G'day Mates!

View from the 37th floor of the Verve

My last week in Australia started in Melbourne and ended in Perth, but more importantly, my last week in Australia was a week among friends (mates!). :) Even planning my visit to Melbourne was very exciting because I was headed to a city where I knew quite a few people - I almost needed my Google Calendar! (I haven’t had a use for it in the last year and I’ll admit, I’ve dearly missed poring over my calendar and making plans with friends…) :)

Heather & Adam at the Moroccan Soup Bar

I arrived late (~1am) at Heather’s house in Melbourne and it wasn’t until I realized I couldn’t stop smiling that it had been more than six months since our farewell in Dahab. Heather was my favorite person on the Oasis Overland truck and I'm so happy I got to visit her at home! I spent four nights with Heather and (her boyfriend) Adam in their beautiful Northcote house.... They live the way I want to live when I move back to the US. Not only have I acquired a recipe for the best chicken ever, but we also enjoyed a few happy hours, surprisingly good vegetarian food at the Moroccan Soup Bar, delicious homemade spring rolls, and a fabulous meat extravaganza at Vlado’s. (Note: They don’t really do happy hours in Australia the way they do in America.... Happy hour in Australia generally appears to mean that drinks cost the same, it’s just that the bar is more crowded with people coming from work!)

Heather, Adam, Ewan & I @ Vlado's

Heather and Adam took me out for an early birthday celebration where in four courses at Vlado’s, three of them were meat!! The first course was a pretty stellar pork and beef sausage, the second course was a smorgasbord of four different meats, the third course was a massive filet mignon, and the final course was a dessert of ice cream and strawberries. Amazing! Heather and Adam are coming to the US next year – I can’t wait to see them again and get the chance to spoil them in Seattle :)

Federation Square

Cute school children @ Federation Square

While they were at work, I took the opportunity to explore quite a bit of Melbourne. I spent one day walking from hip and artsy St. Kilda to the colored boxes at Brighton Beach, and most other days wandering the many beautiful gardens and cool museums in Melbourne.

Brighton Beach - Colored Boxes

The Immigration Museum had a “Child Migrants” exhibit depicting the plight of thousands of children who were sent away from England to work in and populate Australia. Both England and Australia have issued formal apologies to these people who suffered harsh conditions, abuse, estrangement, and more. I had no idea! The Melbourne Museum has a lot of cool exhibits where you can learn about anything from dinosaurs to digestion. My favorite exhibit was the bug room and getting a close-up look at live huntsman spiders and red back spiders that couldn’t get to me!

Blender Lane

I saw a lot of nice artwork by local street artists on Blender Lane and paintings from bigger name artists like Monet and J.M.W. Turner at the NGV International and Ian Potter Museum. I discovered that I’m not too fussed about aboriginal art, though some of the colors are nice I guess.

Melbourne Arts Center - Super swanky inside!

I also happened to do a tour of parliament that was surprisingly awesome! Unlike the parliament tour I took in New Zealand, we got to sit in the members’ chairs and really learn about what goes on in Victoria. One definite must-see is the State Library of Victoria (SLV) - it's open to the public and just beautiful!

La Trobe Reading Room - State Library of Victoria

Wandering through Melbourne, I realized it’s true what they say about Melbourne being a city to live in, not be a tourist in. There’s an entire culture and attitude to immerse yourself in and it’s more about spending time at cafes/bars, relaxing in one of the city’s gardens, and spending an entire day enjoying a festival or museum than checking off a list of top spots. I’m very happy I had friends to experience Melbourne with :)

Heather, Seona, and I @ Trunk

Just before the meat extravaganza, I was able to meet up with Seona, a girl I met a year ago in Bolivia; she was at that soccer game with Oliver and me. It is amazing how different people look from when they are traveling and when they live in the real world… I would not have recognized this tall, pretty blonde girl if she hadn’t come up to me and given me a hug!

The Toomey's @ their Verve apartment

The day after the meat extravangaza, I got to spend some time with the Toomey’s! Megan and Kelly (from my Antarctica trip) had recently moved to Melbourne. The three of us, along with not Heather, but her brother (Ewan) and sister (Jeanne), went to the footy. The Sydney Swans just barely lost in an exciting pre-season NAB cup game. Ewan bought us all pies so that we could have the quintessential footy experience: Watching the footy with a beer in one hand and a (meat) pie in the other. Footy is exciting! The sport reminds me of a combination of football, rugby, and basketball and the guys look super hardcore tackling each other with no padding whatsoever! There is apparently a moment when everyone yells “ball!” but I never got that right… Ben and Sarah from Brisbane joined us after the footy to form this incredibly random group of people spending a fun Friday night together.

Ben, Sarah, and I

The last people I got to see in Melbourne were my cousin Siung Siung and his wife Shierly. If you can recall that first wedding I went to in Indonesia, they were the ones who got married (January 2011). Now, Shierly is very, very pregnant!

Siung Siung & Shierly at the Crown Casino

We had great “Thailand food” for dinner, a nice wander around the Crown Entertainment Complex, and then hung out at home watching The Fast and the Furious 5! They were super excited about the movie and I actually had a lot of fun watching it :)

I flew into Perth with exactly two days and one night to see as much of the city as possible. Success! Ryoka picked me up and took me for some sightseeing before her boyfriend Ben took us girls out for the best breakfast I had in Australia!

Ben & Ryoka

Breakfast at Pizzaca - Amazing!!!

I met Ryoka and Ben about six years ago in Lithuania; they were traveling the world (and actually inspired my travels!) while I was on vacation during my semester abroad in Moscow. We basically spent one night together celebrating Ben’s birthday in Lithuania so even though I am pretty much a stranger to them, they were incredibly kind to me. We were out all day Sunday burning our tongues at the Chili Festival, exploring Cottesloe Beach, swimming at Brighton Beach, and having dinner at their Scarborough home.

I found out Mandy and Lee from my Africa truck were back from their travels and also living in Perth! Really random, but when we finally got in touch, we figured out that they were also staying in Scarborough about a 10 minute walk from Ryoka’s house!! So I spent my last meal before flying to Japan with Ben, Ryoka, Mandy, and Lee eating burgers on the beach. Perth is absolutely beautiful and I wish I hadn’t rushed through; it is a city I could see myself living in and at the very least, visit again and again. I can still hear Mandy laughing about my hardcore style of traveling and how fast I move from one place to the next. It’s fitting though because as I write this, I’ve already “done” Japan and am waiting to catch my flight to Korea. :)

Mandy & Lee

Next up: My “Homeland” – Japan!