Ok, so it’s been a really long time since my last post but honestly I haven’t stopped to breathe in the past two weeks. I’ve been non-stop traveling (which has been amazing) and I’m going to try to remember everything I’ve done so here we go.
On April 26th I went to Melbourne for a fabulous weekend. The flight is a little over an hour from Sydney. I got in at night time and my camp friend Fitzy met me at the train station in the city where the shuttle from the airport dropped me off. We took the tram to Nomads, my hostel, where I had my own room with a King Size bed (which was soooo nice) and a TV where the only thing on was Big Brother. Side note: Big Brother Australia DOMINATES this country. It’s on every night for the next 12 weeks and it’s soooo good. Me and Leah are addicted.
Anyways, Fitz and I had a beer at the hostel and talked about the city: places I should go, things I should do and see. We said good night cause I had to get up early the next morning.
It was supposed to rain the whole time that I was going to be in Melbourne but it maybe drizzled twice. The day I was hoping for sun the most was Friday because I was going to the Great Ocean Road. I took a longgg day trip (which lasted 14 hours). I was picked up at 7:30 in the morning and we didn’t get back til 9:30pm…but it was definitely worth it. I thought I was going to be alone, but this girl Lauren from my New Zealand trip was randomly on this tour with her friends. It was nice to have someone to spend the say with. We stopped at all the sites like Bells Beach, Split Point Lighthouse, a place with wild Koalas, Maits Rest Rainforset (which we took a walk through), Apollo Bay, the 12 Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge, and more. I can’t express the beauty of the Great Ocean Road through words, but I took lots of pictures. After the tour, Bella and Mel picked me up in the city and we drove to Seaford where they live (about an hour outside of the city). I was obviously so exhausted so we passed out and went to bed early.
The next day, Mel and Luke had to work so Bella and I went to Chadstone, a huge mall outside of the city. We didn’t find anything too exciting, but it was a very cool place to walk around. That afternoon our friend Darren, from camp, who lives in Bendigo came up to Seaford for the night. We all went out to dinner then to a club called 21st Century which was so much fun. Nothing like going out on the town with camp friends :)
The next day we got up around 10:30 and went into the city for a footy game. Aussie Rules is huge in Melbourne. The state of Victoria has the most teams in all of Australia. We saw the Hawthorn Hawks, Darren’s team, play the Western Bulldogs at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds). It’s an interesting game and I don’t know how, but it’s kind of like American Football, Soccer, Basketball, and Volleyball all in one. The field is gigantic, and round, and there’s no commentary (other than from the fans) which was weird. When a team messes up or makes a bad play, the fans laugh at them which was really amusing. Our friend Dave also came to the game so it was another fun day with the CPW crew. We went back to Seaford that night, had dinner at a good Japanese place and took it easy for the rest of the night…Big Brother was on :)
On Monday, Mel, Bella, Mel’s ex-boyfriend Al, and I took a drive through the country and had lunch. Then we drove back along the coast which was BEAUTIFUL. The views were spectacular; the sun shining on the ocean, gorgeous beach houses, and you could see the peninsula of the bottom of Victoria from one of the lookouts. Then we went back to Frankston, the town right outside of Seaford, to walk around the shops and get some Gelato. That night we went to a bowling bar called Strike with Casey, Bella and Mel’s friend from Seaford who came to camp in ’04, and her boyfriend. It was fun…I lost boo haha (Mel only beat me by 1 point).
On Tuesday we drove into the city. We had lunch and walked around Chapel Street which was said to have great shopping but I didn’t find anything. It was still a really cool area. Then we went into downtown and met up with Fitz for a quick coffee after Uni. The city was great, very European with little “squares” to sit around in and alleys with cute shops and cafes. We took the tram around and walked for a while. Then Bella, Mel, and Luke dropped me off at the airport. Sad to say goodbye, but it was such a fun weekend.
I got into Sydney around 10:30 cause my flight was cancelled and I had to take a later one. I unpacked and did laundry on Wednesday, only to pack again that night. Thursday morning we took an early flight out to Byron Bay. We got into town checked into our backpackers which wasn’t the nicest accommodation, but it had a bed and a bathroom (even if it was down the hall), so we were set. The town was so cute. It reminded me of the keys but a little nicer and bigger than some of the other beach towns we’ve visited so far. We spent a couple of hours on the beach, but it was really windy so we decided to go to lunch then lay out on the grass at the hostel. We had a really nice dinner at this place called the Balcony, an indoor/outdoor restaurant and bar that looks over the town. Then we went out to a place called Cheeky Monkeys for a few drinks.
Saturday we took an 8:45am bus to Surfer’s Paradise and when we pulled in I fell in love instantly. It reminded me of Miami with its high rises along the water, and the main street was a lot like Lincoln Road with a lot of cafes and cute stores. Our hotel had a pool so we sat outside for a little and walked around the town which was awesome. On Sunday, we went to the beach and my camp friend Richie, who was up visiting from Canberra, met us for lunch and spent the afternoon with us. It was so nice to catch up with him. We took a late flight back to Sydney that night. I was in Sydney for about a week and a half then it was off to Tropical North Queensland…but I’ll save that for the next post. Until next time…cheers :)
