Melbourne!

Disclaimer: This one’s going to be a long one. Everyone in my program took a trip to Melbourne from Sunday – Wednesday. BU paid for the flights and hotel (yay!) and we did some academic-related things during our time there and now we have to write a field study, but it was definitely worth it and we actually had a lot of free time to explore Melbourne.

On Sunday, we left for the airport in the morning and we saw BILL NYE THE SCIENCE GUY there. He wasn’t too thrilled to be bothered by a bunch of Americans in the airport but it was kind of awesome. We got on the plane and the ride is only an hour and a half so I did a little work and just listened to music. But as a random aside, the food in Australia is actually REAL FOOD unlike it is in America. I got a Coke on the plane and the ingredients were literally: carbonated water, cane sugar, color, food acid, flavor, and caffeine. Can someone please let me know why Coke in America is full of a bunch of chemicals I literally can’t pronounce when I can just come to Australia and know exactly what I’m putting in my body? Thanks.

Anyway, we got to Melbourne and dropped our bags off at the hotel and walked over to the Queen Victoria Market to get some lunch. We found these really yummy potato spirals (see James and Brigid to the left) that were basically French fries but in spiral potato form, dipped in flavor (I got sea salt & vinegar). I also had some Brazilian BBQ that I couldn’t finish because I was so full.

After the market, we moved our bags into the room and then I went to a rooftop bar called Bimbo Deluxe. It was located in an area called Fitzroy which had a hipster vibe for sure. There were lots of bars and cafes with live music and thrifty type stores. I spent something like 4 hours in this bar just drinking cider on the roof and then eating $4 pizza aka the best thing to ever happen to me. It was such a fun night hanging out with a lot of people here and just talking. I definitely decided going to relaxed bars and environments like that are way more my speed than going out dancing.

Once we got tired of sitting there, we went across the street and got doughnuts from Doughnut Time. This is kind of Australia’s version of Donut Crazy (CT) or Blackbird (Boston). I got one called “Love at First Bite” which was coated in cinnamon sugar with Nutella in the middle. I’m telling you, I gained weight this weekend for sure because I ate so much food. On our walk back to the hotel we stopped at this playground that I had seen earlier that had this crazy see-saw swing thing that was SO much fun. You would never find it in the US because some parent would probably say that its “unsafe”.

After my night of fun, I woke up on Monday and went to breakfast at a cute café down the street that exclusively played Coldplay. I was a fan and my food was great so I started my day off right. Then we headed over to lecture for an hour and then out to our academic tours. Mine was with Pascal, the man who takes care of us and our building in Sydney, and we walked around and saw some really cool bars and restaurants. My favorites were The Croft Institute which is a science-y themed bar and drinks are served via syringes and Madame Brussels (right) which was a bar set up to look like a park in France almost. I also got an incredible Belgian waffle which was perfect for a rainy/cloudy day which by the way was only my second rainy day since I got to Australia.

Once the tour ended, we got lunch and then decided to go to the mall since it was really cloudy and windy. Later that night, Dominick, Sarah, Hannah, Brigid, James, and I went to Chinatown and James ordered all of us a ton of delicious dumplings and green beans. After dinner, we went to all the bars that Pascal had showed us earlier on the tour.

I didn’t stay out too late because the next morning I got up early with Amy, Maddie, both Emily’s, and Nicole to go out to The Great Ocean Road. We got on the bus and picked up all the other people on the tour and drove to our first stop, Torquay which is a surfing town where the Great Ocean Road officially begins. We had tea on the beach around 8:30am and then got back on the bus to go to our next stop. We drove through some beachside towns along the road and the tour guide told us about the danger of bush fires in the summer when it gets really hot. One of the towns we drove through was totally wiped out in the 1980’s except for this one house that is up on a pole (called the house on the pole, super original I know) that survived because it was high enough up.

Next, we passed through Lorne, another beach town. They have this crazy tradition that was started by the lifeguards on the beach. They made a race up where they would jump off the pier, swim back to the beach, run to the pub, and the first one to finish their beer would win. Now it's a HUGE event where thousands of people come to Lorne to compete.

At lunch we got to see a few cool animals. When we got there, we saw a Kookaburra just sitting on the railing of the restaurant. After lunch we got to walk around a little bit where we saw koalas hanging out in eucalyptus trees and these parrots that came and landed on us. I don't think I have ever had a bird land on me so it was strange but a really cool experience.

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Then we drove to our next stop in Apollo Bay. We got to go to a really yummy ice cream place where I tried some not-so-yummy vegemite ice cream. It was really salty and I was not a fan. I ended up getting stracciatella and mint chocolate chip and those flavors were good and not salty so I was satisfied. Apollo Bay reminded me of all the New England beach towns I have ever been to. Being in the southern part of Australia was really cool because it was really similar to the climate in the northeast US. It almost made me a little homesick but then I remembered I'm in Australia. It was a close call!

With bellies full of ice cream, we headed to Otway National Park, a rainforest along the Great Ocean Road. We went for a short hike and heard about the endangered carnivorous black snails that only live in this region. Not only do they eat other insects, but they also eat other snails making them cannibals.

Finally we made it to the Twelve Apostles. Now there are only eight because of erosion. They are made of limestone and it's really susceptible to wind, rain, and surf. This is one of the most famous rock formations and I am really glad that I had the chance to see it. The view was beautiful and the day had warmed up so walking around was really enjoyable. We also stopped at Gibson's Steps and walked down (and back up) all 87 of them to get down to the beach from the top of the cliff. Our last stop was at Loch Ard Gorge (right). It was absolutely breathtaking. The limestone cliffs surrounded a secluded area of the water and it was really peaceful. After a long day of traveling we headed back to Melbourne for the night, stopping for dinner on the way home.

The next morning both Emily's, James, Nicole, and I went out for breakfast at "Little Big Sugar Salt", a cafe that Emily found and really wanted to try. It was really good and I got an acai bowl that kept me full for so long. Then we had our second and last academic tour. I went on the graffiti tour and got to see a lot of really cool street art. After the tour ended we stopped for lunch in a really cool alley with a bunch of restaurants. Our next stop was a place called "Grand Trailer Park Taverna" that had a cool set up inside with tables inside "cars" which were really just walls that were painted and shaped to look like cars. While we were there we got spiked milkshakes and they were delicious.

As our trip was winding down, we decided to go lay in the park to enjoy the nice day. We spent about an hour there and then we left for the airport.

Now that I'm back in Sydney, James, Caroline, and I finally booked most of our New Zealand trip (we leave in a week and 2 days!) and I'm settling back into life here after a hectic few days away. This weekend is my staycation and I'm really excited to see more of Sydney (and the zoo!). Stay tuned for more adventures down under!