken strips and french fries which she said tasted like pancakes and sadness.
But I did get a nice TimTam cheesecake (2 slices!) which ended up being the highlight of the whole day lol.


May 15th

The word Melbourne is not pronounced like the Melbourne in Florida.
It isn't Mel-born. It's not Mel-burn. It is pronounced Mel-bun.

Melbun.
Almost "Mail-bun" but subtle on the "ail".

There now you know some australian ;)

Anyway - May 15th. We napped again, and left around noon. Picked up a quick lunch at 7-11 and the liquid Godsend that is COFFEE. You would not BELIEVE how expensive coffee grounds are here! An equivalent can of folgers here is on SALE for $18. SALE. Emily is a coffee addict where I just crave it every once in a while, so the fact that we could get a $2 medium at 7-11 (and the fancy machine even did lattes) was just tops. My breakfast/lunch that day was a coffee and doritos. Not my proudest meal but def reflecting how broke I've become. Also a medium sized bag of doritos here costs $3.29.
$5.29 in america would get me a combo at taco bell. anyway.

We walked down to Latrobe street, which is one of the busier streets, parked ourselves on a bench outside RMIT (university) and had our little meal before catching the City Circle tram. The City Circle tram is free, and stops every two or three blocks in a big circle around the whole CBD north of the river. It was super convenient, and one comes every 12 minutes. We hopped on one and got off whenever the mood struck us or something on the map coming up was of interest.

Our first stop off was Flagstaff Gardens.
It is here that Emily took a candid of me that I think it perhaps one of, if not the best pic ever taken of myself...here are some pics:

Waiting for the tram!

 So we frolicked around the park for a bit, then ran down because I saw the tram approaching and it would be another 12 minutes before one came, so we ran to catch this one. Then we ended up getting off of it because it was going in the wrong direction (there is only one place where the tram goes astray and it was just going to take up too much precious time) so we got off by the Docklands and Etihad statium.

There we went near the water, we saw this weird cow sculpture, and walked along a bit before stopping for another tram. Emily was content to just walk to where we were going because "you wanted to see Melbourne and the best way is to walk" but I explained that it would take too long to walk and the free tram stopped at 6pm and I didn't want to be stranded to get back to the hotel.

 Then we got on the tram again, and got off at Flinders Station. Flinders station is probably the most iconic building in Melbourne. I didn't realize this until I went into the souvenir store and everything with Melbourne on it had either a tram or Flinders station on it (or the tower thing that I don't know the name of...)

We walked under Flinders station to get to the footbridge. It was the plan from the start to cross the footbridge and walk through the Botanic gardens, but once we crossed the bridge it started raining. Hard. so we took shelter under the awning of a swanky riverside mall, and tried to wait it out but it was clearly not going to stop.

We didn't have umbrellas or hoods. We resigned to walking in the light rain after it let up, seeing a few pieces of the botanic gardens before stopping inside an art gallery, which is the large white building circled near the bottom right of the map of CBD.

We spent an hour or two inside there, because there were some exhibits we were interested in, and because it was raining anyway. The one exhibit that was in the brochure that I really wanted to see, we couldn't find, so I just resigned that maybe it was temporary and we missed it. Oh well.  We did see a nice collection of authentic ballet costumes, including one worn by the black swan in Swan Lake, which was pretty cool. We also walked through the Japanese, Chinese, and European galleries. We also went into one full of contemporary / modern interior design and furniture that I could not get out of fast enough. I HATE modern art and contemporary furniture. It just makes me gag. Modern art would only ever interest me if I was on psychotropic drugs because that is the only thing that could make a single line on a 50 foot canvas interesting. At least on drugs the single line on the white canvas would turn into something and dance for me.

The modern art gallery was literally a room with two huge fans blowing a continuous blank film strip in circles. Like.....LOL WUT???

When we left, we tried to catch the free skybus back to the tram stop, but the free bus wasn't running anymore. So we crossed a larger bridge on foot and go back to the other side of the river and walked through Federation Square and went inside a film museum. Federation Square is below:

We went in for a heavily advertised "Hollwood Costume" exhibit but it ended up being $20 admission so we went to the free section. By the time we got there, it was closing in 15 minutes so we ran through it. If we had more time, it would've been so worthwhile to see everything! it was sensory overload in there for the time that we had.

The coolest part of that was the wing about Australian filmmakers and actors, and there were costumes and set pieces from Moulin Rouge! which is one of my favorite movies. The white dress that Nicole Kidman wears during the first/only performance of Spectacular Spectacular was there, along with a 6-foot tall miniature of the literal moulin rouge (red windmill), presumably for the rendered "fly-over" shots of the moulin rouge complex that they used as the set.

 The yellow piece you see on the right is the front entrance of Flinders station, which is on all the souvenirs.

