Monday, February 19, 2018

Australia's Stylish Second City


In my two weeks in Australia, I would visit the iconic Opera House, see koalas, explore multiple cities, get lost in the streets, drunk on the food, meet incredible people, and of course, what I really came for, dive in the Great Barrier Reef. (Disclosure: This post is Melbourne only.) I, fortunately, also have a couple of friends who were previously in Taiwan now living in Australia. This was not only a perk of getting to visit old friends, but they were also able to give me a few recommendations and tips beforehand. Yet with all the preparation and excitement it didn’t fail to have a small bump in the road on the way. 


Happy Chinese New Year!
Year of the Dog
February 13th, I arrived at Taiwan’s international airport and happily saw the short line, walked right up to weigh my bag and get checked in when they asked for my Australian visa.....My what?! Yep. That’s right, I didn’t have a visa allowing me into the country I had been aggressively planning for for months, if not subconsciously, for years.
The check-in assistants told me if I could get the visa online in the next 20 minutes, I could still get on the flight. Talk about panic. It took me over 10 minutes just to find the correct site to use, but somehow, some way, I found it. And in an instant the visa was emailed to me. (This would NEVER happen if you were trying to enter the USA or countless other countries!)

I was on the flight-a quick stop in Kuala Lumpur for some Nooodles and onto my overnight flight to Melbourne. 
Arriving about 10 am on Wednesday, February 14th

I was very surprised they didn’t even stamp passports (and admittedly a bit disappointed). You placed your own passport on the screen, looked up for a photo, and you were done. As you may have guessed, it is helpful to have a USA passport (among a few others) for this quick process.


Melbourne is said to be the city of “four seasons in one day”as its weather is unpredictably fluctuating. However, my welcome couldn’t have been more delightful. Blue skies with not a cloud to be seen, the air was so fresh and I was instantly dizzy from the accents and good looking men and woman. Admittedly, hearing an Australian accent coming out of an Asian man set off a smile wide across my face.

I got to The Nunnery around 11, dropped off bags and walked around the corner to Brunswick Street. I picked out The Nunnery for two reasons. It's location, in Fitzroy, was raved about not only online but by my friend who now lives in Melbourne. Also the history of the building is quite unique. Built in 1888 for a prominent physician, then in 1944 purchased for the Daughters of Charity and soon became a place for strict nuns and the sisters to live in as they worked in Fitzroy. In 1979 it was used as accommodation for woman from Vietnam and Cambodia and finally in the 1990s it was purchased and established as one of "Melbourne's first backpacker hostels for young international travelers."  

I was so excited to see a bookstore across the street as I was eating my first lunch in Melbourne.
I ended up picking a book by John Lukacs, and later realized I'd have plenty of bookstores to peruse through.

Fitzroy was an incredible district of Melbourne to stay in, full of a variety of restaurants to cure any cuisine craving, and loads of vegan and gluten free hot spots, like the well-known Vegie Bar which was my first stop on the strip.

All down Brunswick you will find quirky bars, wine shops, vintage clothing and book shops, flower parlors (Valentine’s Day), and just as nearly everywhere in Melbourne, street art.  


Throughout the summer in Melbourne, the Queen Victoria Night Market comes alive on Wednesday nights, which just so happened to be my first night in the city. I decided to walk there, this took about twenty minutes of trying not to trip while I gawked at the shiny purples, blues, and whites of Melbourne's skyline. 


When you first enter the market your faced with the difficult decision of what you're going to eat. The best advice I could give, is try a little of a lot. The first tent was serving "Spanish" food and Sangria's. They were blasting Latin music with ladies dancing and welcoming you in. Tough to walk past, but I had to walk at least the first row before taking the first bite. 

