i had an aussie adventure (part i: melbourne)

wow. this post has been a long time coming. this is the first in a series of six posts that document my amazing adventure around australia before coming home to the united states. it was such an amazing experience and definitely was the trip of a lifetime. if any of you get a chance to visit the land down under i cant say enough good things about it. okay, here we go....

melbourne was a big deal for me. as most of you know, id been living in perth, western australia (if youre new to the game, click here and check out my aussie adventures) and dating my boyfriend shane who lived back home in salt lake city, utah. we'd been apart for months and let me be the first to tell you that long distance relationships are a bitch! a combination of events happened with my job and my visa and i was presented with one of lifes great conundrums. no, im not talking about something like should i dye my hair black or blonde (although i have had that great debate and and chose wrong. turns out, i look terrible with blonde hair. who knew? lol, live and learn i guess). i was offered a two-year contract with my job, which meant two more years of field frolicking, lots of money, and extra  time in an amazing place. however, it also meant being away from the love of my life for two more years. my brain likes to make things simple, im not sure if that means im incredibly smart, or have a pea-brain and things need to be simple for me to understand them. lol, in any case, my brain rationalized it down to choosing love or choosing a job. if any of you have ever been in love you'll sympathize with my choice. after weeks of agonizing what to do and exploring all my options, i decided that jobs will always come and go, but finding that one amazing person that makes you feel like you can do anything or be anything, well...thats just plain rare. and lets face it, we're all looking for that one person and that one special connection. and to be lucky enough to have found it, i decided to keep it :) 

he flew to australia so he could bring me home. 

how.romantic.is.that?

fortunately, we had the time and the means to take the long way home. thus began my aussie trip of wonder. flying to australia from the states is a hell of an ordeal. from salt lake its a 2 hr flight to los angeles (not too bad but switching from the domestic to international terminal is a bit of a pain in the ass), from los angeles to melborne or sydney its a 15 hr flight (let me be clear. this portion of the journey is completely hellish and i'd sell my first born child to get the chance to fly business class. but come on people, $10,000 for a flight? pah-lease!), and finally from melbourne or sydney to perth is roughly another 5 hr flight. its a rough 28 hrs of travelling, so in a brilliant stroke of genius (yes, i have them occasionally), we decided to meet in melbourne. a reunion AND a vacation?! yes please :)

i arrived early and made my way to international arrivals to meet him. leaning against the metal rail and watching strangers come through the doors and greet their friends/families/lovers was the most oddly joyful experience. airports are so often filled with angry, irritable, and pushy people that it was such a breath of fresh air to see the complete opposite. smiles, running/jumping hugs, laughing, crying. there was just SO much love. i couldnt help but smile and anxiously await my own happy reunion. 

when shane arrived, it was everything i'd been waiting for and more. squealing, running, (yes, a jumping hug), happy crying, and LOTS of kisses. looking back, i think we held hands like teenagers for the better part of a week. 

okay. enough with the sappy business (which i cant get enough of. im getting sappy in my old age). melbourne! the cab ride was a blur, and before i knew it, we were at our hotel in central business district (cbd). we stayed at the medina grand. i chose this hotel off of expedia.com.au, and let me tell you, this was definitely one of those situations where the website photos were very misleading. our room was in a back hallway next to a housekeeping closet, and it was insanely tiny! we could constantly hear doors slamming (housekeeping, WHY did you need to clean rooms at ALL hours of the day and night?!!!), and were (luckily?/unluckily?) privileged with hearing ALL of our neighbors noises including casual convos, sexy time (oh god my ears....), and the 3:30am drunk dialing of everyone in her asian phonebook. the upside (yes, there's an upside) was the hilarious sexual harassment blurb in the hotel ammenities guest book. 

sexual massages must be on the rise in australia? or the hotel's massage staff has wicked bad luck with excessive happy ending requests? either way, its funny....and strictly therapeutic.

melbourne (aussies pronounce it mel-bin, and look at you like a goob if you say it like its spelled) is such a fantastic city! someone once told me it is the aussie version of new york, but since ive never been to nyc i'll just take their word on it. this was my second time visiting and both times have been during the winter. and let me tell you, it was fa-reee-zing! luckily i had my fancy new pea coat to keep me warm. if youre staying in the cbd you can pretty much walk anywhere you want to go, so shane and i bundled up and set out to explore the city. my friend erin had emailed me a list of spots to visit while we were in town, so i brought that with me too (thanks erin!) 

we walked down to federation square, which is this giant area with art galleries, restaurants and bars. if youve never been to melbourne, this area is a must (if only for the fantastic people watching). 

we saddled up at the transport bar and grabbed two pints of fat yak, my favorite australian beer. the sun was shining and it was a gorgeous day. wish i would've known it was the only sun we'd see on the trip...i would've basked a little longer lol. we just sat at our table and caught up on everything that had been happening since we saw each other last. so many people have asked me if its weird being together after being apart for so long, and the answer is no. there was no weirdness at all, we just fell back into our own rhythm and it was like we'd never been apart at all (so lucky to have found this guy <3). 

