A Royal Market

Ben and I spent our Tuesday off wandering around the Victoria Market, which has become one of our favourite spots in Melbourne.

Wide selection of delicious food

Fresh local produce

The American doughnut van, which always has a massive queue!

Sequin uggs... very questionable if you ask me

 

Located right downtown - skyscrapers in the background!

The result of today's market excursion? A scrumptious lunch of smoked salmon and cream cheese, basil and pesto dip, parmesan stuffed olives, triple cream brie, sourdough baguette and strawberries, all enjoyed on a beautiful sunny day on the bank of the Yarra River. Perfection.

Words from a Monk

Although I find blogging the best way to share my travel stories and photos, I'm still very much a pen and paper kind of girl. Since I began this trip nearly 10 months ago I have been using a planner, rather than my iPhone, to keep track of various things like flight dates, how much money I've been spending and useful phrases in foreign languages.

The other day while flipping through said planner, I came across a page with a short yet meaningful message written way back in December. It was from Sony, a monk I befriended in Siem Reap. Reading his words couldn't help but remind me just how random and wonderful traveling can be, something that hasn't been on my mind as much since I've started working rather than traveling.

Before leaving home there were many things I never thought I would do: dance in the street to celebrate the 80th birthday of a woman I just met, participate in a Taiko drumming class, take part in the world's biggest water fight or make friends with a monk (more than one in fact) but I did. Travel can be challenging, tiring and frustrating but if you keep an open mind, you will undoubtedly be rewarded with countless memorable experiences like the ones mentioned above.

Thanks for the reminder Sony.

P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney

Sydney is city I've been wanting to visit ever since I watched Marlin the clown fish try to find his beloved son Nemo. This past weekend Ben and I ventured out to the capital city of New South Wales, just a short and inexpensive flight away from Melbourne. We didn't have any luck finding P. Sherman or 42 Wallaby Way but we sure had a great time exploring the city home to some of the world's most iconic landmarks. As an added bonus I got to catch up with one of my oldest friends from home, Kelsey, who was in Sydney with her boyfriend!

While the infamous Sydney Harbour gets a lot of hype (and rightly so!) one of my favourite places we visited over the weekend was Darling Harbour. Great restaurants and lots of places to sit out in the sun - what's not to love?

But as I said, Sydney Harbour is obviously famous for a reason. It was pretty spectacular to see, especially on such a gorgeous (winter!) day.

None of us felt like dropping the $200 it costs to climb the Harbour Bridge itself so we settled on paying $10 to climb the southeast tower, which still gave us some killer views. The tower also had a great exhibit about how the bridge was built. Ben and I definitely found the bridge's history interesting but my friend Kelsey and her boyfriend, who are both civil engineers, were like kids in a candy store.

 

On Friday the four of us took a short ferry over to Manly Beach, one of Australia's most famous beaches. The weather wasn't the best but it didn't deter the locals from surfing one bit! I can only imagine how crazy Manly must get during the summer...

We got the ferry back into Sydney just as the sun was setting, which made for some stunning views.

On our last full day together we headed out to Bondi Beach, another well-known Sydney surf beach. The boys decided to rent boards and try to catch a few waves while Kelsey and I cheered them on from shore.

On our last day Kelsey and her boyfriend both had early flights to catch, which left Ben and I on our own. Without doing much research we decided to take a ferry ride around the Harbour and ended up at the seaside community of Watson's Bay, a place neither of us had heard of before but that turned out to be absolutely gorgeous (enhanced by the fact that we couldn't have asked for better weather!)

After wandering around Watson's Bay for a little while, we hopped back on the ferry and made our way to Sydney's Taronga Zoo. I won't bore you with all the shots I took of the animals but can you believe the views the giraffes get?!

After our last jam-packed day in Sydney it was time to jump on the plane and head back 'home'. 

While Sydney is a fabulous city that definitely has a wow-factor for tourists like myself, visiting it made me glad I chose Melbourne to live in. In spite of everything it has to offer, Sydney is a big city that in my opinion, lacks the character, charm and quaint cafes that make Melbourne such a special place. Guess I know where I stand on the Sydney vs. Melbourne debate! 

Still, the photos say it all: Sydney is simply a must-see city for anyone visiting Australia!

Koalas, Wallabies and Penguins, oh my!

Greetings loyal readers (that means you Grandma!)

Apologies for not having written anything in a while. One of my housemates accidentally sat on my laptop which broke the screen, and getting it fixed has proved a bit tricky due to differences between Canadian and Australian laptop models. This, combined with the fact that I've been working quite a bit has made updating my blog slightly more challenging than usual, but thanks to a laptop I borrowed off a housemate I'm finally going to fill you guys in on what I've been up to!