Passing tents of Brazilian BBQ, Sri Lankan dishes and Japanese sushi, I finally picked a French tent called Frencheese which was serving raclette fondue over sauteed potatoes and ham. Divine. I also went back to the Latino ladies and got myself a sangria! ^^

I spent over two hours walking the huge lots of handmade bohemian crafts, artifacts, soaps, clothing, posters, jewelry, hats, wallets, you name it. Things were quite pricey compared to the night markets of Taiwan, but I still managed to get a couple of paintings among other souvenirs I pick up along my travels. 

The clothing I saw in Melbourne within my first hours (whether worn on Australians or foreigners I couldn't tell you), made me feel completely lost in fashion. I absolutely loved the style, they just did it SO well it made me want to go home and throw out my entire wardrobe. The mom jeans are back in a whole new way, cats. Tight waists and loose legs. Off the shoulder tops and anything that would show midriff is completely trending in this hip and youthful city. I should also mention, vintage. Vintage. Vintage. Vintage. Not to mention the Australian bods are now in the running for the best out there. ((In my latest opinion (sorry Brazil))
On my walk back I stopped for a chocolate gelato cone + walked through Carlton Gardens park. I wasn't entirely sure of the safety of this city at night. I sort of took the gamble to assume the Australia was safe everywhere. And luckily, that assumption turned out to be true. 
Once I was moved into my four person room for my five night stay, I met my bunk-mates, two gals from Sweden and one from Denmark. All of these girls, as well as nearly everyone I met in Melbourne, were not traveling but working or studying in Australia. It was incredible. They'd come from the U.K., France, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany to spend a year or two working in Australia. Contributing so much to the country, as well as gaining so much in their own lives. I was perplexed with this obviously benefiting 'work-visa' system that was in place. It was working so well to give so many 20-somethings a high-quality of life experiences while again, providing so much to Melbourne.

February 15 on the Great Ocean Road

As I was traveling alone, I knew I wanted to do something special on the day of my 29th birthday. So I booked a tour with Sightseeing Tours Australia and woke up at 6am  to see the Loch Ard Gorge, the 12 apostles, and other sights along the Great Ocean Road. 
The Great Ocean Road was built by, and is dedicated to, the men who served and returned from WWI. It was also inspired by Highway 1 in California, USA when a former Australian governor saw it and decided they needed something similar. Planning and construction began in 1918 and was completed in 1932.


I was the first picked up and chatted happily with Terry, the tour guide and driver. Another pair of Canadians from my hostel also joined, and then we went on to pick up nearly 20 others before heading out of the city. Terry actually started the 'Sightseeing Tours' business many many years ago, sold it and now occasionally works for the company in between surfing and traveling with his wife. I felt pretty lucky to have this Aussie as our guide for the day as he had lots of history to share and good stories along the way.

We hopped on Princes Highway which is nearly 2,000 km and crossed the Princes Bridge. There was a discussion of how quickly Melbourne is growing, how it should do more to expand to further limits out of the city, and the false industrial growth of high rise buildings which are mostly empty. Lots of construction and new rail systems are being added to prepare for the peak in population still to come.

It took well over an hour to get to the windy roads which soon lead out to looking over the coast and the sea. As we were driving, signs for driving on the left side of the road were written in Japanese. Better late than never I guess. We stopped a few times for must-have photo opts and to admire the surfers.







The landscape was full of plants that needed extreme heat to survive, such as eucalyptus trees. Quite a lot of what we saw was burnt, as many wildfires happen in the area. Fun fact, there are over 400 types of eucalyptus trees, but Koalas only eat a dozen of those 400.


Along the way Terry told us of the awful fire on Christmas Day in 2015 which led to more than 100 houses lost. Yet, as often and as dangerous as they are, aboriginals will be allowed to have fires again soon.
When I see this photo, I see the oceans waves as the Earth's heartbeat.
We covered three sections in our single-day journey, the first being the surf coast. Beginning around Anglesea, a once abundant fishing village (as many of these now tourist coastal towns once were), and continuing down to Apollo Bay. 

