Australia – Page 2 – Where to, Gumshoe?

Adelaide (Day 77): An Autumn Downtown Day

May 16, 2016

We woke up this morning to the smell of pancakes and pouring rain. Jess and Robin were both up early because Jess worked this morning and Robin was being a good husband and making breakfast. It’s also their first wedding anniversary today! When Tim and I went downstairs Robin told us the pancakes didn’t turn out well because the batter from yesterday had separated and it was inedible. Instead, Robin prepared a granola and fruit bowl for our breakfast. We had bought passion fruit yogurt yesterday so I added it in to make a fruit and granola parfait.

Jessica and Robin got us a 3GB SIM card for data from Telstra (one of Australia’s major cell phone providers). We got the SIM card activated at around 5pm the day before, but Tim and I had used all the data by 10am (whoops). I guess when we have 5 devices on WiFi, it’s easy to blow through that data. We added more money on to the SIM but we added it on to the wrong SIM card by mistake and had to call Telstra to get it sorted out. We waited the whole day for the credit to be added but no luck. So when Jess got home, she called Telstra again to help get things fixed. So many calls to Telstra!

Since it was raining this morning we decided to hold on off on going to Cleland Wildlife Park and just hang out downtown. Robin wasn’t working until 4pm today so we spent the afternoon with him. We went downtown for lunch at a vegetarian Taiwanese restaurant that Jess and Robin go to once in a while. The restaurant was called THEA and it was quite busy with what looked like office workers from nearby buildings. We ordered some dishes to share and a bubble tea – our first bubble tea since leaving Taipei. This bubble tea was not $1.40 CAD… it ended up being $5.70 AUD. The food was okay. Tim’s cold noodles were the best dish by far. The pearl milk tea was also surprisingly good – good textured pearls and solid tea. I wasn’t a huge fan of my dish or the special snack dishes for the day.

After lunch, Robin took us through other parts of the Botanic Gardens and to the Torrens River for a nice walk. The weather had totally changed from the gloomy rainy morning to beautiful blue skies and sun. Australian weather changes really quickly apparently. It was really nice to go for a long walk around some pretty peaceful areas of the city. Our end point of our walk before we turned around back to the city was to go to a suspension bridge that crossed the Torrens River. The bridge is scheduled to be updated, which made me a bit nervous while crossing since it is really old and it looked that way too.

We headed back into the city and Robin headed off to the hospital for his shift. Tim and I walked along North Terrace Road and went to the Adelaide Museum of Art for a quick look. All the museums are free in Adelaide, which is great. I like some museums, but I’m not a big fan of art museums so it’s good this was free or else I probably wouldn’t pay to go in. We did a quick walk through the museum and they had quite the mix of old English looking art to modern art that I don’t understand. They had a huge taxidermy horse hanging from the ceiling, which was really strange and a bit disturbing. We didn’t spend much time in the museum, just a quick walkthrough to get the gist of what it was like.

After walking down North Terrace Road, we headed back to Rundle Mall for the free and fast WiFi. We basically sat on the many benches and surfed the net, downloaded shows, and posted yesterday’s blog post for about 1.5 hours. Adelaide is great for having accessible free and fast WiFi throughout the downtown core. It’s too bad it doesn’t extend out to where Jess and Robin are in Woodville Park (5km outside downtown).

We finished with the WiFi and headed back to the townhouse to meet Jess for dinner after she was done her shift. We planned on going to a Vietnamese restaurant close to their place called, NNQ (Nghi Ngan Quan). The restaurant was in an old and charming building and looked like a very modern and somewhat trendy Vietnamese restaurant. Woodville and Australia in general has a very large Vietnamese community so you see a lot of Vietnamese restaurants around. The restaurant was full inside when we got there, so we got seated outside (with heat lamps that were really hot). The food was really good! I can’t wait to go to Vietnam where our meals will be a fraction of the price they are here. I enjoyed our dinner a lot more than our vegetarian Taiwanese lunch.

We came back home just in time for the last half of Masterchef Australia (the show started here). It’s on every day at 7:30pm except for Fridays and Saturdays (no wonder it’s such a popular show here), we’ve only watched a couple of episodes and we know some participants pretty well. Our favourite is Con, a guy from Melbourne who looks like a sad Joey Fatone from NSYNC.

Jess boiled some hot water and made some tea and we played a card game called SushiGo. She got the card game from a friend in Vancouver and we had actually gotten the same game from Hon before we left. But since the packaging is a bit more cumbersome we left it at home. The three of us played a couple of games – Jess won two out of the three games. Tim gets sad when he’s playing badly, it’s quite funny.

