Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope yours was as incredible as mine :)
Diving right in... I'm currently in the middle of summer school and searching for a job but life was interrupted for a few weeks by some traveling! Sini and I took a trip through Southeast Australia and, once again, it was once in a lifetime.
Brief itinerary:
15 Dec: Flew to Melbourne
15-16 Dec: Traveled the Great Ocean Road
17-21 Dec: Explored Melbourne
21-23 Dec: Visited the capital, Canberra
23-28 Dec: Stayed with a lovely family for Christmas in Berry
28-30 Dec: Climbed the Blue Mountains
30 Dec - 1 Jan: New Years in Sydney :)
We flew into Melbourne on the 15th of December early in the morning and were picked up by two German girls to begin our drive along the world famous Great Ocean Road.
The Great Ocean Road stretches for 5 hours with continuous breath-taking stops. We started in Torquay where the international Billabong surfing competition is held every year at Bells Beach. There were no big waves for us but it was beautiful all the same. We then stopped in Lorne to pick up supplies for the next two days and toured the town.
We hit the Twelve Apostles at sunset - it couldn't have been more perfect timing! There is something funny about seeing something in person that you've seen on T.V., internet, and heard about for so long... It's like a little piece of yourself has been completed, satisfied. Seeing the Twelve Apostles was like that for me - simply indescribable. I felt so small next to these giant, natural rock formations. Unfortunately, there are no longer twelve because of erosion; only 6 or 7 left. The earth naturally created them and the ocean is naturally destroying them. I'm just thankful I got to see them while they are still here!
We headed out after sunset and stayed the night at the final town called Warrnambool. Slept well, got up early, and headed back on the road to hit the rest of the stops.
We went to see the amazing naturally formed rock formations in the middle of the water called London Bridge and Island Arch. Took the Gibson Steps and dipped our toes in the water. Swimming in this part of the Pacific is not illegal just highly discouraged because of the rip currents, rocks, and animals... no thank you!
London Bridge
Island Arch
A dying seal :(
Gibson Steps
We climbed the Otway Lighthouse (with free admission ;) ) and were awed by how much the landscape varied as we travelled across the country.
On the way out of Cape Otway we were driving past Eucalyptus Trees and saw Koalas galore!!! In Queensland one rarely sees a Koala in the wild so this was quite a luxury. In fact, as we were driving one was running across the street and we nearly ran over it! It climbed a fence and was hiding in a tree at eye-level, it was so close we could have touched it! But I don't think that's recommended... Just another amazing thing about Australia is the birds! Now, as most of you know, I am NOT a fan of birds but growing up with a sister who was obsessed I know a good bit about them. It is insane to me that Cockatoos fly wild here and they cost $3,000 in the states!
I wanted to take him home!
Our last couple of stops were Teddy's Lookout (Sini nearly cried it was so beautiful) and Erskine Falls. I love waterfalls! By this time it was getting dark and we still had to get back to Melbourne! We said goodbye to our German friends, found our hostel, and got some rest.
Fern Gully
Melbourne is amazing!!! My favorite favorite favorite city in Australia so far :) Except for the weather... It was 39*C one day and 18*C the next - That's a 40* drop in Fahrenheit! But on to the good stuff:
Sini and I had quite a lot of business to attend to when we first got there so we spent a lot of time at the Library! Fortunately it had free internet :) We both may have left extending our visas to the last minute... But we were both good to go!
Afterwards we jumped straight in and found a place to get half price tickets to events in the city. We went to a Dracula Cabaret one night and Christmas Caroling Comedy another. The Cabaret was amazing but the "comedy" ... not so much. It was four ladies not singing Christmas Carols, just random songs that they liked! Haha you never know what you're going to get until you get there.
We visited the Museum of Modern Art and met a good friend, Samuel, who we stayed with on New Years Eve. He's actually the film producer of a Mexican Film Festival that travels around Aus and is coming to LA in May!
In Melbourne, every street has something cool and between the streets are even better! It's so important to know a local because the awesome places in Melbourne are pretty discrete. The great thing is that you end up meeting the locals instead of strictly backpackers, like in most cities.
There's a famous bar back here?!?!
Different areas of Melbourne are called different things and are unique in there own ways. There's Fitzroy, Federation Square, Queen Victoria Markets, Botanical Gardens, China Town, St Kilda, and so much more!
Queen Victoria Markets
I may have bought a few things...
Federation Square
Amazing architecture
Just by being friendly and having funny accents we got into two kitchens and ate and chatted with the chefs - how cool?!
Yummy dinner on the floor of our hostel :)
On our last night, Sini and I went up the Eureka Tower (tallest building in Melbourne) and viewed the city from above. We went just before sunset and got to see the entire city in daylight and in citylights. We could have spent another two weeks in the city but in the morning it was time to move on.
