g'day mates! since i last posted i have fallen in love with my future city of residence: melbourne.
january 28: after the easy 5 hour flight from fiji (sarah and i barely remained awake long enough to be fed and down a glass of wine) we arrived in melbourne around 11 pm. exhausted and unsure of how to maneuver public transportation, we opted for a cab to our hostel. well, the cabs here are not cheap. instead of gas, they must feed these cars and their meters with speed or some other stimulant because every second, literally, we were 10 cents poorer. we finally arrived at our hostel, base.
base cannot be missed. using an excellent marketing and advertising tools (just for you sarah b) such as their unmistakable red building and signature "x" symbol base has become a brand name in the world of "flashpacking" (translation: backpacking with style). we walked in to find the place hopping. unlike every hostel we stayed at in fiji, there were actually people here! we were excited to learn that there was an elevator that would take us up to our third floor room and then shot in the heart when the man at checkin next told us it was broken. after a winded climb up 3 flights of stairs i stayed awake long enough to brush up, get pjs on and open my book but not read it.
january 29: after a hefty nights sleep our internal alarm clocks went off from waking up so early in fiji. we found ourselves starving and ready to brave the outdoor oven that is st. kilda (the area where base is). as i have already stated above, i would move here in a hot second, literally, a hot second. the second you go outside it is sweat central. although the heat is not humid, it doesnt matter. of course we arrived in the largest heat wave since 1908 (temperatures rose to about 103 farenheit!). even when the wind blows, it blows hot air, much like a blowdryer or opening an oven after doing some heavy cooking. basically, its not pleasant. but no complaints, the sun was out and despite my glistening face it was a beautiful day.
we left base and turned onto acland st. which is where the party begins. this street and those neighboring it are filled with shop after shop, and restaurant after restaurant. every place we passed we either wanted to eat something at or buy something from. bad news bears. it is also so eclectic. sarah and i have not yet been to sydney but we decided that from what we have heard we could make this comparison. if australia were new york, sydney would be fifth avenue and st. kilda soho. acland street is so eclectic as are the people in it. the fashion is "urban outfitters meets the oc meets wear whatever you want" as sarah says and the overall look and feel is even more laid back than la mixed with british terminology. we picked a cute little cafe and sat outside as we enjoyed the massive amounts of water brought to us in previously used wine bottles (melbourne is all about being green). sarah was stoked for her first iced coffee to be even more pleasantly surprised that instead of ice she received ice cream! as i continued to unstick my legs from one another we enjoyed a great breakfast.
we walked around a bit more and then went back to base to be greeted by sarahs friend charlotte who will be traveling part of australia with us in the coming weeks. she has been in melbourne for a while and helped me sort my phone issues out and got me to a post office to send my phone back to dad. another instance of how melbourne promotes the green life is through its children books. while in the post office, we were met by titles such as "turn off the water" and "dont leave the lights on". while a good message, sounded like crap books.
we then caught the tram to the city to do a bit more exploring. we decided it was too hot and went into a cafe for lunch. sarah and i finally had the salad we were deprived of in fiji (if you cant drink the water then you certainly cant eat the raw vegetables that have been washed in it or as sarah and ive been told "if you cant peel it, you cant eat it"). a little walking later we headed home to shower and enjoy our free champagne from 6-7 that came as a perk with our room. (i dont hate it!) sarah and i have learned that we have perfect australian hair. we have come to grips that we probably will not meet a good hairdryer or flat iron until beijing but here it works to our advantage. the messier and wavier and matted your hair is the better. if your hair is in your face and strewn about in every direction you look amazing by melbourne standards. well, lucky for us, our hair does just that, we dont even have to try!
we then went to a restaurant on acland for some tapas and margaritas that again, didnt seem to really exist in fiji. then we went back to base for "ladies night" which again gave us free bubbly from 9-11. they tried to sell this free champagne as mimosas or as we were told orange juice with maybe a drop of champagne. sarah and i asked for the real deal and were given flutes of just champagne without any arguments. charlotte met us and as it got too crowded we went to another bar in st. kilda then attempted to make it home. we hopped in a cab and gave the driver our address and he had no clue that a street by the name of carlisle existed. we immediately got out and hopped in a knowledgable taxi and went to bed.