Steps today: 20,000

Adelaide (Day 76): Sunny South Australia

May 15, 2016

When we woke up this morning, Robin was downstairs making the batter for pancakes. This was really nice of him, but unfortunately we didn’t have time to eat the pancakes because we had to return our rental car to Hertz downtown at 9:30am. We did get to eat some of his cooked apple and banana compote which was a yummy breakfast in itself.

We dropped the car off and Jess picked us up from Hertz. She found parking downtown and we walked around the city. Since it was relatively early on a Sunday morning the streets were pretty dead. Adelaide has a much more small town feel than Melbourne. The sun was shining and the weather was very pleasant (low 20s C). We walked through the Adelaide Botanic Gardens (each city in Australia seems to have their own botanic garden) and walked down Rundle Mall, which is one of the main shopping and restaurant areas downtown.

For lunch Jess took us to a place called “Two Bit Villains”, it’s a vegetarian burger (Jess is vegetarian) restaurant that also specializes in cool flavoured sodas. We ordered our burgers and shared (soy) chili cheese fries. Everything was very tasty. It was very well seasoned so you didn’t realize you weren’t eating meat.

After lunch we drove to Henley Beach, west of downtown. When we pulled up to the boardwalk, it reminded me of Southern California. We walked along the boardwalk and out to the jetty, watching people fish and took in the fresh sea air. It was such a lovely fall day. The sun was beating down but there was still a cool ocean breeze which was perfect.

We walked to the Henley Library to take some travel books out for New Zealand and for the rest of our Australian trips. We’re going to New Zealand with Jess and Robin at the end of May so we’ll have to read up on what we want to do in Auckland and Wellington.

After the library, we walked back to the beach and walked down to the sand, took off our shoes, and walked back to the car. When I stepped on the sand, it felt super soft and almost powder like. I would compare it to the consistency of powdered icing sugar. Each time I stepped down I would hear sort of a crunching sound. Since the sand was a bit damp, and the consistency was like a powder, it was very hard and compact in some areas.

We came back into the city and stopped back home to clean our feet up and headed out to the grocery store. Grocery stores close at 5pm here (so early!). We went to Coles and picked up some fruit, vegetables, and breakfast for the next few days here, and Jess bought ingredients for vegetable lasagna for tonight’s dinner.

While we trip planned for the remaining days in Australia, Jess was making dinner for everyone. She made a really tasty vegetable lasagna and roasted vegetables for dinner. It may have been our healthiest dinner on this whole trip. After dinner we played a card game we brought from home (Thanks, Hon!) called, Hanabi. By the time we finished our first game it was already 11pm and Jess had to work early tomorrow so we called it a night.

We picked up a lot of brochures from the tourist information centre downtown, so we’ll probably be browsing them to see what else we want to do while we’re here. The number one thing on my list is to go to the Cleland Wildlife Park and see koalas and kangaroos. So far the only kangaroos I’ve see in Australia were ones that were hit by cars on our way to Adelaide.

Steps today: 16,000

South Australia (Day 75): Mount Gambier & Adelaide

May 14, 2016

Last night was pretty cold, we woke up and it felt like we had woken up outside. Tim said it felt like we had been camping last night. After some examination of the air conditioner, we realized that it’s also a heater! Oh well, now we know that air conditioners in Australia are different than the ones in Asia (which don’t turn into heaters).

We checked out of the motel around 10am and went to the main attraction in Mount Gambier, a crater lake called, Blue Lake. The lake was a lot larger than I thought it would be. During different times of the year, the colour of the lake changes. They say in May it’s more of a grey blue but some parts of the year it can become a bright and vibrant blue.

After Blue Lake we headed to Mount Gambier’s main street, called Commercial Street, for breakfast. Jessica, suggested a bakery in town but when we got there, it looked like the bakery had shut down so we walked around to see what else there was. We walked down Commercial Street a bit more and saw a building that said “OK Pie Shop”. We were intrigued by their modest name and were up for trying more Australian meat pies. OK Pies was a bakery that sold pies, pastries, and coffee. We shared a beef & mushroom pie and a curry beef pie. Both were quite tasty, I’m actually enjoying them quite a bit. The pies were better than the ones in Port Campbell because I think OK pies actually makes their pies in house.

After lunch we set out on our way towards Adelaide. It was about 400km to get to Jess and Robin’s townhouse in Adelaide. The drive was a fairly easy and non-eventful drive. There’s not much to see on the way there besides seeing lots of cow and sheep farms and wineries. Apparently South Australia is wine country. I saw some names that I recognize – like Penfolds and Lindeman’s. The majority of the highway is one lane, with some segments that are two lanes for passing (or overtaking as they say here). There are a lot of signs that say “Drowsy Drivers Die” – we must have seen over 20 of them.

We got into Adelaide around 3:30pm and passed by Jess and Robin’s townhouse to see where it was. They were at a conference today so they weren’t home yet. All we knew was that they would be home before dinner since they wanted to change after the conference ended before heading out for the closing dinner. We decided to get something to eat and then come back and wait for them to come home.

