Melbourne Revisited

One of the more colorful laneways of Melbourne

With my visa expiry date quickly approaching and days in Oz quickly coming to an end, I found it fitting to take a trip to where I started my Australian adventure: Melbourne.

After a slight flight hiccup, my friend Jess and I arrived in sunny Melbs eager to explore ‘the place to be.’ We checked into our holy hostel aptly named the Nunnery and were ready for our week away.

The majority of our days were spent getting our bearings, mastering the tram dodge and meeting up with friends I’ve met while traveling around Oz.

We also spent a lot of time perusing the laneways, appreciating the impressively bright street art and pretending we were hipster enough to take a coffee at the Euro-style cafes and random poetry slams we came across.

We stumbled upon an alley market/poetry slam on our way to the night market

One of the highlights of the week was our visit to the Queen Victoria Night Market.  We joined the Melbourne masses to enjoy food from all over the world, listen to live music and have a few cheeky beers.

Queen Victoria Building Night Market

Another fun outing was our trip to the Carlton Brewery as part of birthday celebrations for a friend. The factory was unexpectedly shut down the day we visited (of course), but the tastings and costumes at the end made the tour worth it.

Skydiving outfits for a brewery tour? Okay.

And pint glass costumes

My last night in Melbourne was spent out at St Kilda to finally see the wild penguins come in at sunset. I didn’t have time to visit Phillip Island (Penguin Island), but seeing a handful of adorable penguins wobble over the rocks by the beach satisfied my cute quota.

Melbourne from St Kilda at sunset

Wild penguin!

I’m so happy I got to spend some quality time in the toasty state of Victoria before setting off for Asia. Did I mention I’m leaving for Bali TODAY? Time to cram as much into my last seven hours in Australia as possible.

The Dangers of Drowsy Traveling

Once I start to think of myself as a savvy, smart traveler, something minorly bad happens that puts me back in my place.

Last week, I took a weeklong trip to Melbourne (next blog) with my roommate Jess to explore the city one last time and visit friends in the area.

The day before we left for our trip to Victoria was non-stop. I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to work one last data entry gig before an afternoon of sea mailing home essentials to myself and feverously packing, cleaning and moving out of our apartment. Once we turned the keys over to our crazy landlord that night, we set off to the suburb of Ramsgate Beach to store our remaining belongings at Brittany’s friends house while we’re out of town.

The many bags of a flashpacker

This seemingly easy trip was a challenge in itself. First off, I left my phone plugged into the apartment I no longer live in, which I realized after arriving at the train station. After a quick jog back and forth, we discovered all the elevators at the Kings Cross station were ‘under construction.’ Bouncing our heavy suitcases and heaving our bags down the stairs and through the turnstiles was a loud, hilarious feat. Once across town and on the bus to the beach, we thought we were home free, until a drunken homie boarded our bus and ensued to fall on top of me (I think I have post traumatic bum syndrome).  The rain shower on our final walk to our friend’s house was welcome after that incident.

Sleep deprived and exhausted, we all simply passed out once we stopped moving.

The next morning, Jess and I excitedly packed up our stuff, showered and set off on the 400 bus to the airport.  While on the bus, we met a sweet fellow elderly ex-pat American who kept us distracted on our journey. When we arrived at the first set of terminals at 8:30 a.m., Jess noted that we were cutting it kind of close on time. Thinking our flight is at 9:45 a.m., I thought we timed it quite perfectly. After a ticket inspection, we realized our flight was indeed at 9:00 a.m. on a budget airline that requires a strict check in time of 45 minutes before departure. So, we missed our flight. At the ticketing booth, we barely made it onto the next flight and had to a pay a fee that was almost as much as our round trip original ticket. We were packed, anxious and going to Melbourne.

Arriving at the cattle-like terminal of our budget airline in Melbourne

Lessons learned to always check your flight time the night before, and to make sure your crappy airline doesn’t have some strange check in rule and/or carry-on weight rules and/or huge fees for missing flights.