We were kicked back out of the film museum after closing time into the rain. I went inside St Pauls Cathedral (another one, I know) which was stunning on the inside and the outside, but taking pictures inside cost $5 so I just said a quick prayer and left. I love churches, and I could've happily gotten lost in the rafters of this one had people been able to explore a bit. St Pauls:

Then we waited for the tram back to our neck of the woods.


We went into a mall on Latrobe street (right back where we started) because Emily wanted to look for her own carry on suitcase, so we wouldn't have to worry about the weight restrictions anymore. While we were walking around, I started getting really light headed. I felt like I had to sit down, but I also was aware that I had to keep walking because if I locked my knees then I would faint. So I was just in a fog. I went to go down the escalator and Emily kept walking, so I had a nice trip running up the escalator. I got laughed at but I got up and kept going.
I realized that I hadn't eaten anything since the coffee and doritos, even though I had a sandwich in my backpack we just hadn't stopped anywhere.  We'd been walking for a long time and I hadn't drank any water either. So when Emily went into a store to buy shampoo, I sat on the steps of a card store and ate my sandwich while the commuters judged me. No bothers were given on my part.
Then Emily and I poked around inside the card store, but I started feeling weird again so I sat back on the steps, then was told to move by security who hadn't noticed me before. Then we got bubble tea because we both have an addiction to bubble tea and also I figured sugar would help. I got Earl Grey and it was interesting. She loved hers though.

Then we went back to the hotel, and I proceeded to inhale my leftover spaghetti from that morning.
I then went up to the Rooftop lounge for the last time, hoping to get a pic of the city lights.
Mission accomplished.

Then a bit later it was still only like 8pm, I asked Emily to look up some locations of souvenir stores that I could run to just to get a few things. (shot glass....dont judge).
So she tells me where a few are, and I head off down Russell street, crossing over Latrobe and Lonsdale to get to Little Bourke Street. didn't realize just on the address that this was Chinatown - so all of the little junk stores were not Melbourne or licensed Australia junk, just imported goods and imported food. So I went in a few just to look around, but didn't find a souvenir store until I was walking back to the hotel.
I bought a few things :) Got some really nice shot glasses and a patch and a pin.

One day I'll have a cool canvas bag covered in patches from my travels. I have tons (not quite so many now after college...a few of them fell off my senior robe and I am unsure of their locations until I fully unpack from undergrad...which will prob be only when I move out....which will be when I'm done with grad school and have a job....which will be never...)

Anyway. I've been favoring parentheses in this post.....

My review of the city of Melbourne.
Here it is.
Love it.
Love it. Love it.

Let it not be said that I hate Brisbane. I don't hate it, there's just not much to do. There's stuff to do, plenty that I haven't done, but when looking up the "must dos" in Brisbane I've done most of them.
Melbourne CBD has buildings to see, and historic sites and gardens, Brisbane CBD is just shops and offices really.

Emily and I agreed after only like an hour of this day that we would love to move to Melbourne. She still might, even after I leave. I wish we'd gone to Melbourne or even Sydney earlier than now because I would have considered moving there. She looked at some real estate and a 2-bedroom apartment there fully furnished is only $150 a week, so split in half is cheaper than our current rent in Brisbane.
Plus Melbourne is a larger city, and I noticed a lot of foreigners there, both working and just living. According to Emmilly who is from that area, its a lot easier for a non-Australian to be hired there. So that's my one regret that came out of this trip - not doing it soon enough.

A review of the Space Hotel:
Definitely worth it! For it only being $30 a night for a really nice room with two separate beds, it was a steal.
There were 9 floors, G and then 1-8. The 8th floor was only the rooftop lounge - so I guess the 8th floor would be the roof then....anyway.
So the first floor had a lounge area, 2nd floor (where our room was) had a cinema, third floor had an exercise gym, fourth floor had another lounge area, and the 5th floor had a HUGE kitchen and dining room. The kitchen was incredible, it looked like a restaurant with all the appliances and stainless steel. 6th and 7th floors were strictly dorms.

Every room and every door was key card access, even the bathrooms. The bathrooms did fill up at a certain time during the day, so it was hard to find an open one from 8-10pm. Like I said, sharing bathrooms with the whole floor gets a little weird, particularly in these because it was just a room with a toilet and a sink. The shower room was the same room with toilet and sink but then had one wall sticking out and a showerhead. It wasn't tiled off or anything, just the same flooring, with a wall sticking out. While taking a shower, the whole room filled with water - and when you were just brushing your teeth and forced to use a shower room for it bc all of the plain toilets were occupied - you had to wear shoes because the water was all on the floor.

The place also had a "no noise" policy but there were absolutely no people enforcing that. Our biggest complaint was our neighbor who liked to throw rave parties and play his music over speakers instead of headphones like a normal person. I could have been a rat and run down to the front desk and asked them to come up and say something, but I was fine with earplugs.

I learned the hard way to always bring earplugs to hostels lol.

But either way - the whole stay in Melbourne was great. Loved it!!!

Coming up soon : our final day in the state of Victoria - the Great Ocean Road day tour!
Stay tuned my lovelies.