january 30: we woke up and headed down the street to a cute cafe called galleon (sarah and i have eaten breafast there every morning since and now dont call it galleon, but "our place" because "we so live here") it is a funky little place that is hopping with locals and organic fare. i then treated myself to a mani/pedi. after fiji i couldnt bear to even look at my poor excuses for nails. the bright orange not only goes well with my tan but bodes very well in melbourne. im totally a local. then i met sarah and charlotte and had an iced green tea at a cafe. unfortunately, no one has caught on with the iced unsweetened green tea. i may have to go to starbucks to get my fix.
the next few hours were the longest of my life so ill make it short. we went to tribal travel to map out our next few weeks of traveling down the coast. the route we have planned sounds great but i wont spoil it for you so youll just have to read about it as it comes.
after a light lunch to regain our strength, we headed to safeway to prepare for our twilight picnic at the botanical gardens. we picked up some nibbles and i carried out sushi. i have never been happier in my life. this place was like mixing sushi sushi and raku together so for those of you from home, obviously this was heaven. a tako salad, few pieces of spicy tuna and two seaweed salad handrolls comprised my meal. the handrolls here are genius. they are not cone shaped but actually are just a smaller version of an uncut roll. this is quite bright because then you can actually take away and walk with it and only use one hand. when i come home im going to spread the word to raku that they should take their seaweed salad to the next level and create a hand roll with it. of course it would be named after me. the ruthie roll at raku has got a very nice ring to it dont you think?
after shopping we got back in time for a flute of champagne, and then headed to the botanical gardens. they were gorgeous. we were going as the sun was going down which brought all of the amazing foliage to life. almost every day the garden sets up a twilight movie on a huge screen. luckilly we ordered our tickets because it was sold out and thousands of people filled this huge lawn with beds, food, and drinks. sarah and i set up our spread, ate, drank and waited for the sun to set so twilight, the movie, could start at twilight! clever, huh? the movie was amazing, the setting great and edward cullen and i will be getting married in the spring. we got home late and went to bed.
january 31: after a bit of a lie in (see, im turning british) we went to our place and were greeted by a swarm of hungry australians. we got seats at the bar, read our books and realized that our waitress had forgotten to put our order in. the situation was rectified, our stomachs were full and we were off to the australian open. the heat was just right and we strolled around the grounds and the rod laver arena area. we even got to go inside and watch some of the junior mens finals. of course we did not have access to see serena play in the finals but it was cool to say that we were there. we took the tram and walked around federation square and had a drink by the river to refuel. hungry and tired we had a quick dinner and just strolled around before going home.
a sidenote: before i left, gary (my dad) gave me a great book called comfortable with uncertainty. i read a bit each day and i stumbled upon a quote that really struck me and i thought was suitable for this trip because while some is planned we are also in new areas all the time and partially flying by the seats of our pants. "sticking with uncertainty is how we learn to relax in the midst of chaos, how we learn to be cool when the ground beneath us suddenly disappears. we can bring ourselves back to the spiritual path countless times every day by simply exercising our willingness to rest in the uncertainty of the present moment - over and over again."
february 1: we woke up early and started our day at our place. we dropped our laundry off at a cheap place next door and walked on acland. every store we pass is having a sale. to me, this is like giving an alcoholic a drink - clearly a bad idea. i could easily toss everything in my suitcase and purchase a whole australian woredrobe. but i didnt. i actually abstained from shopping until the devil on my shoulder aka sarah suggested it. shame on us but we did have control. we wound up not spending a lot and purchasing things that will get their moneys worth.