But, like I said, if this is the worst thing that’s happened to me in a while, I have it pretty good. #backpackerproblems

We Go to the Blue Mountains

Last Thursday, I finally set off for a must-do visit to the Blue Mountains. Four English friends and I rented a car and made the hour and a half drive outside of Sydney for a day in the wild northwest. Riding for a long distance in a car that’s backwards to ours still gets me, but I didn’t have to drive (I’ve somehow made it almost a year without getting behind a wheel!) and it sure beats taking the 2 1/2 hour train ride.

Our first stop was Wentworth Falls, where we got some great views of Jamison Valley, the waterfall and the eucalyptus forest that give the Blue Mountains their blue hue.

Wentworth Falls

The blue haze that makes this mountainous region famous

We then rode over to the interesting little mountain town of Katoomba. We took a short stroll down the main drag and made a couple stops in the strange magic shop, the sadly closed down “Candy World” and Coles before making our way over to Echo Point for the Blue Mountains main attraction: the Three Sisters.

According to Aboriginal legend, these sandstone rock formations are three sisters who were turned to stone for protection during a tribal battle. Apparently, the elder who turned them died in the battle, leaving the girls lodged in the Blue Mountains forever, as no one else had the ability to “unrock” them.

Caution: Stairway appears less steep in photos than reality

Once we got our photos with the ladies, we went on a journey down “The Giant Stairway.”

Instead of worrying about slipping to my death while descending down the side of the mountain, I was more concerned about climbing back up the 800 steep steps.

On our way down to the valley floor, we were passed a few times by three superhuman mountain runners, who were at least twice my age. Seeing that they could sprint up and down these paths while barely breaking a sweat, I figured I could carry on.

With none of us wanting to endure the upward climb of The Giant Stairway, we decided to continue walking around the valley on The Federal Pass trail to the base of Katoomba Falls.

By the time we arrived at Katoomba Falls, I was ready to take the Scenic Railway up the mountain, but my friends peer pressured me into using my legs instead of dollars to get back to the top.

While on our 6 km hike through the recently bush-fired areas, we saw beautiful waterfalls, lizards, thousands of flies, cockatoos, a rock that looks like a face and a few too many funnel web spiders for my liking. Unfortunately, no koala or kangaroo spotting.

Strangely enough, there wasn’t a legend surrounding this rock face, just a warning not to drink the creek water around it

Where we walked from

Six hours later, we wearily arrived where we started at Echo Point. It was an exhausting but beautiful day in the great Australian outdoors.

Happy “Strayla” Day!

Macca’s loves Australia like Australians loves to call McDonald’s Maccas

Officially, Australia Day (also called “First Landing Day” or “Foundation Day”) marks the arrival of the First Fleet from Great Britain at Port Jackson in 1788 and the founding of Australia. This public holiday, celebrated on January 26 every year, is also a day of tacky costumes, boat parades, live music, sausage sizzles, day drinking, fireworks and full on Australian culture.

Australia Day 2013

On our walk to the Harbor, we passed a great fire engine and vintage car display

To celebrate, my roommates and I filled our Aussie eskie up with Bundaberg, beers (Cheeky Blonde) and our BFFL (best friend Fruity Lexia – aka boxed wine), and headed into the masses for a day of fun.

We unfortunately missed the Ferrython, a ferry race through the harbor (our eskie slowed us down a bit), but in the Aussie spirit, “no worries.”

We were able to catch the floating music festival as it cruised by, but we ended up spending the majority of the afternoon perched on a grassy knoll overlooking the harbor, enjoying the blazing sun and sights of Sydney.

 

How “Aussie” am I? Fosters and all.

My favorite decked out boat

This smiley guy is a legend.

While out and about, we ran into our supervisor from our cruise ship job (yes, we are all pier check-in agents), and she gave us quite the compliment. From the walkway, she thought we were true Aussies, all decked out in our patriotic gear.

Thanks, Target for the Aussie apparel.

Once we were sufficiently sunburned (ugh), we headed for shelter in The Rocks to meet up with some friends at an awesome rooftop bar. We even got a true Australian to sing us their national anthem.

Not a bad view

From there, we went on an unsuccessful hunt for some snags (sausage). Somehow, we ended up at the festive Circular Quay Hungry Jacks for some subpar snacks before ending our day at The Domain in the Botanical Gardens for the Symphony in the Park.

