Melbourne & Sydney Trip
"Melbourne, the greatest country in the world"
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
1 December - 4 December
This was one heck of a week haha! Not only did I have massively congested sinuses from I guess diving too much (I still don't know what was the cause of it), but it was just me traveling this week so I had to do all the driving! I stayed in a pretty nice place right in the middle of the city, so it made it easy to walk to a couple of spots like the Melbourne Museum. And because I was a student I got in for free, so that was pretty awesome! I spent a good 4 hours there, because I hadn't been to a museum during my whole time I had been here (I know, shame on me). But they had a phenomenal collection from dinosaur bones and taxidermied animals, to historical documents about Melbourne and Australia, aboriginal artifacts, and a really interesting "thoughts and consciousness" exhibit. It was also pretty cold outside, so museums are always a great relief from that for a little bit!
Later that day I drove down to St. Kilda, an area that has become a big hit for seeing penguins! They are wild penguins that come up into the rocks on the end of the jetty every evening from the ocean to sleep for the night. I did feel bad for them, because they have to deal with humans coming and bothering them everyday :( but their space was respected and I didn't see anyone be that person and try to touch one of them, because they would of surely bit them!
I had to get to bed early that night, because the next day was going to be a very very very long day... and it was! I left where I was staying at 7am and got on the road shortly thereafter because I had to drive about 2 and a half hours to my first spot, a little town named Lorne. But to get here I drove on the famous Great Ocean Road! I was worried I was going to have bad conditions for the whole day and not be able to see any of the coastlines, but thankfully the sun did come out from time to time allowing me to take some beautiful pictures! Alas when I arrived at my final destination, The Twelve Apostles, it was VERY cloudy & windy... like the strongest wind I have ever felt! Nearly lifted me off my feet a couple of times haha! And after all that I had to drive back about 3 hours to where I was staying in Melbourne... so I did not get back until about 10:30pm! Long day, but it was definitely worthwhile! I enjoyed all the different areas I got to see along my drive; rocky coastlines, dense forests, cow and sheep pastures, rolling green hills, and a lot of small towns.
^^ I stopped at this beautiful lighthouse (Splitpoint Lighthouse) for a little while and took a tour of it. It was originally named Eagles Nest and that rock was named Eagle Rock, but after a lot of ships ran aground in this area they had to change how the lighthouse shown the light on the coastline and put in a red cover that shown over this rock, hence the new name "split-point." It is a 128 year old lighthouse and is still actively being used.
There are not longer 12 of these "apostles" along the coastline because many have collapsed to due erosion and storms.
This little fella is called an echidna! I saw him off to the side of the pathway I was walking on and just sat and watched him looking for ants for a good while. I knew once he had found some, because he got really excited and then all the ants started crawling up his head and into his spins haha.
The next day was my last day and I drove down to see the Brighton Bathing Boxes. There were a total of 89 of these beautifully painted buildings. And when you're traveling by yourself and the people around you are scattered... you use the timer on your phone haha!
After a quick adventure here I drove about an hour and a half north to the Warburton Redwoods for another quick adventure! These trees gave me the feeling of walking through the Forbidden Forest in Harry Potter, but in reality they were HUGE redwood trees perfectly planted in lines. And amidst the trees were these giant bird nests people in the nearby town must have just come out and assembled one day with any sticks that were laying around. But it was a wonderful experience to get to stand among these trees both in Rotorua, NZ and Melbourne, AUS.
That was the end of my quick Melbourne trip, but it was jam packed and I loved everything I was able to see! Perhaps not "the greatest country in the world" haha, which was a joke from a lad named Chris I met at JCU, but it was a nice city with a very diverse surrounding area!
The mountains were really smoky from all the wildfires that have been affecting large parts of New South Wales. Those are not clouds in the background, that is all smoke! It was a nice day out visiting these spots and i'm glad I was able to!
On my last day in Australia, or what I thought was going to be my last day, I headed down to the Sydney Harbor and had dinner with a great view! I took the train back to the city from the mountains, freshened up at where I was staying, and then took the bus downtown. After dinner, I headed over to the shells of the Opera House where they did a beautiful projection of aboriginal art and history.
I went to bed that night with my suitcases packed and ready to get picked up by the shuttle service early in the morning to get to the airport, get my bags checked, and grab some breakfast. As much as I loved the experience of being here, I was ready to leave and be back in the states. But as we sat on the plane for 2 hours while they were trying to resolve some computer problems, they advised us that the plane would not be able to take off at this time. A lot of people were just outraged and annoyed by this inconvenience, but truthfully I just shrugged it off because there was nothing that we could do. But American Airlines was very kind and provided a place for me to stay in a very nice hotel, taxi vouchers, and a meal voucher. I enjoyed my evening relaxing in the hotel, they scheduled a new flight the next day at 2pm and then we set off! The flight coming back was a lot easier, because I was able to watch a couple movies and then I slept for 7 hours on track with Californias evening, so I felt pretty good for the day once I arrived. And even though my trip there was cut short by a day it was a wonderful week I was able to spend with my loved ones!
Cheers Australia! Thanks for the once in a lifetime experiences!