we headed to the beach to walk around and checked out the sunday market. nothing impressed us so we went back to acland to prepare for our evening. we went to safeway again and bought things for our second twilight picnic that would take place at melbourne zoo! there is nighttime music that you can go to after checking out the zoo and we were all for that. we did our shopping and came home to repack and shower before seeing fiona, another tripp counselor who is in melbourne from sydney. she met us and we headed to the zoo. the melbourne zoo is crazy. there are soo many animals, including ones that are not actually part of the zoo. what you say? yes, waltzing around the zoo is a peacock. just chilling and flying and walking about. this does not surprise fiona or sarah but scares the crap out of me. i dont do well with birds, even pretty ones. especially ones that can sense my fear like this peacock. luckilly, i made it out to find many more surprises along the way. again, what surprises you ask? well, the fact that when you see the kangaroos, wombats and koalas, you are actually walking with them. people were petting kangaroos as if they were dogs!! on the way to the koalas i had a heart attack as we were greeted by two emu. again, i luckilly made it out. we then set up our picnic and waited for the music to start. our concert was amazing. it was a tribute to motown and the blues brothers. every song we were dancing and or singing to. sarah and i decided that when we live here we will be the hip parents and grandparents who come to such events. i thought about my mom while there because she and my dad would have loved this. listening to hits from the four tops and temptations and dancing outside would have been up her alley in particular. after all, they were voted best dancing parents at every bar/batmitzvah! dad, sadly, they did not play my girl but i thought of you anyway!
we headed back and found a wine shop and just sat on the hill near the beach and caught up like old times. i have concluded that although tripp lake helps introduce a friendship to you, the friendship speaks volumes when you can talk of other things than camp. if you had seen the three of us you would have thought we had known each other for years and years since little kids. of course we always revert back to camp because it is just amazing but it was like old friends never skipping a beat. i thank tripp lake for bringing such wonderful people in my life.
february 2: today i woke to my stomach and a pounding headache. i packed up and had to checkout of base by 10 even though our flight to cairns isnt until 9:30 tonight. we all had breakfast at our place and then i came back to base to watch the superbowl. great game. sarah and fiona left do go to some street where a crazy soap opera is filmed that they life. they have yet to return and im getting bored. unfortunately we say goodbye to fiona today but will hopefully see her in thailand and we meet charlotte at the airport to head to cairns. thats all for now, i know i just spat a lot out at you but dont be overwhelmed, read it bit by bit.
january 28: after the easy 5 hour flight from fiji (sarah and i barely remained awake long enough to be fed and down a glass of wine) we arrived in melbourne around 11 pm. exhausted and unsure of how to maneuver public transportation, we opted for a cab to our hostel. well, the cabs here are not cheap. instead of gas, they must feed these cars and their meters with speed or some other stimulant because every second, literally, we were 10 cents poorer. we finally arrived at our hostel, base.
base cannot be missed. using an excellent marketing and advertising tools (just for you sarah b) such as their unmistakable red building and signature "x" symbol base has become a brand name in the world of "flashpacking" (translation: backpacking with style). we walked in to find the place hopping. unlike every hostel we stayed at in fiji, there were actually people here! we were excited to learn that there was an elevator that would take us up to our third floor room and then shot in the heart when the man at checkin next told us it was broken. after a winded climb up 3 flights of stairs i stayed awake long enough to brush up, get pjs on and open my book but not read it.
january 29: after a hefty nights sleep our internal alarm clocks went off from waking up so early in fiji. we found ourselves starving and ready to brave the outdoor oven that is st. kilda (the area where base is). as i have already stated above, i would move here in a hot second, literally, a hot second. the second you go outside it is sweat central. although the heat is not humid, it doesnt matter. of course we arrived in the largest heat wave since 1908 (temperatures rose to about 103 farenheit!). even when the wind blows, it blows hot air, much like a blowdryer or opening an oven after doing some heavy cooking. basically, its not pleasant. but no complaints, the sun was out and despite my glistening face it was a beautiful day.
we left base and turned onto acland st. which is where the party begins. this street and those neighboring it are filled with shop after shop, and restaurant after restaurant. every place we passed we either wanted to eat something at or buy something from. bad news bears. it is also so eclectic. sarah and i have not yet been to sydney but we decided that from what we have heard we could make this comparison. if australia were new york, sydney would be fifth avenue and st. kilda soho. acland street is so eclectic as are the people in it. the fashion is "urban outfitters meets the oc meets wear whatever you want" as sarah says and the overall look and feel is even more laid back than la mixed with british terminology. we picked a cute little cafe and sat outside as we enjoyed the massive amounts of water brought to us in previously used wine bottles (melbourne is all about being green). sarah was stoked for her first iced coffee to be even more pleasantly surprised that instead of ice she received ice cream! as i continued to unstick my legs from one another we enjoyed a great breakfast.