We caught up with some other friends there, finished off our goon and said goodnight to Australia Day.

Australia Day, in a nutshell

One for the road: Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!

Happy Ending

Home for the next month

If you can believe it, I’ve officially been living in this beautiful country for 11 months now, which means my year abroad is quickly coming to an end.

It feels like yesterday that I was packing up my Uptown Charlotte apartment and saying goodbye to my friends and family. Thinking back to January 2012, as I anxiously awaited this incredible journey, I remember being just completely overwhelmed with anticipation, excitement and apprehension about the unknown.

Now, almost a year later, I find myself starting to feel the same anxious feelings towards my return. I’m very excited to reunite with everyone back home, but I’m equally sad to say goodbye to Australia. Sure it’s been tough at times, but overall, this has been one of the best and most memorable things I’ve ever done.

After a year of expecting the unexpected, I’ve become accustomed to constant change, and the thought of returning to a normal, stable lifestyle actually feels foreign. I also still have no clue what my plan is upon returning to the U.S., which is both exciting and scary. I basically could start fresh anywhere, but I must admit, I’m partial to moving to NYC, LA or back to Charlotte. Instead of letting my indecisiveness take over, I’m trying to focus on the present and enjoy my last weeks here – I’ll have a long return flight to sort my future out.

Clearly, I’m not ready for this adventure to end. And it won’t quite yet, as I’ll be getting a taste of SE Asia with my two American roommates in a month’s time. We’re in the process of planning a trip to Bali and the Gili Islands in Indonesia, and various islands and cities in Thailand. Knowing this pit stop in paradise awaits takes the sting out of my Oz visa expiration date.

Time to make the most of these last 31 days on Australian soil!

Make it Work

Finding work as a backpacker isn’t always easy. No one wants to invest time or energy on someone who will likely move on before the next season. As such, I’ve come to expect rejection once the “working holiday visa” words reluctantly come out of my mouth. Sure, it’s insulting to be denied constantly from jobs you couldn’t pay me to do back home, but at least I’ve developed some pretty thick skin and become quite “industrious” as my mom says. 🙂

My life as a traveling temp-tress has been interesting to say the least. Never in my life did I think I would be thrilled to score a job that required me to wake up at 5 am daily, or one that requires me to report to someone a decade younger than me.

Over the past 10 months, I’ve performed the following roles to supplement my time in Australia:

From the vault – waitress/model for the Bondi cafe

• Cafe waitress
• Buying Assistant at David Jones (most legit job thus far)
• One day stint as a street charity salesman
• Gelato scooper and barista
• Rugby game attendant, reporting to a 16 year old
• Technical Team Member at a mail warehouse (data entry at 6 am)
• Fashion eyelash, hair mascara and hair gem trade show salesman
• Scarf salesman at markets around Sydney
• Corporate receptionist temp, ear piece and all
• Pier check in agent for international cruises leaving the Sydney harbor
• Cider promo girl
• Music festival beverage seller (upcoming)

I’m currently working a slew of odd end jobs to add to my diverse Australian work history. Until recently, from 6 am till around noon everyday I was working on developing my carpel tunnel at a data entry job in southeast Sydney. This brain softening job, which consisted of me mostly hitting the enter key over and over and over again, slowly grew on me. Perhaps the high pay contributed to my Stockholm Syndrome of enjoying the steady monotony.

When I’m not willingly tapping my brain into submission, you can find me moonlighting as a receptionist, a cider sampler and a saleslady, selling glamour products at trade shows and wool scarves in 80 degree heat at markets.

Who wants some fashion lashes?

A wool scarf to match your colorful new lashes?

Or do you prefer hard cider?

I’ve also started helping out casually with international cruise ships as a ground pier check in agent. My responsibilities include helping with disembarkment in the early mornings (sorting luggage), followed by an afternoon of scanning passports and sending vacationers on their voyages. This is probably my favorite rando job I’ve had in a while, as I get to work with my friends in a sweet flight attendant-esque uniform while daydreaming about travel.