We briefly stopped in Lorne, a popular tourist town in Victoria and a koala community. Aboriginals say that the possum (not to be confused with the N. American opossum) split into two, the koalas went up the tree and the wombats went underground.


We stopped for a short hike, we fed some parrots crackers and kept an eye out for koalas. While the entire crowd was surrounding one sleepy koala, I found another high up in a tree. It got real quiet and I could hear the faint sound of him, or her, snoring. It was so cute. I was the last one back on the van though, oops!







Apollo Bay was our lunch stop. It was raining at this point so instead of walking around I spent the lunch chatting with a girl from Colombia. 

The second section was 'the green coast' which would consist of us going up and over the mountains, the peak being 1000 M above sea level. We also stopped in a marvelous temperate forest with trees 300-500 years old. It's hard to remember exact percentages, but I do recall learning Australia was once mostly forests and now it's quite the opposite. More facts here. Also that there were ferns here also found in Antarctic. 
Luscious. 

We continued on to the third section, "shipwreck coast" as there has been over 300 recorded shipwrecks along this coast. The most famous shipwreck, most likely due to having two survivors live to tell the tale, was the Loch Ard Shipwreck, which later became the name of the gorge. Sailing a ship in the Bass Strait became nicknamed as 'threading the needle' due to the difficulty of navigation.





You could see the layers of the oceans sea levels in the Loch Ard Gorge. It consisted of bright, burnt-like colors. They had a trail and man-made stairs for visitors to easily get down to the small golden beach and put our feet in the water. 
We made it to the 12 Apostles around 3.  The gorge and apostles were originally called sow and piglets but renamed before the building of the Great Ocean Road to, most likely, attract more people. 
Just a bit windy I'd say. ^^
Not the ideal day as far as weather, but that still didn't halt my happiness. 

We stopped for dinner in a very small town, Colac, and when I returned to the bus after some noodles and a good chat with a beautiful, newly married, young woman from India, Terry had spread the word it was my birthday and the entire van sang me "Happy Birthday." It was very thoughtful and definitely touched my heart.
Even with the slight rain, the day was perfect. It was also nice to spend the whole day with the same group of people. I had several great conversations and learned a lot. It was specifically interesting to discuss the most recent mass shooting in Florida, (which broke on the news at the beginning of our day) in a country-no, in a continent- that once had it's own devastating massacre in 1996, but then changed it's laws and hasn't had a single shooting spree in 22 years!  

The night of my birthday, the two Canadians and I caught up with our hostel's pub crawl at Evelyn Hotel. There I met up with my Swedish dorm mates and a pair of French fellas I met my first evening. We moved on to Bimbo Deluxe where DJ Daws was killing it, throwing in favs from the 80s, 90s + early 2000s. The moves were wild in this club, but the night was young and so were we. So I enjoyed the dance floor with a pesky, yet charming British lad then topped the night off with some greasy take away pizza. Why not? ^^





"We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance."

Friday, February 16th


I headed out to explore the 'CBD' or city central, with my Canon, on my first free day in Melbourne. I first did a little shopping near the Royal Arcade and then headed to Birrarung Marr Park. Cool for a rest, and showing off Melbourne's latest innovations, such as the new metro system, Federation Bells, and plans to add X amount of trees to the city over X amount of years. 
Birrarung Marr Park
One of many actions Melbourne is taking in the fight to make cities more environmentally friendly.
What are the benefits of increasing the city's tree canopy coverage?Hard surfaces in the city trap heat,making the central city up to 5 degrees warmer than the outer suburbs. Trees and other plants help to cool the city by shading the hard surfaces, evaporative cooling, deflecting radiation, and by absorbing CO2.
Why is tree diversity important?
A lack of species diversity leaves the urban forest vulnerable to threats from pests, disease, and stress due to climate change. A greater range of species will provide a resilient urban forest in the future. 
One of countless parks around the city. Simple, yet gorgeous. 
In November 2017 Australia voted or "says yes" to same-sex marriages!
I witnessed an abundance of rainbow flags and continued celebrations throughout each city I visited. 
Another church I saw on the evening the previous night hung a large banner which said: "Let's Fully Welcome Refugees"

Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens across from my hostel. 