We drove around their area in Woodville, which seems like a very multicultural neighbourhood. We saw a lot of Asian and Indian restaurants around. We were both craving pizza so we looked at Tim’s offline maps at what was around, but every place we went to on those maps was either closed or didn’t exist. While driving around we spotted a Domino’s. We went there and ordered two pizzas. The pizzas were very cheap, they have $5 pizzas any time before 9pm for pick up. We asked how big they were and they said they were all larges (Australian larges are like Canadian small pizzas). We sat in and ate some of the pizza before leaving. When we first got to Domino’s they were really busy with delivery and their phone was constantly ringing. But while we were eating, so many people came in to order and the demographics reminded me of home. It was like we were in East Van – there were a lot of East Indians and Asians.

We headed back to Jess and Robin’s townhouse and parked in their driveway waiting for them. Since we had unreliable internet, Tim’s message saying that we’d wait at their place around 5pm didn’t go through so we were hoping that they were still coming back before their dinner. It felt like we were on a stake out since we were waiting in the car with a pizza.

Finally, we saw them pull up! They were wondering why we were waiting outside. Jess had sent Tim a message about hiding their key for us. But we told them that we didn’t get it, so we just waited. Their townhouse is nice and spacious and all the pictures around are nice and homey. It was so nice to see them and to be able to spend time with them in Adelaide.

They headed out for their conference dinner and Tim and I washed up and watched Aussie TV (and I blogged). We’re having fun watching AFL games (Tim is constantly giggling about how silly he thinks the rules are) and Masterchef Australia. Jess and Robin don’t have Wifi here but they got us a sim card that needs to be activated, so hopefully we can get that sorted out tomorrow.

We’re dropping our car off tomorrow morning at the Hertz downtown and will spend the day with Jess (Robin has to work tomorrow).

Steps today: 2,000

Great Ocean Road (Day 74): Twelve Apostles & More

May 13, 2016

We had a really comfortable night’s sleep at the Port Campbell Motel. The bed was extremely comfortable and cozy. Check out time was early, at 10am. This was okay though since we wanted to head out relatively early to see the Twelve Apostles and see all the other sites along the Great Ocean Road. Today was finally sunny, so I was really excited to get the day started.

We had to back track about 5 minutes down the highway to get to the 12 Apostles. I’ve seen pictures of it from Tim and others but when I saw it for myself, it was absolutely breathtaking. It was very windy out (I wished I had tied my hair back) so the waves washing on to shore were huge, but created a dramatic effect while looking down at the limestone formations. We went to each view point to take pictures and take in the scenery. After about an hour or so, we walked down to the beach to view the Twelve Apostles from sea level. We had to walk about 20 minutes to “Gibson’s Steps” from the 12 Apostles viewpoint to get to the beach. We could have also backtracked about a 1km or so but the walk was nice and refreshing. If you’re traveling to Australia, I would highly recommend this drive to everyone. It’s the highlight of Australia so far for us (or for me at least).

When we got on to the beach, we quickly learned that the water from the waves crash quickly on to shore and the tide comes up quite high. A lot of people around us who were walking by the shoreline got their shoes wet. If we were to go back, I would have brought out my flip-flops and walked along the beach in those and also dipped my feet in the water. But since we were wearing our only pair of runners we were pretty cautious about getting our feet soaked and having to walk around the beach with wet socks and runners. We found a higher rock that we stood on for a while looking at the Twelve Apostles, taking selfies, and watching everyone run up the coast to escape the waves.

Along the Great Ocean Road from Port Campbell are several other limestone formations that you can see. We went to all of them on the map and each one was amazingly beautiful. Our favourite part was watching huge waves wash up and crash against the limestone. You can see how strong and violent some of these waves are. Slowly, these formations will be gone due to erosion (there’s already only 9 Apostles left) and the shoreline will move inland over time (2cm/year). (Tim: but new formations we be created too!)

We finished more than half the Great Ocean Road sites before taking a break for lunch in Port Campbell. As you could see from our Port Campbell dinner, there wasn’t much selection in town. We planned on going to the pizza place but they were closed for lunch. We headed down to the pub to take a look at their menu and were slightly horrified at the prices. We ended up going to a sandwich shop cafe that served Australian meat pies. I ordered a mushroom and beef and Tim had a sausage roll. They were both decent and filled us up for most of the day.

After we finished the Great Ocean Road, we continued on the A1 Highway towards Mount Gambier, which is in South Australia (the Great Ocean Road is still in the state of Victoria). The A1 Highway is inland and is basically a single lane, highway through farms all the way until we reached Mount Gambier.

