Skipsters

We went for the corner of the Melbourne map we hadn’t covered, and landed at Docklands.  A Fort Point like neighborhood, this harborside part of town was growing with condo high rises and slowly populating with coffee shops and restaurants.  But the jewel in the crown?  An amazing public library.  Super modern with a coffee shop included on the ground floor, you can abuse the wifi all day while enjoying a view of Melbourne’s eye/Ferris wheel.  Or, you could use their maker bot 3 D printing station on the third floor, or pop in to indoor ping pong in a room with AstroTurf?  While I love that the Cambridge library lets me load up my kindle on the go, we both had library envy going on.

The icing on our day?  We’d been sweating, as so far we carried on backpacks on 8 flights but now we missed some fine print.  Our flight to New Zealand threatened passengers were allowed one carry on bag only (we each had a big and day pack) with a 7 kilo weight limit.  If over, the penalty would be checking the bag for a $100 fee. So, we gave our best “nothing to see here” smiles at check in and flashed a quick profile of our packs; happily, we made it through to customs without hitting a scale or fee! We are ahead again briefly- or balancing out the costs of my flat white and T’s pie consumption.

New Zealand here we come!!!!

Melbun- the sequel

Was there more to see? I swore T walked me all over the city that first day.  Being a big city, we still had points undiscovered and ambled by Parliament and the parks.  Having admired temples through Asia, we finally stopped in a Catholic Church here to pay respects and learn about a history of Irish bishops who found a warmer island.  We meandered through public gardens, and past the Australia Open site which was quite empty without Nadal’s scratching, Djokevich’s gluten free delights or Federer’s fans.

Other games were on a few feet further, as the Moomba festival took over the Yarra River with wake boarding and water skiing contests.

 Hungry from the athletes calorie expenditure, we hit up a food truck with 90s tunes and more recent burgers.  Meandering from there we found ourselves at the real Fringe festival, where a singer songwriter with a guitar crooned to a crowd that bought drinks from a repurposed shipping container while one woman read your fortune and another man explained how you could build your own rocket.  Skipsters meet hipsters.

T declined the free salsa lesson, but couldn’t say no to a burrito- go figure.  So a bookshop, a burrito and a stroll wound down another good day in the city.  Though the sun was obscured all day, we had a warm feeling about this place.  Wait- too hokey.  Even though it was grey, we still wanted to stay?  

Where is my editor when I need him?

We had about 50 hours in Melbourne (an eternity!) and to go native here, we dropped our “r”s and left the rental car for trams and mostly walking around.

A bigger city and a university town, we were back to crosswalks and cafés.  Where Asia had free wifi everywhere and street food, Australia has “flat white” coffees and food trucks.  Trade offs.  We stopped in the student union and state library, always good pit stops.  T marveled at how in Asia everyone seemed to be working during the day, whereas here people lounged and lingered with time for a midday wine or coffee.

We found ourselves in Federation Square, a variation of Fanueil Hall with museums.  In an otherwise pricey town, the free museums at the square were the place to be, and we were both impressed with the Australian Museum of Moving Images.  Downstairs displayed a tribute to the history of film, including shout outs to Mad Max, Dame Edna, Crocodile Dundee and Cate Blanchett (maybe Nicole Kidman didn’t donate anything?).  A second gallery featured a Chinese filmmaker, with one exhibit with simulcast feed from 6 different cameras synchronized.  Culture? Check.



Next we stumbled upon a bridge full of locks- my favorite! Lovers write their names on the lock, attach it to the bridge’s chain and throw the key into the river to symbolize their commitment to each other.    We took the immigration pedestrian bridge back, where individual country’s had a panel with descriptions of the immigrant types and years to Australia.  For example, Indonesia’s panel listed how they came as first pearl divers, Mauritius natives as convicts first, and Poland first as individuals.  Things that make you go hmm…. History? Check.

We continued on through the laneways- alleys decked out with graffiti, restaurants and shops- where we found Vietnamese food for dinner- a tribute to the one that got away.  Staying in a studio apartment with a stocked kitchen, T made pancakes for dessert.  Having hit the ground running, we crashed.

A few hairpin turns later, we left the surfers behind.  Bypassing Melbourne for the moment, we went to the Yarra Valley which is known for wine and beer trails set in beautiful hills.  Alternating drivers and beverages, we found a great spot amongst grape vines and apple orchards to enjoy pizza and the views.  When we asked about how the breweries cropped up in wine country, we were told, “even a steakhouse should have a good vegetarian dish!”