we walked around a bit more and then went back to base to be greeted by sarahs friend charlotte who will be traveling part of australia with us in the coming weeks. she has been in melbourne for a while and helped me sort my phone issues out and got me to a post office to send my phone back to dad. another instance of how melbourne promotes the green life is through its children books. while in the post office, we were met by titles such as "turn off the water" and "dont leave the lights on". while a good message, sounded like crap books.
we then caught the tram to the city to do a bit more exploring. we decided it was too hot and went into a cafe for lunch. sarah and i finally had the salad we were deprived of in fiji (if you cant drink the water then you certainly cant eat the raw vegetables that have been washed in it or as sarah and ive been told "if you cant peel it, you cant eat it"). a little walking later we headed home to shower and enjoy our free champagne from 6-7 that came as a perk with our room. (i dont hate it!) sarah and i have learned that we have perfect australian hair. we have come to grips that we probably will not meet a good hairdryer or flat iron until beijing but here it works to our advantage. the messier and wavier and matted your hair is the better. if your hair is in your face and strewn about in every direction you look amazing by melbourne standards. well, lucky for us, our hair does just that, we dont even have to try!
we then went to a restaurant on acland for some tapas and margaritas that again, didnt seem to really exist in fiji. then we went back to base for "ladies night" which again gave us free bubbly from 9-11. they tried to sell this free champagne as mimosas or as we were told orange juice with maybe a drop of champagne. sarah and i asked for the real deal and were given flutes of just champagne without any arguments. charlotte met us and as it got too crowded we went to another bar in st. kilda then attempted to make it home. we hopped in a cab and gave the driver our address and he had no clue that a street by the name of carlisle existed. we immediately got out and hopped in a knowledgable taxi and went to bed.
january 30: we woke up and headed down the street to a cute cafe called galleon (sarah and i have eaten breafast there every morning since and now dont call it galleon, but "our place" because "we so live here") it is a funky little place that is hopping with locals and organic fare. i then treated myself to a mani/pedi. after fiji i couldnt bear to even look at my poor excuses for nails. the bright orange not only goes well with my tan but bodes very well in melbourne. im totally a local. then i met sarah and charlotte and had an iced green tea at a cafe. unfortunately, no one has caught on with the iced unsweetened green tea. i may have to go to starbucks to get my fix.
the next few hours were the longest of my life so ill make it short. we went to tribal travel to map out our next few weeks of traveling down the coast. the route we have planned sounds great but i wont spoil it for you so youll just have to read about it as it comes.
after a light lunch to regain our strength, we headed to safeway to prepare for our twilight picnic at the botanical gardens. we picked up some nibbles and i carried out sushi. i have never been happier in my life. this place was like mixing sushi sushi and raku together so for those of you from home, obviously this was heaven. a tako salad, few pieces of spicy tuna and two seaweed salad handrolls comprised my meal. the handrolls here are genius. they are not cone shaped but actually are just a smaller version of an uncut roll. this is quite bright because then you can actually take away and walk with it and only use one hand. when i come home im going to spread the word to raku that they should take their seaweed salad to the next level and create a hand roll with it. of course it would be named after me. the ruthie roll at raku has got a very nice ring to it dont you think?
after shopping we got back in time for a flute of champagne, and then headed to the botanical gardens. they were gorgeous. we were going as the sun was going down which brought all of the amazing foliage to life. almost every day the garden sets up a twilight movie on a huge screen. luckilly we ordered our tickets because it was sold out and thousands of people filled this huge lawn with beds, food, and drinks. sarah and i set up our spread, ate, drank and waited for the sun to set so twilight, the movie, could start at twilight! clever, huh? the movie was amazing, the setting great and edward cullen and i will be getting married in the spring. we got home late and went to bed.