When we crossed the state line to South Australia, I missed taking a picture of the sign. In my defense, the sign was pretty sad looking. I was expecting something nicer, but it was just a small red sign (smaller than some road signs) saying “South Australia”. We also saw signage that said there are quarantines ahead and they had bins for people to dump their fruits and vegetables in. I don’t get why you would need to dump fresh produce between state lines within the same country (Tim: we later learned that there are no fruit flies in South Australia, and to keep it that way, you can bring fresh fruit and vegetables into the state…). Also, when we crossed the state line, we gained 30 minutes. South Australia and Victoria are in different time zones.

We finally made it to Motel Mount Gambier, our motel for the night. Motels remind me of horror movies or scenes of murders in suspenseful crime dramas (Tim: Or at least what Kaitlyn imagines horror movies and crime dramas are like… she doesn’t really watch any). We tried to read reviews on Trip Advisor to make sure the motels we were staying at were decent. Port Campbell and Mount Gambier’s hotel selection are basically all motels. I suppose if you had more time in each town you could look into Airbnb or a traditional B&B, would probably be nicer. Since Mount Gambier isn’t near a tourist attraction like Port Campbell, the room was cheaper at $98 CAD a night (not cheap for motel standards in NA but cheaper than other places around).

We checked in and were given the keys and WiFi vouchers for our stay. Usually the first thing we do is log on to the internet after a day without any. The problem here was that the internet wasn’t working, or it was but barely. We were in a room quite far from the reception so Tim asked if we could change rooms to one that was closer in hopes of getting a better internet signal. We changed rooms and though the WiFi signal was stronger, the internet was still pretty bad (which is the reason why I wasn’t able to post this on time). Also, when booking this place on Expedia, it said “Free Wireless Internet” and when Tim asked why the Wi-Fi vouchers had usage times of 2 hours each, the guy said that he couldn’t control what Expedia puts on their website (that’ll be in my review on Trip Advisor).

We grabbed dinner at the McDonald’s close by since it didn’t seem like much was around. We figured that road trips would probably be our best chance to eat fast food since most major cities we’ll travel to will have better food options. All the McDonald’s we’ve seen in Australia have the “create your own burger” option, where you can build a custom gourmet burger. We tried this out in Hong Kong last year and it was actually really good. The custom burgers here start at $10.95 AUD. We were both craving Big Macs so we ordered two meals – one with “loaded fries” (with cheese and bacon). Everything tasted the same. The only major difference is that in Australia, their medium drink size is equivalent to a small back home. Apparently if you order orange juice at breakfast and don’t upgrade your drink size, it’s like a Dixie cup.

After a quick dinner we headed back to the motel, washed up, and climbed into bed and watched TV shows that Tim downloaded.

Steps today: 13,000

Melbourne/Great Ocean Road (Day 73): Road Trip

May 12, 2016

This morning we finished packing up and went to the cafe downstairs for breakfast with Marcus. Our plan was to have breakfast at Kitty Burns and then Marcus would drive us to the Hertz downtown to pick up our rental car.

Kitty Burns is a very good looking cafe with lots of natural light, attractive pastries, and Melbourne coffee. Marcus said on weekends the place is packed and there are line ups for brunch. We grabbed a table and started with some flat white coffees (even Tim ordered one). They had cruffins (croissant muffins) that looked really delicious so we shared a lemon meringue and a strawberry mascarpone. They were as delicious as they looked. It was my first time eating a cruffin and it was awesome.

We also ordered off their breakfast menu. We ordered a chorizo burrata scramble and Marcus ordered a coconut chia parfait. I was impressed with the food here. Both items were very good. The coconut chia seed parfait was so beautiful, it even had edible flowers.

After an enjoyable and relaxing breakfast, we headed downtown to Hertz. We waited for a while for our car since they had issues with customers returning their cars late, so we waited for them to wash the car and fill up the gas. By the time we left Hertz it was about noon.

I’m happy that Tim enjoys driving and is comfortable driving on the left side of the street. I was in charge of holding Tim’s phone for the GPS. Navigating outside of downtown and getting on to the right highway was the “hardest” part of my job today, the rest was smooth sailing. Turning right when driving on the left side of the street was the most tricky. I’m happy I’m not the one driving. (Tim: Melbourne CBD has a weird thing where the right turn lane is actually the far left lane. You pull ahead and to the left out of the way of traffic, and then when the light turns yellow, you can make your right turn).

Once we got on to the Great Ocean Road, it was amazing. The Great Ocean Road stretches for 243km along the south coast of Australia and is a war memorial dedicated to the Australian soliders who fought in WWI. We pulled over quite a bit to take in the scenery, take pictures, and watch all the surfers. The drive reminded me a bit of the Sea to Sky at home since the roads are winding and you have the water right beside you. The coast line on the Great Ocean Road was very “cliffy” and you have the huge waves crashing on to shore. Everything was so beautiful, despite the weather not being ideal.