...even if he is a spaz :)

shane felt left out without a snazzy pea coat like me, so we went slightly drunk shopping at meyer (an aussie macys). two things...1) slightly drunk shopping is always a good idea since you think you look fantastic in everything, and 2) you dont care about how much money you spend because your reservations are dulled by alcohol. he looked devilishly handsome in everything, but we finally found a winner. when we popped out of meyer we were near this fantastic rooftop bar i went to the last time i was in town. its called cookie, and another must when visiting melbourne. im a jackass and convinced shane to take the stairs because i thought it was only a few flights.....yeah turns out that it was like 8 floors to the top. whoops....at least there was some badass graffiti to look at:

we arrived at the top a bit more sweaty and winded than i had originally intended, but the view of the city made it all worth it. pretty sure if i lived in melbs this place would be a regular hangout of mine. we ordered some ciders and enjoyed the ambiance (i find i dont get to use that word enough, so ima do it again. ambiance). if youve never had cider before, order it! its like wine had sex with beer. my favorite was monteiths apple cider, and if you get a chance, definitely try rekordelig's strawberry lime cider. its divine (divine...another word i dont use nearly enough)!

we went back to our expensive sardine-can room and took a nap before dinner. melbourne is known for its cafe-culture, so wandering around and finding a spot for dinner wasnt hard at all. just down the street from our hotel was hardware lane, this narrow street with heaps of restaurants and cafes. i caught the smell of garlic and pasta and it wasnt long before it took us to the max bar and restaurant. the service was amazing for australia (which, in my experience is notorious for slow service and bitchy waiters), and dinner was delish! about halfway through our meal we started dancing to the sweet sounds of michael jackson. which was odd, since he's dead and all....

turns out there was a m.j. street performer just outside the restaurant. he was fantastic! although if i must say, there wasnt nearly enough junk grabbing or hee-hee's lol

the next day we had the best breakfast (or brekky as the aussies call it) at la citta. we both ordered the eggs benedict and it must have been made by god himself because it was so amazing! i dont think either of us talked at all, we were both too busy shoveling in the heavenly creation. there was a moment after eating where i really wanted to barge back into the kitchen and hug the chef (but i didnt. figured molesting random kitchen staff was a bad idea). but if youre ever in melbourne, put this place on your brekky list! the cafe is located on degraves street, which is another gitchy street like hardware lane. see?

clam purse statue? wtf lol

i am a total loser and bought an australian guide book. but there is so much to see and do, it felt overwhelming and i wanted something to point me in the right direction. i bought lonely planet's discover australia travel guide. it was the best! it was a condensed guide that just had highlights of things to see and general info. it was super helpful and it suggested that we go to the queen victoria market. markets are huge in australia and are usually a pretty good time. 

we bought the best candy, and watched a baby dance like a cute spaz to a didgeridoo player. australia has so many fun things, but for those of us from the united states it is severely lacking in mexican food of any kind. so you can imagine our joy and delight when we stumbled upon this mexican joint inside the markets! they were playing authentic music and had all these mexican beers and food. i was just stoked to drink another mexican beer besides corona (corona is EVERYWHERE and is super popular. which is comical because in the states, corona is sorta shitty lol). shane found something called inca kola (tastes like cream soda and root beer). i guess he used to drink it a bunch when he was younger so it was a blast from the past. the mood of the mexican music and our beers prompted shane to snag the waiter and ask for some chips and salsa. the waiter was really confused when we said salsa, so shane explained explained it was diced tomatoes. the guy left and we shared a laugh that he didnt know what salsa was. well turns out the joke was on us. the waiter returned with chips (french fries, not tortilla chips) and a thing of tomato sauce with diced tomatoes in it! ahaha i almost fell off my chair laughing. no wonder he was confused! so just a heads up from us to you, dont order chips and salsa....unless you want fries and wonky ketchup. haha :)

we decided we'd had enough artsy culture for the day and headed off to the illustrious crown casino for some gambling! i was expecting the crown to be a total dive and was highly surprised when it was all new and swanky. it was like being in vegas....but not really haha. they have cocktail waitresses, but you have to pay for all your drinks (not complimentary like vegas), and you cant put them on the table while you gamble (they pay some guy in a suit to yell at you if you do). shane and i both like to gamble, and lucky for me, he is beyond lucky at gambling. so either we both win and love life, or i fail big-time and his winnings offset my losses. its a nice balance lol. 

