Melbourne Made Us Artsy

This weekend, I got to visit a place that gave me a little taste of the weather I've been missing back at home. It felt like fall in Melbourne, and I was loving every minute of it. Don't be fooled, though, there were still palm trees and other tropical plants you'd find in the tropics of Australia. How is this possible in a place that snows and there's rain every other day? I'm not sure.

Steph and I in front of some street art

I think I fell in love with this city because it was the perfect balance of what I was missing at home, and what I love about Australia. It felt like fall in NYC, but at the same time it was so different. One of the first things I noticed was how nicely everyone was dressed--it is a very business-y city, very unlike the completely laid back vibe of Surfers where everyone is in their "swimmers" all the time. I missed people dressing nicely, and I missed people smelling good--yay! no B.O stench in this city! The people were extremely nice as well, typical for Australia, and it was easy to get around.

I was a bit of a mess on this little trip, however. I was already thrown off and frustrated because I lost $65 by switching my flight back home to an earlier time when I thought I would be saving money...I guess this is where my lack of math skills truly shows. Then, as we were on our way to the airport, I realized I had forgot to pack a sweatshirt, a rain jacket, and shoes other than the flip flops I was wearing. This was a problem because it rains in Melbourne all the time and was quite chilly. I know bad things happen in three's, so I was waiting for this next one: I ended up losing my Australian phone. I wasn't worrying too much, I figured it would turn up eventually, I just wanted to focus on having a good time.

Sam and I in front of some street art

The first day, we took a tram just outside the city to a well-known street called Brunswick, a long stretch of a mixture of high-end clothing stores and thrift shops. I found a funky patterned pair of high-waisted shorts in a thrift store for $7! That afternoon we went to a nice little place for lunch where I got an amazing toasted salami sandwich on pretzel bread with pesto sauce, and the other girls got Bruschetta. Yum! That night, we decided to check out the night life on that same street. We found one bar that was fun to dance at, but quickly realized that it was tough being in a new city and not knowing all the right places to go on the right nights. So, being the American girls that we are, we quick found somewhere unhealthy to eat and headed home.

The next day, we ate breakfast in the Royal Arcade. It wasn't actually an arcade...but it was really cool! You could tell the building was really old--the architecture was beautiful, and it had a checkered black and white floor. It was filled with little specialty shops, including a store called Babushka, filled with Russian stacking dolls. I also noticed that this city has a very strong Parisian influence; many of the stores sold French specialty items, there were many French eateries, and a lot of the architecture was French.

The conservatory

What Melbourne is really known for is it's street art scene, which was my favorite part of the trip. There is one street in particular called Hosier Lane, where you are greeted by a huge ally with an explosion of colors and pictures and messages, followed by more and more allys until you're head is spinning so much from the fumes you have to leave. It was truly incredible to see--there are essentially no regulations, the artists don't get in trouble, in fact there were some tours we could have paid to go on lead by the artists! We even got to watch some artists paint. After taking 1000 artsy pictures of ourselves, we headed on to the Fitzroy Gardens.

In these gardens we actually found a fountain memorial for President John F. Kennedy, with a plaque that read, "This memorial signifies the grateful recognition by the citizens of this city for the service given by John F. Kennedy as President of the United States of America, 1960-1963". I'm not exactly sure what he did for the city, but it was very interesting to see. We walked on and found the conservatory which was beautiful, with all types of flowers and statues, and enjoyed a nice lunch with a view of the "Fairy Tree", a tree that fairies were carved into and painted, surrounded by little fairy cottages, too cute!

More street art

We were looking forward to this night all along, because we had heard great things about this one bar called The Croft, which was supposedly themed as an insane asylum. On our way there, we got asked by a group of Australian kids our age if we were going clubbing tonight. We said yes, and they asked us if we could help them out by going in with them to this one club that had a 50/50 rule (for every guy in the group, there had to be a girl too or they weren't allowed in). The guys said they would pay for us (how could we pass this up?! Too good to be true!). We couldn't believe it--these guys dropped $40 just to get into a club. We had so much fun dancing that we almost didn't want to leave, but finally decided it was time to check out The Croft.

On the way to The Croft

Of course, to get to The Croft, we had to walk through this dark ally with tons of creepy street art all over the walls. We walked in...and....we were very disappointed:[ The first floor was weirdly bright for a bar/club, especially one that was supposed to be scary. We also thought that maybe the people working the bar would be dressed up as crazy doctors with needles but...no luck. The only thing that indicated the theme were the chemical tubes and weird equipment on the shelves on the walls of the bar. We walked upstairs, hoping it gets better, but the theme virtually disappeared upstairs. The bathroom at least had a hospital bed, which we decided to take pictures on as if we were possessed. We then headed on to a rooftop bar called Cookie, where we danced to 50's music!

Luna Park at St. Kilda

On our last day, we went a bit outside the city to St. Kilda beach. The beach was beautiful, and out in the ocean sat heaps of sailboats. We walked through the street markets and found some great souvenirs for friends and family! We also were LOVING all the dogs there were! That night, we went to the Skydeck, the tallest viewpoint in Melbourne--the elevator shoots up to the 80th floor so fast that your ears pop and you feel lightheaded. It had a 360 view of the amazing city lit up at night. I felt so peaceful sitting and watching the city twinkle. Then, we checked out the Crowne Casino. We didn't spend much time there because obviously we have no idea how to bet and didn't want to lose what little money we have, but it was definitely a great experience. I actually won $2.50! Woo!