Later that day I drove down to St. Kilda, an area that has become a big hit for seeing penguins! They are wild penguins that come up into the rocks on the end of the jetty every evening from the ocean to sleep for the night. I did feel bad for them, because they have to deal with humans coming and bothering them everyday :( but their space was respected and I didn't see anyone be that person and try to touch one of them, because they would of surely bit them!
I had to get to bed early that night, because the next day was going to be a very very very long day... and it was! I left where I was staying at 7am and got on the road shortly thereafter because I had to drive about 2 and a half hours to my first spot, a little town named Lorne. But to get here I drove on the famous Great Ocean Road! I was worried I was going to have bad conditions for the whole day and not be able to see any of the coastlines, but thankfully the sun did come out from time to time allowing me to take some beautiful pictures! Alas when I arrived at my final destination, The Twelve Apostles, it was VERY cloudy & windy... like the strongest wind I have ever felt! Nearly lifted me off my feet a couple of times haha! And after all that I had to drive back about 3 hours to where I was staying in Melbourne... so I did not get back until about 10:30pm! Long day, but it was definitely worthwhile! I enjoyed all the different areas I got to see along my drive; rocky coastlines, dense forests, cow and sheep pastures, rolling green hills, and a lot of small towns.
^^ I stopped at this beautiful lighthouse (Splitpoint Lighthouse) for a little while and took a tour of it. It was originally named Eagles Nest and that rock was named Eagle Rock, but after a lot of ships ran aground in this area they had to change how the lighthouse shown the light on the coastline and put in a red cover that shown over this rock, hence the new name "split-point." It is a 128 year old lighthouse and is still actively being used.
There are not longer 12 of these "apostles" along the coastline because many have collapsed to due erosion and storms.
This little fella is called an echidna! I saw him off to the side of the pathway I was walking on and just sat and watched him looking for ants for a good while. I knew once he had found some, because he got really excited and then all the ants started crawling up his head and into his spins haha.
The next day was my last day and I drove down to see the Brighton Bathing Boxes. There were a total of 89 of these beautifully painted buildings. And when you're traveling by yourself and the people around you are scattered... you use the timer on your phone haha!
After a quick adventure here I drove about an hour and a half north to the Warburton Redwoods for another quick adventure! These trees gave me the feeling of walking through the Forbidden Forest in Harry Potter, but in reality they were HUGE redwood trees perfectly planted in lines. And amidst the trees were these giant bird nests people in the nearby town must have just come out and assembled one day with any sticks that were laying around. But it was a wonderful experience to get to stand among these trees both in Rotorua, NZ and Melbourne, AUS.
That was the end of my quick Melbourne trip, but it was jam packed and I loved everything I was able to see! Perhaps not "the greatest country in the world" haha, which was a joke from a lad named Chris I met at JCU, but it was a nice city with a very diverse surrounding area!
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
4 Dec - 7 Dec
I arrived in Sydney late on the 4th after visiting the bathing boxes and redwoods earlier in the day and had to wait quite a while for the shuttle I had arranged to come pick me up. While waiting I started to talk with another girl that was also waiting for the shuttle. Her name was Chloe and she was super sweet! She was studying law and came to Sydney just for a couple days with her boss for a business trip/boat cruise in the harbor. How fun is that! Since it took so long, I got to my place pretty late and was starving but had no food with me so I did some research and found a pizza shop that was open late and delivered! Boy oh boy was I over the moon happy when that food finally arrived haha!
The next day I had to get up pretty early and walk down to the train station to catch a train that would bring me out to the Blue Mountains where I wanted to go see the Three Sisters rock feature. While in Australia I had to take all kinds of transportation; cabs, ubers, rental cars, buses, and trains. Trains stressed me out the most and today wasn't any different because for the first train I knew I was at the right platform but there was already a train there and I kind of just hoped on it and hoped for the best. Thankfully it ended up going where I needed to and I waited at this next stop for a while where the screen and the voice on the intercom were saying different things so that was "nice." But I thankfully got on the train and was able to relax for the next 2 hours as we headed into the mountains.
On my last day in Australia, or what I thought was going to be my last day, I headed down to the Sydney Harbor and had dinner with a great view! I took the train back to the city from the mountains, freshened up at where I was staying, and then took the bus downtown. After dinner, I headed over to the shells of the Opera House where they did a beautiful projection of aboriginal art and history.
I went to bed that night with my suitcases packed and ready to get picked up by the shuttle service early in the morning to get to the airport, get my bags checked, and grab some breakfast. As much as I loved the experience of being here, I was ready to leave and be back in the states. But as we sat on the plane for 2 hours while they were trying to resolve some computer problems, they advised us that the plane would not be able to take off at this time. A lot of people were just outraged and annoyed by this inconvenience, but truthfully I just shrugged it off because there was nothing that we could do. But American Airlines was very kind and provided a place for me to stay in a very nice hotel, taxi vouchers, and a meal voucher. I enjoyed my evening relaxing in the hotel, they scheduled a new flight the next day at 2pm and then we set off! The flight coming back was a lot easier, because I was able to watch a couple movies and then I slept for 7 hours on track with Californias evening, so I felt pretty good for the day once I arrived. And even though my trip there was cut short by a day it was a wonderful week I was able to spend with my loved ones!
Cheers Australia! Thanks for the once in a lifetime experiences!
Comments
Post a Comment