There are stretches of the Great Ocean Road that go inland where we saw lots of sheep and cows on rolling green hills and some stretches were just tree lined (like a rainforest). There was a stretch on the highway that turned off to go to Cape Otway (one of the most southern tips of Australia), which has a light house and according to the sign is the “most significant” lighthouse in Australia. So we made a detour of about 10km towards the coast to see the lighthouse. When we got there, we discovered it would cost $19.50 AUD each to go see it. It’s a shame it isn’t a national park and not private. We thought if they had admission it would only be like $5 AUD, not $19.50 AUD.

Our goal for tonight was to make it to a town called Port Campbell (228km from Melbourne). Port Campbell is the closest town with accommodations to the Great Ocean Road’s main attraction, “The Twelve Apostles“. We finally made it to Port Campbell just before 6pm. At that time the weather totally turned and it was windy and pouring rain. We passed by the Twelve Apostles on the way to the motel but the weather was bad and we had to check in before 6pm. So we’ll just visit them tomorrow morning when it’s light out and it’s supposed to be sunny.

We checked into the motel, Port Campbell Parkview Motel & Apartments, just before the reception closed for the day. The man at the reception was very friendly and showed us to our room for the night. It’s quite spacious and very clean. As there isn’t much selection in Port Campbell for accommodations, the price per night of this motel was $119 CAD a night.

We settled in and headed into town (a block of restaurants and shops) for dinner. Tim was craving fish and chips and saw there was a decent place called “Frying Nemo” (haha) off Trip Advisor so we went there. It turned out to be a take out place (attached to a gas station…). We ordered fish and chips and a “Bay Pack”. It was a good sign they were frying everything fresh so we waited for about 10 minutes for our order. Marcus taught us the term, “Bogan”, which are Australian red necks. We sent him pictures of our dinner and called ourselves Bogan.

We brought our fish and chips back to the motel and were really shocked at how large the portion of fries were. We ate less than 25% of the fries in our order. Now our room smells like fries.

We’re having a pretty early night since we’re back on the road tomorrow and there’s nothing to do in Port Campbell. Looking forward to seeing the Twelve Apostles and the other sites along the Great Ocean Road. Hopefully the weather will be nicer tomorrow and we’ll see a bit of sun and blue skies – it’ll make for much nicer pictures (Tim: overcast skies can actually make for better photographs!).

I’m enjoying our Australian adventure so far and being on the road with just Tim and I.

Steps today: 2,500 (Tim: our low for the trip)

(Tim: I just realized it’s day 73 and we’re already half way through our current trip before returning to Vancouver in July! Time really flies. It’s a good reminder to try and make the most of each day and not take this time for granted).

Melbourne (Day 72): South Melbourne Market & Botanical Gardens

May 11, 2016

This morning we woke up and got ready to meet Chloe and Alex for lunch at the South Melbourne Market. We’re staying in North Melbourne so the tram ride to get to the market would took around 40 minutes. We went through downtown (CBD), went over the bridge south of the river, and got off on York Street. We got there about 10 minutes late and saw Chloe and Alex waiting for us outside the market.

As soon as we saw Chloe and Alex from the distance, Tim said we should have gotten them to be our models when we took pictures of the graffiti art around town. Their outfits would work a lot better with that background than our hoodies. They showed us around the South Melbourne Market and introduced us to the friends they made there (they don’t just seem like locals, they’re regulars). It was nice to see how friendly everyone was and that they met some really great people at the market.

The first place we went to visit was the coffee shop Alex used to work at and the tea shop across the ways called, Tea Drop. At both places, everyone was so happy to see the two of them (we felt special by association). Chloe treated us to a fizzy fruit tea that they have on tap at Tea Drop. It was really good and refreshing. Tim’s stomach wasn’t feeling too great so the fizziness was good for it.

South Melbourne Market is a lot smaller than Queen Victoria Market, but it seemed like more of a neighbourhood market (a bit more like Granville Island). They had a variety of stores, speciality food shops, and a good looking food court. Chloe and Alex recommended a Vietnamese stall that was clearly a popular choice at the market. Tim had a regular beef pho and I had crispy pork with rice. Both dishes were $10 AUD, which was really reasonable (for Australian prices). Tim said his pho was good and I quite enjoyed my crispy pork (Tim would’ve too if his stomach could handle it).

We walked around the market a bit more and grabbed some croissants from a French bakery that sold some pastries and a variety of croissants. I got an apricot danish ($6 AUD = $5.60 CAD) which was really good. We took our pastries and decided to walk to the Melbourne Botanical Gardens. Before getting to the gardens, we stopped by the Shrine of Remembrance.