With a month and half of time left on my visa, there’s still time for me to add yet another branch of skills to my repertoire. Stay tuned for future backpacker “business” memories.

Holy Heatwave

You guys. Today in Sydney, it’s expected to reach about 112 degrees.

Now, I’m no stranger to heat. As a Gamecock, I’ve spent many a summer sweating profusely in humid, famously hot Columbia, S.C. While my college friends and I used to joke that Cola Town sat on top of Hell, at least we had glorious, strong A/C and delicious sweet tea to cool us down.

Here in Australia, it’s unheard of to have central air where you live, and even rarer to have artificial cold air on public transportation (let’s not talk about the absence of sweet tea).

After venturing out at 11 a.m. to gauge the weather today, my roommate Jess described it perfectly – it feels like you’re standing next to a hot truck, but you can’t get away from it.

So how does one stay comfortable in these parts? Well, Jess and I surely must vacate our sauna of an apartment (one dainty fan won’t cut it, and we can’t seem to make ice fast enough in our finger ice trays). Our mission today is to find a pool to post up at (maybe the fancy Icebergs at Bondi?). Luckily the ocean water here is still icy, so the ocean might be in our near future. Although, I’m not sure there’s enough SPF in this world to protect my fair, Polish skin from these rays.

As hot as it is, I’ll take a sweaty January afternoon at the beach any day!

A Warm Welcome to 2013

Celebrating the start to another exciting year in Sydney, Australia was surreal. Typically, I’m not a huge fan of NYE – the hype always seems to lead to disappointment, but this year, I couldn’t of asked for a better way to ring in 2013.

My two roommates and our friend visiting from Perth decided to forgo the fancy Harbor restaurant/bar parties, and, as travelers, the option to celebrate on a boat (with prices starting at $400/head) was just not an option. Instead, we packed up a cooler, grabbed a blanket and boarded a bus to Birchgrove Park in North Sydney to meet up with some friends for a low-key picnic party.

Fellow NYE revelers at Birchgrove Park

We spent the late afternoon and evening leading up to the 9 pm and midnight firework shows enjoying the perfect weather and admiring the amazing views. With approximately 2 million people expected to flood the areas around the Harbor, this relaxed park was the perfect location for us (and it was one of the few BYO allowed parks, woohoo!).

My roommates Brittany and Jess, me and Brittany’s college friend Joe from Perth excited for 2013

Yurulbin Park, our ultimate lookout point for the fireworks

The only downside to our outdoor festivities was the fact that there wasn’t a group countdown and Auld Lang Syne singing. But that was easily forgotten once the sky was filled with the breathtaking $6 million firework show. Never in my life did I imagine I would be celebrating the New Year in one of the world’s most notorious spots alongside people from all over the world. It was an amazing experience.

Our view of the bridge and city

2012 was one of the best years of my life, and while I’m not sure where 2013 will lead, I’m excited to find out. Happy New Year’s to all my friends and family all around the globe!

Happy Boxing Day!

In Australia, the day after Christmas is known as Boxing Day. This public holiday is most similar to Black Friday in the U.S., with long lines of consumers fighting over the best sales.

In addition to shopping, Boxing Day is also known for its sporting events. It’s a big day for cricket, a sport I don’t quite understand – from what I’ve seen, it’s like a boring version of baseball. There’s a big test match in Melbourne, or something (apologies for all the cricket lovers out there, but I find cricket more painful than women’s basketball to endure).

Boxing Day is also the first day of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race – a luxury sport I can get behind. My roommate Jess and I went to the harbor to watch the race, but the yacht’s were really quick this year and we ended up only seeing tourists take awkward photos in front of the bridge instead.

While I don’t always understand the holidays here, it is always fun to get involved. Happy Boxing Day!

Merry Christmas from Australia!

Soaking up the Christmas Eve day sun at one of my favorite places, Bondi Beach

Sending lots of love and sunshine from Australia this Christmas! It’s strange being a hemisphere away from home during the holidays, but I think I could get used to celebrating the season in a bikini. I hope everyone back home has a very Merry Chrissy!

The most festive form of transportation I’ve ever seen

Christmas exploded inside this bus to the beach

No Christmas is complete without cookies 🙂