Gregory and I in Melbourne - Vacation before the grind

After spending a few wonderful and relaxing days in the Gold Coast I was packed up and ready to hit the road yet again. I was heading to Melbourne to visit a friend from university who I have wanted to visit for the passed 3 years. A year ago she was in Korea and I was hoping to make it out there but it looks like Melbourne will be our place to rock out :-) (just as fun !)


<-------------------- meet Gregory :-)

To make sure people aren't too confused, Gregory is my new companion on the road. It is a bright tangerine-red backpack who I did not name, I purchased it with such name already embroidered on the front as you can see in the picture to the left

So I threw Gregory on my sun-burnt shoulders and I was off to Melbourne to meet up with Amanda. I have to stop and think for a bit and try to remember what we end up doing for an entire week because it was action packed !!! We wasted no time :-) Day 1 Checked out the Market, it was filled with wonderful foods (we ended up choosing a 3-curry Indian platter and was just amazing !), art and live music. After a few glasses of sangria we were off to check out the different booths and items for sale! This is where I fell in love with the 'happy pants' !!! These are basically MC Hammer pants but BETTER !! They are mostly made of polyester or linen material and are just too fun to describe ....so here check it out :-)






















After more browsing and trying out this and that, we enjoyed some folk, reggae, and soca/calypso music played at the market. Melbourne is definitely turning out to be a hip place and I'm already enjoying my visit here !



Day 2
Great Ocean Road here we come !!!!
Amanda and her roommate (and brother) have planed a day to check out the 12 Apostles which are located along the Great Ocean Road. After a some research we decided to skip the day tour (offered by several companies) and do it on our own. We rented a car and the 4 of us took off for a road trip !!!!!

I have seen many beautiful things in my life, but this road trip was just something out of the ordinary. I have never been surrounded by natures beauty for 3.5 hours along the cost while driving in and through rain-forest parks. There were several lookout points along the way and we had to drive by a few otherwise we wouldn't make it to the Apostles in time (before sunset). It was a long and rainy drive but so worth every minute of it !

Once arriving to the Apostles, the rain had eased up just a little, and fog set in. Worried that we won't get to see much of anything, the fog actually added to the experience. The sight was beautiful and with the fog it created an aerie scene.













































On the way home we happen to drive through some sort of National Park (we believe) because the climb up the hill was over an hour or so and speed limit was kept to 20kph. At first we didn't really think much of the winding road and overly tall trees. However, once we realized that the road is taking much longer than before and we did not remember keeping the speed limit so low before, then it hit us that we were off our original path. But needless to say, it was definitely worth getting lost because the drive was just too beautiful to miss :-)



At this time I would also like to mention that driving on the left side of the road has become second nature to me lol. We rented a car for this trip and I had the privilege to drive half way there and back and loved every minute of it. It was one of my goals to drive in this country of 'backwards and upside down' (all said in joking manner), and to have it checked off my list so early was just too much fun! I still have to rent a scooter though to fully experience the roads down under. But at least I can assure you that I am set on the road rules. Oh and one tip for anyone thinking of driving on the left: over correcting to the left is quite common (I hit the curb just once) so ride the median line and just breathe :-)






Days 3 and 4
Friday and Saturday were both a night out on the town. Met some new people, had a few drinkskies, and danced the night away !!! Over all great times all around :-)








































Day 5
Off to the beach !!!






Sunday we spent all day at the festival. There were several stages set up with live music. There were fun events to try out as well: ride a bull, try out being an anchor man for news and sports, get your picture taken with movie starts on a green screen, dance in a silent disco ....etc !





Bars and clubs were packed from early on, there was a beach volleyball tournament going on as well and so much more! Also, got to see some nice places: Luna Park is an old fashioned amusement park still kept up to modern times.





































At night we headed down by the water front to welcome the penguins home. Supposedly, the penguins stay out fishing till sundown. Once it's too dark for them to see the fish they all come home to the rocks where they find a place to sleep for the night. They are so cute and very brave. The penguins which don't mind the public eyes are called Hollywood because they aren't afraid of the people. There are others who prefer to come home without anyone greeting them. Those little guys find a spot away from the crowd. There was a strict rule (enforced by a few conservation officers) no flash camera allowed, so they used a red light instead to try and capture a look at the cute little fellas.

While we waited for the sun to set, we were amused by the size of the jelly fish that were washed up on the shore. There were many of them everywhere and just enormous in size. Nature's strangest creatures but I'm so fascinated by them every time I come across one. These were some form of a blue jelly, but I have also seen the blue bottle jellies that sting quite hard when they wrap around one's leg. These are two completely different species of jellies though. I had to touch these large ones to see what they feel like, and it's the feel of gelatin used in Synchro swimming to keep our hair back. So amusing !





































Day 6 and 7
Discovering the city of Melbourne


I had a chance to spend some time on my own and take a look around the city and the sights it has to offer. Melbourne would be a fun place to live since there is always something to do/ somewhere to go. While I was visiting, ACDC was in town and people wearing ACDC shirts everywhere. I also just happen to learn that the band is native to AUS. 10 year and I had no idea they were Australian. Something new everyday.

One day I had the chance to see the parliament, the Melbourne museum, walk around the city and get some shopping done. The second day I took advantage of the free city shuttle bus, mostly sat and listened to the commentator. The only place I got off the bus was at Federation Square because I was curious to see the aborigines art exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria. I finished the bus tour at the Southern Cross train station where I caught another bus to the airport. I only found out later that Southern cross is the name of a constellation only seen from this part of the world and it is the constellation used on the Ozi flag. Again, something new :-)















































Oh so much fun packed into such little time. On my way flying back to the Gold Coast I also met an interesting fella. He was doing his PhD in the Gold Coast, but besides that what fascinated me about him was that he could say (if I remember correctly) in 19 different languages "Life is beautiful". I think I have found another goal to add to my life list. Just fabulous :-)

Over all, had a wonderful time in Melbourne. Lived off on sushi each day and spent my time with amazing people and friends. Once I arrived back into the Gold Coast I stayed with Kaley and Toby another few days, soaked up more sun, but this time no sun burn at all (oh and watched a ton of Olympics with Kaley ...Go Canada Go)!!!!

1. Szep az elet!
2. Life is beautiful!
3. Viaţa este frumoasă!

It's not a bad start to the count.

Love and miss you all
xoxo
R :-)