We hopped on a plane and flew to Canberra - the countries capital! Apparently, the city was inspired by Washington D.C. and has a lot of similarities. We stayed with a family friend, Tim, and had an awesome time! He took us to a lookout were we could see all of Canberra then hoped in the car and visited the old and new Parliament Houses. We also stopped by the Museum of Modern Art, which had really good ice cream :) If we had more time we would have done more touring but we still had one more thing we had to do before leaving...
Bake Gingerbread Men! It's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when you're in you bikini lying on the beach... It was certainly the perfect solution :) And they were great gifts for our host homes.
Tim, Sini, and myself
The old and new Parliament Houses are
at the end of the strip on the left
Old Parliament House in front, new behind
Tim being Ned Kelly at the museum
So our connection with the family in Berry is quite complex but it worked out perfectly! The extended family all traveled to Berry - one of these travelers being a man that Sini's father's cousin studied in Switzerland with a few years back... got it? ;) One of the cousins lives in Canberra and drove us to the teeny tiny beautiful town of Berry. Being with a family was just what Sini and I needed. We are both big family people, always talking about our parents and how much we miss them. So spending Christmas with a big bustling family was a fabulous distraction - and we got the real Aussie experience! The weather was not quite so Aussie though... it poured and was sweater worthy on Christmas Day!!! But we made the most of it and swam in the FREEEZING Southern Pacific Ocean with the parents, in the rain! HAH! We had a blast :)
The princess house and garden :)
Thanks Mandy!
Merry Christmas :)
We headed out the 28th with even more stuff and headed on the 7 hour train to the Blue Mountains. Being Sini and myself, we talked nonstop and the trip was over before it began. We even planned my 21st birthday where we're planning on conquering the US of A! Welcome aboard Sini!!!
We got to the Blue Mountains and met yet another friend who showed us around to the hidden spots of the mountains - what a treat! The first stop was called Aboriginal Rock where the aboriginals used to believe was the center of the world - and I could see why! Standing on top, you're surrounded by continuous valleys... it was beautiful! We climbed underneath the rock into a cave that a man supposedly lived in for 7 years to avoided being drafted for the war. That's dedication!
Aboriginal Rock
We then went to Wentworth Falls and did some hiking and then to the Three Sisters at Echo Point. There are several versions of the legend but the main ones say that three sisters fell in love with three men from a neighbouring tribe, but marriage was forbidden by tribal law. Battle ensued, and the sisters were turned to stone by an elder to protect them, but he was killed in the fighting and no one else could turn them back.
The Three Sisters
That night Sini and I went out for dinner and chatted with the man playing guitar at a coffee shop - so many interesting people in this world. In the morning, we packed up and made it to the train station with a minute and a half to spare! Phew! We got to Sydney we started getting ready for New Years Eve! In Sydney you have a couple different options to see the fireworks. You can spend a couple of thousand dollars and see them from the islands, $160 to get the various points on the Harbor between 5 and 8, OR you can wait 14 hours in the park and get in for free... that what we did :)
There were already 10,000 people let in at this
point... I don't think all of these people are getting in!
You can faintly see the Opera House and bridge
behind. Miraculously the sky cleared before
the fireworks!
They only let 20,000 people into Macqueries Point, the point closest to the bridge, Opera House, and on the harbour. Apparently there are 1 million EXTRA people in Sydney for New Years! Wow! And we were part of that stat :) We got in line at 10am... waited two and half hours in line before even getting into the park and the next 12 hours for the fireworks to start... it was so fun!!! The time seemed to fly by - it was incredible! Speaking of incredible... the fireworks were more than worth the wait. I heard a rumor that they showed the Sydney Fireworks on your TV too!
Opera House and bridge :)
Frida, Magnus, Sini, and me
The night was perfect! Well, nearly perfect... To say the least, Sydney is absolutely insane on NYE. Cops everywhere, people everywhere, just crowds crowds crowds. I was debating whether or not I should post this but I think y'all can handle it: Sini and I were waiting to cross the street with the rest of the city when these two girls came shoving through - literally pushing people to the ground for absolutely no reason! So I'm staring at this girl wondering what her deal is when I look up and BAM got punched in the face!!!!!!!!! No worries, everything was fine I was just bleeding but man, talk about a surprise! Fortunately we were right near a friend's hostel so we went in, got cleaned up, and headed on our way. HAH so that's something for the books - hopefully a once in a lifetime experience as well ;) New Years is supposed to start with a bang!
Sini and I stayed the night at Samuels, got up at half past 12, and headed to Bondi Beach with two of her Finnish friends. I was mildly unimpressed with Bondi... so many people and lots of seaweed :/ I think I'm a little spoiled by the Sunshine Coast!
My flight left that night. Saying goodbye to Sini was so hard... She's been a huge part of my Australia experience so far. I already miss her so much! But, like I said, we've already made USA plans and seeing that my dad's company is centered in Finland, we are no where near the end :D
This concludes my, once again, my crazy nonstop travels. I'm thinking New Zealand is next but until then I think some settling down would be good for me... but maybe not ;) Only time will tell...
Sending my love and heat your wayyyy