after breaking even at blackjack, we wandered around the casino which turns out, is part of a hotel. it looked SO nice. if i ever go back to melbourne im for sure staying at the crown. hands-down looked like the best as far as swanky and luxury. i didnt want to leave it and go back to our hovel at the medina lol. it was even gorgeous outside. the casino/hotel was right off the yarra river and had a beautiful view of the city.  

it was so pretty that i convinced shane we needed to walk back to our hotel so i could take it all in. note: i should not be allowed to navigate or make travel decisions....turns out the way home was entirely uphill. unexpected workouts are fun? halfway through our cardio bonanza we encountered stotts business college! no, we're not crazy about business colleges. although i can see why youd think that. its shanes last name. and an uncommon one at that. so we took a photo to document the discovery. voila!

and, im lucky enough to have some fantastic friends (clint and his fiance alysia) who live in melbourne, so we arranged to have a reunion dinner festivus! clint and i go back at least six years. he came to utah for snowboarding and i was his first american friend that was a girl. he discovered how awesome i am and we've stayed friends ever since. we met them back in federation square at the chocolate buddha, a sushi restaurant. it was so much fun to catch up with friends and introduce them to shaner. after dinner we decided to go out for drinks and alysia recommended madame brussels. the name was so exotic that i expected a moulin rouge-esque bar or something. i was wrong. melbourne, you never cease to amaze me. the sign out front let me know it was a "rather fancy terrace and public house" lol, and the inside was a total trip. it was like a 60s garden party with fake grass and white wrought iron tea tables. it was random, but i totally dug it. 

it was sad to say goodbye to friends, but we'll see them again soon. (clint, get hitched in the summer so i can check out east-coast australia when its warm! )

we topped off our vacation with a day at the museum (because im a nerd) and an afl game. the melbourne museum is in this giant old building and they always have the most fantastic travelling exhibits. the last time i was in town they had a king tut exhibit, and this time they were featuring ancient mesopotamia. we saw artifacts from babylon, sumer, akkadia, and assyria. the creative director of that exhibit should get a round of applause. they had authentic giant stone panel reliefs depicting various scenes and next to them they had flat screens that animated the story that was being told, and then explained what it meant and how it fit into the historical timeline. it was wicked cool.

after the exhibit i wanted to check out the rest of the museum but i am a giant idiot and had thrown my ticket in the garbage. after doing the nervous two-step and thinking "what should i do", i ran back down and dove in the garbage can for the ticket. nobody ever wants to be a dumpster diver. its gross and degrading. but it was all worth it when i found my ticket. WOOHOO! 

the rest of the museum was pretty neat. i wanted to enjoy it more but i sorta got museum-ed out. at least i saw this funny sign in the medical section that was worth a giggle. nothing like defending yourself against std's with a shield! 

the melbourne cricket ground (or the mcg as the locals call it) wasnt too far from us and there happened to be a game between collingwood and gold coast. we snagged tickets and i was so excited to take shane to his first footy game. if you havent seen australian football, stop reading this and look it up on youtube. the best way i can describe it is organized calamity lol. a bunch of guys running around in short shorts and tank-tops with no padding and a ball flying everywhere. every girls dream? perhaps. 

we cheered for collingwood. mostly since they were winning (...and i liked their colors), and mostly since i have no idea what teams to follow or support. and what footy game would be complete without beers and snacks? we opted for carlton draught (which is like the aussie bud light), and meat pies! i dont know how meat pies became a common snack food....i mean honestly, who wants to carry around a mini pie? but it was tasty and i guess thats all that counts.

after cheering and freezing our little hearts out we left and went back to the hotel to pack. i had such a great trip. even though i'd been to melbourne before, sharing it with shane made it seem like new. we hopped on a plane and flew home to perth. its amazing how flying with a partner can make the distance seem shorter. not to mention the bonus of having someone to lean-on and snuggle with during the flight. #winning!

with melbourne off the list, we started looking forward to our next adventure in ayers rock. stay tuned :)