january 31: after a bit of a lie in (see, im turning british) we went to our place and were greeted by a swarm of hungry australians. we got seats at the bar, read our books and realized that our waitress had forgotten to put our order in. the situation was rectified, our stomachs were full and we were off to the australian open. the heat was just right and we strolled around the grounds and the rod laver arena area. we even got to go inside and watch some of the junior mens finals. of course we did not have access to see serena play in the finals but it was cool to say that we were there. we took the tram and walked around federation square and had a drink by the river to refuel. hungry and tired we had a quick dinner and just strolled around before going home.
a sidenote: before i left, gary (my dad) gave me a great book called comfortable with uncertainty. i read a bit each day and i stumbled upon a quote that really struck me and i thought was suitable for this trip because while some is planned we are also in new areas all the time and partially flying by the seats of our pants. "sticking with uncertainty is how we learn to relax in the midst of chaos, how we learn to be cool when the ground beneath us suddenly disappears. we can bring ourselves back to the spiritual path countless times every day by simply exercising our willingness to rest in the uncertainty of the present moment - over and over again."
february 1: we woke up early and started our day at our place. we dropped our laundry off at a cheap place next door and walked on acland. every store we pass is having a sale. to me, this is like giving an alcoholic a drink - clearly a bad idea. i could easily toss everything in my suitcase and purchase a whole australian woredrobe. but i didnt. i actually abstained from shopping until the devil on my shoulder aka sarah suggested it. shame on us but we did have control. we wound up not spending a lot and purchasing things that will get their moneys worth.
we headed to the beach to walk around and checked out the sunday market. nothing impressed us so we went back to acland to prepare for our evening. we went to safeway again and bought things for our second twilight picnic that would take place at melbourne zoo! there is nighttime music that you can go to after checking out the zoo and we were all for that. we did our shopping and came home to repack and shower before seeing fiona, another tripp counselor who is in melbourne from sydney. she met us and we headed to the zoo. the melbourne zoo is crazy. there are soo many animals, including ones that are not actually part of the zoo. what you say? yes, waltzing around the zoo is a peacock. just chilling and flying and walking about. this does not surprise fiona or sarah but scares the crap out of me. i dont do well with birds, even pretty ones. especially ones that can sense my fear like this peacock. luckilly, i made it out to find many more surprises along the way. again, what surprises you ask? well, the fact that when you see the kangaroos, wombats and koalas, you are actually walking with them. people were petting kangaroos as if they were dogs!! on the way to the koalas i had a heart attack as we were greeted by two emu. again, i luckilly made it out. we then set up our picnic and waited for the music to start. our concert was amazing. it was a tribute to motown and the blues brothers. every song we were dancing and or singing to. sarah and i decided that when we live here we will be the hip parents and grandparents who come to such events. i thought about my mom while there because she and my dad would have loved this. listening to hits from the four tops and temptations and dancing outside would have been up her alley in particular. after all, they were voted best dancing parents at every bar/batmitzvah! dad, sadly, they did not play my girl but i thought of you anyway!
we headed back and found a wine shop and just sat on the hill near the beach and caught up like old times. i have concluded that although tripp lake helps introduce a friendship to you, the friendship speaks volumes when you can talk of other things than camp. if you had seen the three of us you would have thought we had known each other for years and years since little kids. of course we always revert back to camp because it is just amazing but it was like old friends never skipping a beat. i thank tripp lake for bringing such wonderful people in my life.
february 2: today i woke to my stomach and a pounding headache. i packed up and had to checkout of base by 10 even though our flight to cairns isnt until 9:30 tonight. we all had breakfast at our place and then i came back to base to watch the superbowl. great game. sarah and fiona left do go to some street where a crazy soap opera is filmed that they life. they have yet to return and im getting bored. unfortunately we say goodbye to fiona today but will hopefully see her in thailand and we meet charlotte at the airport to head to cairns. thats all for now, i know i just spat a lot out at you but dont be overwhelmed, read it bit by bit.
here is the link to the melbourne pictures: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ViewSlideshow.action?&collidparam=98091857905.624250214705.1233549395733
Hi Ruthie,
ReplyDeleteI love reading about your adventures.
Love,
Aunt Judy