A few weeks back Ben and I made a trip out to Philip Island, a charming island situated roughly an hour and a half south of Melbourne which makes it a popular getaway for city-dwellers. We were lucky enough to get invited to stay over at the holiday house of a woman Ben knows (the one who spearheaded the dolphin research session I tagged along to a couple of months ago). She warned us that we shouldn't expect much but coming from our damp, ant-infested flat Ben and I couldn't have been more thrilled with our accommodation.

The bridge to Philip Island

Enjoying a cup of tea

The view from the deck - note the ocean

Philip Island is home to a wide array of amazing Australian wildlife that because I've been living in a city, I hadn't yet gotten the chance to observe. Over the course of our two days on the island we got to see koalas and heaps of wallabies. We also got to watch the Penguin Parade, Philip Island's most popular attraction, where hoards of little penguins swim up to the shore each night to nest. Unfortunately cameras weren't allowed so I don't have any pictures of it but trust me - these 30cm tall penguins are ridiculously cute!

Looks a little like an ewok, doncha think?

Doesn't get more Australian than a wallaby!

'The Nobbies', scenic nesting area for the penguins

Gorgeous shoreline at The Nobbies

Other highlights of our trip included slapping on wetsuits and going for a swim on a nearly deserted beach that due to a lack of stairs, we reached by scaling 'unstable cliffs'...

Going for a swim during Australian winter

The beach, and the climb we did to get there

... a bit of wine tasting paired with delicious kalamata olives at the Purple Hen Winery...

My idea of a perfect afternoon.

The winery dog!

The Purple Hen Winery

... and last but not least, me attempting to drive on the wrong other side of the road (in a manual car I might add). Aside for the few times where Ben kindly pointed out that I didn't look the right way entering a roundabout, it went pretty smoothly - but I'm definitely not ready to drive in a busy city center anytime soon!

I did it!

Proof.

All in all Philip Island made for a fantastic and affordable getaway. The lack of crowds and incredible wildlife made it feel like we were somewhere out in the bush rather than just outside of a major urban center. Living in Melbourne has been great but this trip has me eager to see more of what Australia has to offer outside of its cities!

The Brady Bunch

A few weeks ago I moved into a damp and dilapidated but cozy little flat. Rent in Melbourne is far from cheap so to save on housing costs, there are six of us living together in our little three bedroom flat. My housemates come from all over the world, making us quite an eclectic little bunch. Let me introduce you!

Meet J'rae. Most people, myself included, couldn't pull off having an apostrophe in their first name but this girl definitely makes it work. At 19 she's the baby of the house but she's so well spoken and confident in her own skin that I often forget she's still a teenager. This American has an affinity for words and keeps a beautiful hand-written journal she writes in on a regular basis, but she doesn't care much for most movies. She finally saw one she liked the other night though, which was a big step.

Meet Mana. She's from Japan, making her the only person in the house who doesn't speak English as her first language. Taking that into account, I am constantly impressed by her ability to go about her day to day life completely in her second language, and at such a young age to boot. She recently got a job at a Japanese restaurant, which we are all very proud of her for. She can often be found curled up into a tiny ball on the couch (she is so small and flexible that sometimes we're not sure if it's just the blanket there or if she's underneath it) or singing in the shower.

Meet Andrew. His accent and affinity for tea leave no doubt that he's English, however he's so enthusiastic about traveling that it's been a couple of years since he's been back on his home soil. He's not only my housemate but also my co-worker; he helped get me the job at the cafe I work at. In addition to being a talented barista Andrew is also a ski instructor. He's actually going to be leaving us soon to go work a ski season at a nearby mountain. His replacement is still TBD.

Meet Rich. This Welsh fellow's real name is Richard but due to an unfortunate typo in a group text message a while back he is now commonly referred to in our house as Rick. He isn't thrilled about it but the nickname has stuck... I think it's finally starting to grow on him. Rick bikes to and from work each day and hits the gym most evenings too, making him arguably the most active out of all of us. He never fails to offer a sweaty hug after coming home from the gym.

Meet Ben. Unlike my other housemates, I knew Ben before I got to Australia. I actually met him way back in Cambodia, saw him again in Japan and then met up with him here in Australia. This English boy loves everything to do with being outdoors, especially skiing and mountain biking. He has an infectious laugh, so there's a good chance you'll hear him around the house before you see him. He also happens to be my boyfriend.

Like I said, we're a pretty eclectic group (I can only imagine how strange we must look together when we're all out the bar) but it keeps things interesting, and at the end of the day we all get along great. I've never shared a place with this many people before and wasn't sure if it would work for me but now I honestly can't imagine living on my own!