The Shrine of Remembrance was built to remember all those who served in WWI, but now is used as a memorial of those who have served Australian in all wars. The building is nicely situated and has a view of Melbourne’s skyline from the balcony.

The Melbourne Botanical Gardens are quite large and the gardens are very quiet and peaceful. It was nice to walk around and observe all the different types of plants, trees, and birds. The birds here are all different from the ones back home. Their seagulls are a lot smaller and their crows don’t caw they make more of a “ughhh” noise.

After walking through the park for a bit we walked back into the central business district (CBD). We said bye to Chloe and Alex as they made their way home. We’ll probably see them when we’re back in the beginning of June before heading to SE Asia.

Tim and I walked around the CBD a bit more and got a quick snack at Sushi Hub. We had passed by this sushi place the other day and I thought it was interesting that Australians served their sushi uncut. You would think we wouldn’t want to eat sushi any more but I was intrigued and the prices were quite reasonable. We tried a roll and an inari. They were average and decent for the price.

We took the tram back to Victoria Gardens and stopped by Coles for some groceries before heading back to the apartment. We still had some salad mix and 1.5 avocados left from the other day so we bought a couple items to supplement it for dinner. Apparently avocado mashed on bread is a popular menu item at restaurants here, so since we had extra avocados we bought some bread for that. We also bought some salami and snacks for our upcoming road trip.

We headed back to the apartment and I assembled our simple dinner. After dinner we booked two hotels for the next two nights along the Great Ocean Road. I’m looking forward to exploring more of Australia and Tim is excited to be able to drive. We’re both looking forward to getting to spend time with Jessica and Robin in Adelaide in a couple of days. We were on a travel booking spree as we booked our Cairns hotel and our Great Barrier Reef snorkel tour today too. I can’t wait to see the Great Barrier Reef before it all disappears.

We’re going to wake up a bit earlier tomorrow and go to the coffee shop in this building for breakfast. We tried to go the other day but it closed at 4pm. Then Marcus will drive us to pick up our rental car and we’ll be on our way along the Great Ocean Road!

Steps today: 18,000

Melbourne (Day 71): Fitzroy and Lucy Liu

May 10, 2016

Each morning we seem to wake up around 9:45am. We can’t seem to get over the 2 hour jet lag from being in Asia for 2 months. We’re both feeling a tad under the weather so being able to take it easy is helping. Or maybe our bodies realize we aren’t on the go and that we are, and will be, around doctors for a good chunk of our Australia leg.

We finished off most of our groceries for lunch today and did a couple more bookings for Australia. We booked a flight from Sydney to New Zealand on Air Emirates’ A380, the price of the ticket was only $10 more expensive than flying Virgin Air. We’re both looking forward to flying Emirates since we don’t get the opportunity very often (Tim: and more importantly, to fly on an A380).

Our plan for today was to explore the Fitzroy area of Melbourne. Fitzroy is an area north of downtown and is about a 10 minute tram ride from the apartment. We were there at night while eating at the Napier, but we weren’t able to see much else. The area is known for its boutique shops and cafes, making it the most hipster area of Melbourne (and probably the Southern Hemisphere).

We took the tram down and started walking along Gertrude Street and ended up finding the Museum of Melbourne and the Royal Exhibition Building. The Royal Exhibition Building is a beautiful Victorian World Heritage building.

We walked through Fitzroy, going down Brunswick, Smith, and Johnston Street. The Fitzroy area reminds me of the Capitol Hill area in Seattle. Very hipster and has a certain grunge feel to it.

There are a lot of neat restaurants and small coffee shops in the area. A lot of the boutiques and some restaurants were closed on Tuesdays so the streets also seemed a bit quieter. I could imagine how busy this area gets on weekends. We stopped by Messina, a gelato place that was recommended by Chloe and Lonely Planet. It’s supposed to be the best gelato in Melbourne. We tried a couple of flavours and ended up sharing a double scoop of apple pie and salted caramel white chocolate. Everything at Messina is made with fresh ingredients in the back, so that being said, it was really good gelato.

After finishing our gelato at Messina, we walked back to the tram and made our way back to the apartment to rest up before dinner tonight. On our way back we walked behind the apartment complex and walked on the path along the Yarra River (a River that runs through Melbourne). We also went to check out the pool and gym area. It’s too bad the weather wasn’t warmer. It would be nice to relax by the pool. Maybe on the way back in June (Tim: it’s only going to get colder…).

We waited for Marcus to come back home from work and then got ready to go to a popular Melbourne restaurant called Lucy Liu. Apparently there is no affiliation with the actress. Lucy Liu is an Asian fusion restaurant and one of the “hottest” restaurants in the city. Considering it was a Tuesday night and we arrived just before 8pm, we still had to wait about 20 minutes. It’s safe to say it’s a popular place. (Tim: When people describe restaurants, cafes, or bars in Melbourne, they always sound like Bill Hader’s Stefon on SNL to me).