Me on the slots:]

The next day, Sam and I visited the Melbourne Aquarium where we got to see all sorts of Australian sea life. It was even cooler because it was the first time I had been to an Aquarium where I could say I've actually swam right next to some of these fish while snorkeling! And of course, the penguins were adorable:]

As I was getting on the plane to head back to the Gold Coast, I realized that the next time I would be getting on a plane is to go home to America...and I got really sad. Only two weeks left, I will definitely be appreciating every last moment I have here in Australia. A few friends and I are renting a car next week and heading back to Byron Bay and Nimbin one last time, where we plan on sleeping on the beach. I'm sure there will be some great stories to tell afterwards!

Cheers,
Dana

Me swimmin with the fishies in the aquarium

Spring Break in Australia!!

I'm a little sad writing this post because I'm still trying to comprehend the fact that the best week ever of my life is over. I really don't know how I'm ever going to leave this place! Considering tossing my passport into the ocean...

Me holding a Koala!!

The first day we went to the Australia Zoo, which is in memory of Steve Irwin. I've already done the zoo thing in Australia but this time I got to lie down right next to kangaroos and take pictures with them and HELD A KOALA! The photo I got of this is definitely my most prized possession. I won't lie and say that I liked holding this koala...I actually almost dropped it when it was placed in my hands because its butt was wet and I thought it was peeing on me...but sooo worth the picture.

We then headed to Fraser Island, which is the largest sand island in the world. This island is interesting because the vegetation goes from younger to older as you go across. You can literally see the trees getting older and older. We drove around in a giant vehicle meant for driving on the sand, so it was a very bumpy ride! But very fun. We saw a dingo as well and learned that these dingos have never left the island and have never been introduced to any other type of dog-like species and so are in their purest form. This island was known to the aboriginals as paradise and they said that anything that doesn't swim or fly is part of the paradise and should be protected.

White Haven Beach, Whitsundays

We then headed to a resort in Whitsundays. White Haven beach is the most photographed place in the world. We kept saying that we felt like we were in Pinterest...this place wasn't real, it was so beautiful. An aboriginal that was on this tour with us showed my friends Molly, Sam and I some sting rays and sharks which was really cool. We went snorkeling, which was a pretty big deal for me because for some reason I can't handle having any sort of mask put on my face, but I faced my fear and did it. The first breath under water was really scary and I needed a moment to calm down but after that I couldn't stop! Seeing all sorts of gorgeous fish and the reef was amazing, I felt like I was in an aquarium swimming with Nemo!

Resort we stayed at

We also went white water rafting...which would have been SO much more fun if we weren't being eaten alive by this certain type of fly that only comes around for 2 months out of the whole year (lucky us). There were literally millions of them and we all left with so many bug bites. We were definitely entertained by our guide though. He was a bit of a pathological liar...he told us that one of the other guides had a sex change, that another one is a registered sex offender and tries to grab girls boobs when they fall out of the boat, and threw in some very perverted jokes along the way. He also made us all lie on top of each other in pyramid formation at the front of the boat, going face first over a waterfall. He told us we wouldn't flip.....yeah, we flipped. But hey it was fun and something different from what all the other boats did!

Me skydiving!

The next day was the day of all days...I woke up at 7 in the morning knowing that in the next 24hrs I will have skydived and bungy jumped. I really wasn't nervous at all for the skydiving, but the bungy jumping...my stomach turned every time I thought about it. Sky diving was my absolute FAVORITE thing of the whole trip. I was the second to last person of my group to jump out, and most people hated watching the others jumping out but it actually pumped me up even more. We jumped out and began spinning and flipping everywhere, and finally we were free falling for 60 seconds which was insane! The only thing I didn't like was I couldn't get my ears to pop which hurt really bad, but other than that I saw amazing views and felt like I was flying! He even let me steer the parachute for a little bit! As soon as we got to the ground I wanted to turn right around and go again.

A couple hours later, we arrived at the place where we were going to bungy jump. Somehow all my fear of jumping off a platform at however many feet with just a cord attached to my legs disappeared. I was SO excited to do it! I'm very thankful that I went skydiving first, otherwise I don't think I would have been this relaxed. The initial jump and free fall was probably the most terrifying thing of my life...it was a very unpleasant feeling. I also thought that I jumped with a perfect swan dive form but upon watching my video afterwards I realized I basically ended up pencil diving, which snapped me forward and hurt a little but not that much. It was still a very exhilarating feeling! Next we went on the highest and fastest giant swing in the world, which was SO FUN! By the time we went it was dark out so as we were being pulled up we could see the city with all the lights, and then we were let go from however many feet, rushing at however speed, laughing and having a great time. It was a day filled with adrenaline rushes and definitely the best day of my life.

Me and my girls!

That night also ended up being a great time too! We were taken on a party bus to several different bars and got a free shot at each bar and there was a competition at each one. I ended up playing a game called Knights, Cavaliers, Vikings where you are with a partner, and when the caller calls one of those three positions you have to get into it as quickly as you can and if you fall over or get in the wrong position than you're out. My partner and I ended up winning!! It was so much fun and we won a free hour of wakeboarding!

Overall the craziest week of my life...not sure how I'm still alive...my next big trip is Melbourne at the end of October!

Cheers!