AirB&B may again be the hero, as we’d found a house set on 40 acres by the hills with friendly golden retrievers, 3 horses, 1 cat and countless kangaroos!  The owners had rescued a few kangaroos whose moms died, and bottle fed them and let them go.  One kangaroo kept coming back and now visits with her youngster.  The family feeds them bananas and sweet potatoes to supplement their diets, and T did have a huge smile as a little roo nibbled banana from his hand. He also managed a selfie with the kangaroo!

 

Edit



We’d learned the Australian minimum wage is 16.87 Australian dollars or US$13.12, which sure beats US minimum wage at $7.25.  Maybe it’s time we bus some tables between beers to keep up with the higher prices, especially since a gallon of gas is about US$5.20 here. If only we could ride the kangaroos between vineyards.

On the “must do” drives in the world, one will find The Great Ocean Road in southern Australia.  Similar to California’s A1 in its windiness and breathtaking views, it is part of the Limestone Coast with interesting cliffs and formations.

On our way, we stretched our legs with a biking day. Unlike our recent bike tours where we were regarded as odd for wearing our helmets (odd for no other reason!), here helmets are required.  We biked past a surf posse, and I briefly wished to change sports.

When we hit the road again, we finally spotted a koala crossing the road. Too quick for our camera, but the next day we did spy a wallaby on an ocean walk.  Sadly I’d only spotted dead kangaroos on the side if the road.  One day a few of us watched a mother and baby koalas in the trees, and another napping high up with a good grip on the tree. 



The main attraction of the Ocean Road is the Twelve Apostles rock formation – which is made up of less than twelve but is a religious experience for many.  Since we’d done the road in the reverse direction (Adelaide to Melbourne), we’d seen many other beautiful rock formations before reaching the Twelve.  This coast is also known as Shipwreck coast due to the surf and cliffs.

Along the way we’d experimented with our accommodation, and of the hostel, B&B and AirB&B, our favorite was the AirB&B which made us feel like we had our own little house again.

We also realized we weren’t sure which ocean we were looking at! 7 continents – check we know them.  But five Oceans – Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic and… Google! Or maybe your memories are better.  My guess is that Emily, George and Fritz don’t have to Google to know this one.  And in case you also springboard to the 7 seas, apparently that is mostly fiction!

We were leaving Adelaide prematurely, but we were getting used to quick stops.  Always leave em wanting more, right?  With clean clothes and a date with a rental car, it was time to hit the road.

To the left, to the left.  We should have had Beyoncé on repeat.  Maybe not driving for two months made it like an empty slate, so it didn’t feel quite as weird to be driving on the left.  

We arrived in McLaren Vale wine country in time for lunch at a cheese shop.  I’d been missing my good friend Cheese in Asia, and our wine and cheese reunion was a happy one.  With a sinus cold, T became the designated driver and I was once again the luckiest girl!

 Unlike many Napa spots, wine tasting was free at our first stop, and many pours later I’d fallen in love with Shiraz.

We weren’t far from the beach, so on a Tuesday afternoon took an amazing stroll down a beach reminiscent of Cape Cod Seashore.  This is one of our games; most new spots remind T of somewhere.  He has always been tricky to impress; I know somewhere is truly novel when it conjures zero associations for him.  But fortunately, we both love Cape Cod Seashore, and South Australia it turns out.

We stopped in a small town which seemed largely like a retirement community.  This suited our afternoon nap and early bedtime lifestyle well, and we settled in with wine and cheese for dinner, just like my retired dad was likely doing 17.5 hours behind us.

We put ourselves back on the touring circuit. We were better prepared yesterday at the brewery tour than we were today at the Adelaide Oval. The other locals and again a Kiwi seemed familiar with the rules, history and present competition, while I don’t think we could have defined a wicket. I broadened my vocabulary and ability to imitate the accent on the tour.

“We have to do it.  The Oval is like Adelaide’s Fenway Park.”
“Have you ever done a tour of Fenway Park?”
“Um…”

But indeed the Oval had a scoreboard as impressive as the Green Monster which requires multiple workers to run up and down stairs to update the scores during a match.

After carefully studying the half off tickets for the Fringe festival, we decided we wouldn’t understand the Scottish accent well enough for the comedy, and T eliminated a drama about a couple at odds. So we were in for another experimental circus act! But first, a stop at a wine bar and some advice from locals about which nearby vineyards to hit tomorrow.  

We even did laundry.  We may need to extend our visas.  And win a lottery- it’s a bit pricy down under….