Everything we had at Lucy Liu was really good. I actually underestimated how big the portions would be since it was such a trendy place. We were really full half way through the short rib curry. Tim’s favourite dish was the tempura soft shell crab and I really enjoyed the curry.

Tomorrow’s our last full day in Melbourne before setting off on our Australian adventure. Marcus is concerned that we haven’t experienced how cool Melbourne is. We told him we already know it’s cool and that it’s probably too cool for us. I joked around with him that we’ll come back another time with a better (non-backpacking) wardrobe.

Steps today: 11,000

Melbourne (70 Days): Feels Like Home

May 9, 2016

The plan today was no plan at all. We were looking forward to just spending the day around the apartment, cooking lunch, and trying to figure out what we’ll be doing in Australia for the rest of the month.

We woke up to a bit of rain but within an hour it started coming down (tropical rain style) and was very windy. We waited until the rain died down a bit before walking across the street to the Victoria Gardens Mall to buy groceries. The both of us were really excited at the prospect of cooking for the first time in 70 days (how things change when you’re away from home).

Marcus’ apartment is very conveniently located and the grocery store, Coles, across the street is just like a Safeway. The prices were all very reasonable. Fruit and vegetables were more expensive than home, but not as crazy as Japan. We decided to make a salad, spaghetti bolognese, and corn on the cob. It was a pretty simple lunch but that’s a pretty standard dinner we would make for ourselves back home. The groceries we bought would be good for a couple of meals.

When we got back from the mall, all of a sudden, the sun came out and the sky was blue. The weather in Melbourne does change fairly quickly. We started to cook the pasta sauce, boil some corn, and cut the avocado for the salad. After taking our first bites, we both agreed that it felt really good to eat something simple and prepared by ourselves.

After we cleaned up, we hunkered down and started to plan out our Australian itinerary. We finally figured it out and began to book car rentals, flights, and research some accommodations. We’re going to be staying in Melbourne until Thursday, then rent a car and drive the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide (where Jess and Robin live) and stay there for a few nights. Australia’s a huge country so even with a month here, I feel like there’s still a lot to see here that we won’t be able to go to this trip.

The day flew by and Marcus got home from work to wash up and pick us up to go to Max’s house for their Game of Thrones viewing. Apparently every Monday, they watch Game of Thrones together with his house mates since it airs in North America on Sunday nights. Tim is a big fan of the show so when he heard they do a viewing party he wanted to join in.

We stopped by a food truck area for a quick dinner. They have different food trucks come each day and there’s a bar and open air and indoor seating. I got a pulled pork burrito and Tim tried a Polish “pizza”. The weather was a lot colder than we thought it would be. It was very windy and it was a cool breeze. We were sure it was around 8 degrees C out, but when we checked the temperature it was 17 degrees C. We’ve acclimatized.

After a quick and good dinner, we went to Max’s house and were introduced to his house mates. They turned off the lights and watched Game of Thrones. I took this chance to take a nap. When it was over they all discussed what was going on. I was just sitting there looking around at the house and kept thinking about how good it smelled inside. It was like the smell of someone’s house when they finished making a roast beef (yum!).

It was a pretty relaxing day and was probably the most “normal life” day we’ve had in 70 days. It was a nice change of pace and rest day that we both needed.

Steps today: 3,000

Melbourne (Day 68): Prahran and Chinatown

May 7, 2016

We landed in Melbourne just before 6am (Melbourne is two hours ahead of Singapore). It was still dark outside so we weren’t able to see anything from the plane. It was my first time in the Southern Hemisphere, which was kind of exciting! Singapore was just barely north of the equator.

Before we left home we had to apply and pay $20 AUD for an “Electronic Travel Authority” (ETA) which is linked to your passport when you arrive. On the walk towards immigration, there were several “e-passport” kiosks for people who had chips in their your passport. I don’t have the new Canadian passport yet, so mine did not work. Tim has the new one but he wasn’t going to leave me behind (good husband). We lined up for about 20 minutes before crossing customs. The upside to having to wait in line, I got my passport stamped. However, since Tim’s passport has the electronic chip, he did not.

By the time we got out of immigration, our bags were already on the baggage belt, quite lonely again. We hadn’t seen our bags since Taipei, so I was happy to see that they made it to Melbourne (with Hello Kitty attached).

We made our way to the Skybus, which runs from the airport to Southern Cross Station in downtown Melbourne. The tickets are $19 AUD each way or $38 RT, so we just bought a one way ticket. The ride into the city was nice because the sun was rising and the city seemed like it was still sleeping. We arrived at Southern Cross Station around 7:30am and found WiFi outside Hungry Jack’s (Australian’s name for Burger King) and messaged Marcus. My first impression of Melbourne was that it looked like Toronto. I think it’s because of the street cars (trams) and the older buildings.