If you know some basics on Australia, you probably know the Queen Elizabeth II of Britain is also the Queen of Australia (and of 13 others, including Canada!) You may also assume correctly that most of the streets and many of the buildings still have the British influence, King St. Queen St. Victoria, Elizabeth, William, George, Philip on and on. Here on the left is Hotel Windsor.

In the evening, I met up with Kelly, an old friend from my first years in Taiwan. She was once my roommate, colleague, beer lovin' crowd-surfin', front row dancin'- yoga mate, so it was all too good getting to see her, catch up on life, and sip on more wine than we realized. After a nice dinner at Patee Thai (BYOW) we ran by a few dance spots before posting up at The Rum Diary Bar. Somehow 10PM turned to 3AM and we'd hardly moved an inch. 

Saturday, February 17th 

The hostess at the hostel was nice enough to let me borrow a myki card, Melbourne's public transport pass, with a simple request that I refill what I use. I rode the train out to Middle Brighton where I had a phenomenal stuffed shell pasta and an Australian made cider at White Rabbit.  





Then I walked the fifteen minutes to Brighton Beach through a modest, yet exquisite neighborhood. I had quite a fun daydream strolling through and imagining it being your own local neighborhood walk.
I found my way to the beach where pods of people were scattered in their chosen places, many with their dogs enjoying the surf and seagulls.  Before I found my own spot I was determined to get some photos of the famous bath boxes. I walked all the way down to the 90th box, dipped in, and then relaxed somewhere near the 80s. 
 

 Brighton Bathing Beach Boxes

The skyline of Melbourne in the distance of the beach and rainbow colored boxes was hypnotizing


On the way back into the city I stopped off at Balaclava en route to St. Kilda Pier. This historical little area was full of activity. Before the pier there is an amusement park, Luna Park, and Palais Theatre, with almost daily events. With the water in sight you could see hundreds out parasailing, dozens fishing off the pier, and countless more just there to enjoy a walk, photos, or the St. Kilda Pavilion and kiosk.  
LUNA    PARK
There had to be over 500 people parasailing this way in St. Kilda's Port Pillip.
Beyond them was a undetectable amount of sailboats. 

A fire on September 11, 2003 destroyed the St. Kilda Pier Kiosk originally built in 1904. Because of it's significance, it was reconstructed shortly after. The pier and kiosk have been enjoyed by many generations as a place for seaside fun, relaxation, and romance. There was a small penguin conservation area to walk through at the end of the pier as well. 



As evening approached, I made it back to Parliament station, walked to Brunswick for a small bite to eat at Little Hop and was back at 8:30 in time to catch Sandra (Sweden) for a wine run.

Until the week prior to my visit, I had no idea that my weekend in Melbourne with coincide with the city's White Night.  "White Night Melbourne 2018 runs from 7pm on Saturday 17 February to 7am on Sunday 18 February. Now in its sixth year, it reimagines the city through installations, lighting, exhibitions, performance, film, music and more in Melbourne’s streets, laneways, parklands, public spaces and cultural institutions."



After many adventurous days and nights in Melbourne my last full day was very low-key.  I visited Kelly one last time at her quaint little pad in Thornbury, watched the Olympics in the lobby with a crew of Nunnery dwellers, and let the nostalgia of Melbourne's impression on me settle in. 






Melbourne was my first stop in Australia. It was all I'd imagined and more. It's incredible food surprised me, it's safety, efficiency, style and growth all impressed me. And I must admit, for the first time ever, I was intimidated by such an insanely cool city. 



Already, I was so much in love with Australia and my time there. I couldn't tell you my excitement going into the second part of my trip where I would fulfill my #1 bucket list dream of diving in the Great Barrier Reef!   




Thanks for reading! -K 

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