Easter in Melbourne

I had a great mid-semester break (its not spring here!) in Melbourne for a week. I finished up my exam on Thursday and hopped on a train for Sydney airport, where I flew to Melbourne with my friend Erika. We were fortunate enough to stay in Evelyn's house (my next-door neighbor, Hilary's mum) for the week and avoid the hostels. On Friday, we went to a music festival in the city and saw a bunch of great bands, including one of my favorites, John Butler Trio, an Australian artist. That lasted until about 10, and afterwards we found ourselves at a dark little hard-rock biker bar. It was called Cherry and was on ACDC Lane. Seriously. Melbourne has heaps of hidden little gems! On Saturday, we picked up our friend Lauren at the airport, who was joining us for the rest of the week. On Easter Sunday, we went to the Queen Victoria Market, where you can find meats, veggies, and interesting souvenirs. We had a nice dinner at an Italian Restaurant and just relaxed for the day. On Monday, I drove to St Kilda, one of the coast suburbs of Melbourne. There is a huge pier in the bay with a restaurant, and a lot of little shops and bakeries. That evening, we joined Matt, Lina, and their girls (relatives of Hil's) for a BBQ at their house and sampled kangaroo! We all really enjoyed having a nice place to stay in the city and a kitchen to cook our meals in!

On Tuesday, I drove the three of us south-west to Torquay, where we watched the world-class Rip Curl Pro surf competition on Bells Beach. It was great to see such an event and we were amazed at the competition. That night, we stayed near by at Miyo and Andy's house (more of Hil's wonderful family). Early the next morning, we woke up to go surfing and luckily the rain stopped shortly after we got out there. We were lucky to have Miyo and Andy and their surf equipment to keep us warm and looking professional with their boards. The beach that we were at, near Bells, was beautiful and the waves were just right for us beginners. After the surf, we packed up and hit the road, the Great Ocean Road! By now, I am so used to driving on the left that someone will have to keep track of me back in the states. We made a couple stops along the road, including a detour to track down some wild koalas. We finally found some and were fortunate enough to see them awake and feeding; they can sleep for 22 hours a day! The GOR was really beautiful and followed the winding cliff line along the beaches. We finally reached the Twelve Apostles, the iconic stop along the GOR. The Apostles are rock formations sticking out of the water as a result of erosion of the cliff. Although some of them have crumbled and there are no longer twelve, it was probably my favorite part of the trip. Next, it was time to head back to the city since our flight back to Sydney was the next day. That was quite a big day! Surfing, koalas, Apostles, and hours of driving! But it was all worth it and I had a great trip.

Classes have been back on for a week now, so its back to work, but not too much work... This was another nice weekend and the weather finally cleared up to show some sun. I took advantage of it and headed to the beach for an afternoon, hopefully not my last since its starting to cool off. It was ANZAC Day on Saturday, the equivalent of our Memorial Day. A bunch of people from my college woke up at 4am to go to the dawn service. It was interesting to see how another country celebrates its holidays. On ANZAC Day, everyone goes to the casino to play two-ups, a gambling game where you bet on if the coin will land heads or tails. It was really simple to learn, so I decided to try my luck and ended up winning $30. Not bad for my first ANZAC Day. Here are some pictures from Melbourne. I hear that everyone is loving the warm weather in the States, so enjoy! But leave some for those of us entering autumn!