Marcus picked us up from the station and gave us a warm Australian welcome. We made our way to his apartment, which was about a 10 minute drive outside of the downtown core. Marcus is a good friend and med school classmate of Jessica’s (Tim’s sister). I got to meet Marcus last year at Jess and Robin’s wedding. He travelled all the way to Toronto from Melbourne and only had 4 days in North America. He told us we could stay with him any time we come to Melbourne, so we took him up on that offer a year later. His apartment and complex is really nice and quite new. He also has really good taste in furniture and decor.

The first thing we did when we got here was shower. We were so sweaty from Singapore and hadn’t showered for more than 24 hours, so I think we stunk a bit. After we showered, we ended up falling asleep for a couple of hours. Marcus knocked on our door around 11am and told us to get up. He was taking us to a chocolate festival. We said we were still feeling a bit tired but he insisted. He said when he has night shifts he forces himself to go outside the next day or else he’ll feel groggy the following day (like us). We didn’t argue with him. He’s a doctor, so we listened. Lucky we listened because it was such a beautiful day – the sun was shining and it was about 23 degrees, with no humidity!

We met Marcus’ partner, who was joining us for the chocolate festival. Marcus drove to South Yarra, to an area called Prahran. The chocolate festival was being held at the Prahran Market and when we went inside, there were only a few chocolate stalls, so everyone was a bit disappointed. It was the inaugural festival so it was a bit of a let down. The market was packed with people since it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and it reminded me of Granville Island Market – lots of fresh produce, deli counters, and florists.

After having a couple of samples we went for lunch at a restaurant called, Oscar Cooper. While walking along Chapel and Greville St., and getting the vibe of Melbourne, I felt it was very hipster. I also noticed there were a lot of very attractive people here and it’s very multicultural. It’s been a while since we saw so many (actually any) guys who looked like they just went to the gym and were super buff.

We got a seat outside, which was perfect on a day like today. Melbourne and Australia in general take their coffee very seriously and apparently there are no Starbucks in Melbourne any more (Tim: there are, just very few). Tim and I aren’t coffee drinkers (as in we don’t drink coffee every day, but will drink it once in a while socially) so when we told Marcus and Max that we don’t really drink coffee, it was like blasphemy to their ears. I ordered a “flat white”, which originated in Australia, and is like a latte except the foam that’s poured over the espresso have very small bubbles (which appear to be more velvety than a normal latte). It was really good coffee.

For lunch, Tim and I shared a hamburger and southern chicken sliders. Both dishes were really good, and it was nice to eat a hamburger that wasn’t sweet teriyaki tasting. If the prices are going to be higher than what we’re used to, at least the food is great. Marcus mentioned we were visiting from Vancouver and the waiter said he worked for Kit and Ace and helped open their Melbourne stores. Apparently Lululemon is extremely popular here, which isn’t surprising.

We’ve quickly adjusted to the pricing in Australia after walking through Prahran Market and observing prices of food items. I think it helped that I had outrageous prices in my head before coming here so it hasn’t been that difficult to adjust and often times I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Marcus secretly went off and paid for lunch, which was very kind of him.

After lunch we headed back to his apartment to relax a bit before dinner downtown. We sat in the kitchen and munched on some candy and cookies that we had brought from Taiwan and Singapore over a nice cup of tea. Around 6pm we headed out and took the tram to downtown Melbourne. We went to a couple of restaurants and they all had about 2 hour waits. There are a lot of Thai fusion places in Melbourne and they all seem very trendy. After being in Asia for a couple of months, it was the first time I felt unfashionable.

We ended up going to Longrain, which is a Thai Fusion restaurant. There was about an hour wait but we got to sit in the bar area while we waited. We ordered some drinks and shared some appetizers, which were all very tasty. We got seated at a long shared table and ordered two mains, a salad and two desserts to share. Everything was very delicious and I’m pretty impressed with the food here so far. Marcus treated us to a wonderful meal and is being such a generous host to us here in Melbourne.

After dinner, we walked around through Chinatown and around some streets downtown. There were a lot of people out and about and some of the streets reminded me of Granville St downtown. After walking around, we hopped back on to the tram and headed to the apartment.

Marcus and Max were telling us about this Chinese dating show called, “If you are the One”. Apparently it’s extremely popular in Australia and not just with Chinese audiences. We watched an episode and it was really entertaining. I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it before.

The forecast for the rest of the week is rain. We’re planning on checking out another market downtown and then meeting my cousin and her boyfriend for dinner. I think our time in Melbourne will be a lot more relaxed.

Steps today: 12,000